Electric Blue Acaras in their new home

[excaliber]

The EBA's were doing so well we decided they would take the plunge into their new 75 gal tank. I dropped the first pair in and then brought the second pair and dumped them in. I come back from netting the single male and all 4 are lip locked. I add the 5th one to the group. They took about 15 minutes to figure it out.

The female from the first pair jumped out of the net out of the water and smacked he head. She's a butt. She's the one with the new white spot on her head. She's chasing everyone around right now.

I tried to attach a short clip showing here doing her thing but it says it's not allowed due to the wrong extrension. I would take her out if I knew the other would get along but as many have said "Let them work it out"

 

[tlindsey]

Nice pickup

 

[excaliber]

Update on the Electric Blue Acaras.

I didn't know I was getting into fish fighting when we bought these fish. I'm not sure what we are doing wrong but these fish do not do well together unless it's a pair with a male and female or a fish by itself. I guess it depends allot on the individual fish but I'm not impressed at all with the temperament of the EBA . From my limited experience with them they are downright mean unless they are alone or a M/F pair by themselves. A pair in a tank harasses everyone else in the tank.

They finally had to be split up into 4 tanks with a pair in a 40 breeder. Most people say they do well in larger groups. We were told to put them in the 75 and let them work it out.
That lasted a day as one of them was hell bent on killing everything in the tank other than it's partner. It got serious really quick.
That fish was removed immediately and lives alone with 4 cory cats.

They seem to get along fine with other fish as another one is living with a group of Angelfish and doesn't bother them at all so far.

They say these thing are semi aggressive. That's a joke. I've never been so stressed over watching these fish try to hurt each other. They are all in permanent timeout from each other except for the one pair. I'm thankful we decided not to do African Cichlids.

These are really neat looking fish but nothing I would try to keep in groups again.

 

[Zanzag]

Its always nice to bear in mind that these guys are closely related to GT's and can have pretty similar attitudes

 

[Serpentine]

A breeding pair of just about ANY cichlid will harass other fish in the tank. It's their #1 priority to protect their eggs and babies. If you have a M/F pair you probably don't want to put them in a community tank situation unless the tank is enormous with clearly defined territories. Otherwise they will be in perpetual attack mode trying to keep the other fish from encroaching on their turf or feeding on their young.

I find that either a single specimen or a group of 4 or more *of the same sex* works well in a community tank setting, depending on your capacity. If you mix genders there's going to be competition for partners and again, pair aggression once they choose a mate.

That's not an EBA issue; it's cichlids in general. The EBA is in my experience pretty laid back. Your fish happened to be in two situations where they were bound to behave aggressively.

 

[duanes]

I believe most people that tell you a 75 gallon is OK for a group of territorial new world cichlids are generally delusional about the amount of space these animals actually need.
It is the size of a trucks rut in the road.
I have a dozen Andinoacara coeruleopunctatus (close cousin to your acaras), in a 180 gallon tank. There were originally 15.
The alpha male killed 3 other similar size males, and has only allowed females, and vastly subordinate males, those unable to threaten his dominance to live comfortably.