Do I need to reset my tank with new stock

[Hmontoya93]

I have a 360 I made a mistake but I have an Oscar and red vieja that don’t allow any other fish, is there a strategy to make it work or do I have to give them away and start fresh?

to big of a tank to have 2 fish

 

[Trouser Cough]

In my experience this can be done easier if you have a couple of other empty tanks.

Put the Oscar and Vieja in other tanks and completely redo the interior of the 360. Add a rock pile or similar that will allow other fish the chance to break eye contact w/ known bullies and when you're ready to start fresh put the new fish in that 360 first and then put the O & V in w/ them.

Sometimes it works. Sometimes not so much.

 

[SilverArowanaBoi]

In my experience this can be done easier if you have a couple of other empty tanks.

Put the Oscar and Vieja in other tanks and completely redo the interior of the 360. Add a rock pile or similar that will allow other fish the chance to break eye contact w/ known bullies and when you're ready to start fresh put the new fish in that 360 first and then put the O & V in w/ them.

Sometimes it works. Sometimes not so much.

^ Agreed. I frequently switch things up in my tank to keep my fish from having aggression issues, and it works. Very rarely have I seen aggression problems.

 

[jjohnwm]

Even if you are lucky enough to fool them by removing and replacing them or by re-decorating...which, as others have said, is by no means certain...this problem will recur just about every time you decide to add fish. Whether you have truly tough-guy fish like Viejas, or cowardly muscle-bound wannabes like Oscars, cichlids tend to be buttheads who always need to show the new guy who's boss. Things like Viejas or Buttikoferi's are very capable of seemingly accepting their tankmates for weeks, months, even years...and then one day they just snap and perform a "tank reset" for you whether you want it or not. It happens mostly in tanks whose owners think that their 100-gallon capacity qualifies as a lake; it's less of a problem in larger tanks like yours, but it still exists.

I think Trouser Cough has hit the nail on the head; multiple tanks to allow you to play around with separations and combinations and emergency evacuations. Having only one tank and expecting to mix and match cichlids haphazardly as you come upon nice ones that you want to add to your collection is a disaster waiting to happen. When the tank is empty and new, you can put just about anything in; but with each fish you add, you narrow down the potential choices for future additions more and more. Proper prior planning prevents piss-poor performance.

 

[Hmontoya93]

Ok thank you I have an extra 40 and 75 gallon housing another Oscar and some catfish will try this before adding them again, if not I’ll give away the evil pair go for some severums or something mellow

 

[Trouser Cough]

There are some tricks to putting a bunch of a-holes in the same tank. They are:

- place something in the center of the tank to allow line of sight to be broken

- all males / no females. Intro one female and carnage rate will go way up starting on day one

- more fish than you would normally have in the tank so that aggression isn't focussed on one poor dude all the time

- expect there to be attrition. Like, maybe one a week.

It's not normal to house violent people, dogs, fish, etc. in close proximity to one another w/out expecting some of them to go for it more often than a normal population would. It's never been my thing but if your question is "can it be done" the answer is mostly yes.

 

[Trouser Cough]