Sounds nuts but i have a silver dollar in my 125g african tank and he's doing awesome.............been in there for months and is my numero uno dither............Thinking of getting a few more to school!!!!
Diffusing Aggression
- Thread starter Casey Norris
- Start date
Removing the zebra will only create a hierarchy vacancy probably to be filled by the auratus which will likely only resume where the red zebra left off (i.e., terrorizing the tank).
Despite the presence of non-cichlids in the tank your zebra is behaving the way it is because your 55gal tank is understocked in terms of the total number of mbuna in the tank(5). When kept in low numbers aggression is enhanced. The zebra (or any dominant mbuna) will instinctively treat mbuna as primary targets of aggression over non-cichlids (which are often viewed as non threats).
If possible, remove the non-cichlids and replace them with 3+ female red zebras plus a similar number of other types of mbuna. Increasing the number of mbuna (i.e., potential red zebra targets) from 5 to about a dozen (including the introduction of red zebra females), should significantly decrease the level of aggression in the tank.
Best case scenario: the male red zebra dedicates its efforts toward attempting to spawn with all female red zebras in the tank, thus leaving the rest alone.
Worst case scenario: the male red zebra behavior remains the same but with more mbuna in the tank, aggression is spread out (11 fish being bullied by 1 have it a lot easier than 4 bullied by 1).
Despite the presence of non-cichlids in the tank your zebra is behaving the way it is because your 55gal tank is understocked in terms of the total number of mbuna in the tank(5). When kept in low numbers aggression is enhanced. The zebra (or any dominant mbuna) will instinctively treat mbuna as primary targets of aggression over non-cichlids (which are often viewed as non threats).
If possible, remove the non-cichlids and replace them with 3+ female red zebras plus a similar number of other types of mbuna. Increasing the number of mbuna (i.e., potential red zebra targets) from 5 to about a dozen (including the introduction of red zebra females), should significantly decrease the level of aggression in the tank.
Best case scenario: the male red zebra dedicates its efforts toward attempting to spawn with all female red zebras in the tank, thus leaving the rest alone.
Worst case scenario: the male red zebra behavior remains the same but with more mbuna in the tank, aggression is spread out (11 fish being bullied by 1 have it a lot easier than 4 bullied by 1).
when i get a very very mean fish i move him up to a larger tank with bigger cichlids so he is at the bottom of the hiarcky! then then the cichlids in the other tank will have a little qurrael but it should stop and it the fights wont continue to so violent!
Every Rift Lake tank is gonna have some aggression.....the trick is to getting a large doscile fish from Malawi thats not big enough to eat the other fish....but is big enough to be dominant.....all Malawian tanks will have a dominant fish....make sure it isn't an ultra aggressive one....if the zebra is chaseing but not biteing....no worries....when severe damage starts taking place..... get rid of the zebra.
WolfFisho1;742121; said:
That is how we get lots of fish tanks. Kinda like potato chips...can't just have one!
of course sometimes you move things around so you can use that excuse... ahh honey they are fighting I guess I will have to get 120 and do a species tank...
