Cichlids losing aggression???
- Thread starter KNH
- Start date
I'm sure cichlids just have a fairly-predetermined amount of desired personal space. The bigger the fish, the more desired personal space. If you stuck a 20" male dovii in a 20' diameter pond I speculate it would claim an area of 10 feetx10 feet or less, if there were other capable rivals in the pond. Of course, noone keeps fish in tanks of that size, so it appears that large fish such as dovii, festae, umbees, etc are uniformly aggressive regardless of tanksize.
Convicts and african mbuna only seem to ask for a foot or less of personal space. midas reportedly seem placated in having a roughly 125g-180g area to themselves.
One exception to this perhaps comes when one fish totally dominates all others in a given tank, and consequently can call the whole tank it's own and cruise about and bully others as it pleases. Its srot of wrong to call that an exception however, since almost all setups it seems result in one fish being dominant over all the others.
Another exception comes in regards to conspecifics; I had two 4" JD males in a 200g, and one still managed to maul the other to death. I had a 9" male texas in the 200g, and he nonetheless went out of his way to ceaselessly harass a 7" male salvini. The male texas was removed, and then the male salvini went out of his way to relentlessly harass a 7" female urophthalmus. I removed the urophthalmus, and the now-8" salvini only gives the the 6-7" JD pair an occasional bit of harassment. The salvini goes wherever he damn well pleases, though he does have a personal preferred cave.
In any case I definitely wouldn't say "some cichlid species have limits to their aggression, and others don't".
Convicts and african mbuna only seem to ask for a foot or less of personal space. midas reportedly seem placated in having a roughly 125g-180g area to themselves.
One exception to this perhaps comes when one fish totally dominates all others in a given tank, and consequently can call the whole tank it's own and cruise about and bully others as it pleases. Its srot of wrong to call that an exception however, since almost all setups it seems result in one fish being dominant over all the others.
Another exception comes in regards to conspecifics; I had two 4" JD males in a 200g, and one still managed to maul the other to death. I had a 9" male texas in the 200g, and he nonetheless went out of his way to ceaselessly harass a 7" male salvini. The male texas was removed, and then the male salvini went out of his way to relentlessly harass a 7" female urophthalmus. I removed the urophthalmus, and the now-8" salvini only gives the the 6-7" JD pair an occasional bit of harassment. The salvini goes wherever he damn well pleases, though he does have a personal preferred cave.
In any case I definitely wouldn't say "some cichlid species have limits to their aggression, and others don't".
I would imagine a larger, more complex environment would give the Cichlids a little more something to do than take out aggression on tankmates. I have read that the reason Cichlids are so aggresive in captivity, is because of their intelligence level. When you take a fish like that, which has an endless coplex habitat, and put it into a small glass box, it finds things to keep busy. What things does it find? Anything moving..
I have also heard that the temprature of the water can effect aggresiveness, as it is related to breeding temprement and behavior.
I have also heard that the temprature of the water can effect aggresiveness, as it is related to breeding temprement and behavior.
I think it all depends on the fish. Some are very greedy and want a lot of floor area, while others of the same species are satiated with a smaller space. Generally, however, cichlids like oscars, pikes (Crenicichla), Waroos (Uaru) and most cichlasomines (Cichlasoma, Aequidens) will be much less belligerent in larger tanks.
In general I have found that midas and red devils will both be much less aggresive in tanks of 250 gallons or larger. In larger tanks they will take a territory to themselves and usually wont bother other fish. However Dovii,umbie,Festae,Trimacs,Fernerstratus, etc will not become calmer in larger tanks. They will still be as aggresive in a 250 gallon as they would be in a 90 gallon tank. While a midas's mindset is "All I want is a little space to myself". For example a trimacs attitude is"I want to take as much space as possible".
Individual cichlids show different behavior within the same species, so it is hard to generalize. On the other hand, aquarium size matters when we are talking of someting really big, light changes won't make a difference. Eg. I had 11 Vieja spp. arround a foot a piece were moved from a 240gal(96"x24"x24") to a 800gal (120"x48"x32") and their aggressive behavior did not change a bit.
Now, temperature is without a doubt the best way to control hormonal secretion and aggressiveness in large and aggressive cichlids. Eg. Vieja fenestratum will stop aggressive behavior at 70-72F . While V. maculicauda will at 74F and for example V. guttulatum will not cease the aggressive behavior neither at 68F... Parachromis dovii will 'relax' at 70... and it will become an a@#% h#&@ from 78 on... (among other examples)
Now, temperature is without a doubt the best way to control hormonal secretion and aggressiveness in large and aggressive cichlids. Eg. Vieja fenestratum will stop aggressive behavior at 70-72F . While V. maculicauda will at 74F and for example V. guttulatum will not cease the aggressive behavior neither at 68F... Parachromis dovii will 'relax' at 70... and it will become an a@#% h#&@ from 78 on... (among other examples)
