Future stock issues, current aggression issues...?

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Dark Rose

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 27, 2013
443
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United States
Starting to notice a few aggression problems in my tank, was trying to figure out a fix and see any future problems I haven't forseen yet... Hopefully this list will post right:

75 gallon tank:
[TABLE="width: 348"]
[TR]
[TD]3[/TD]
[TD]Maylandia estherae[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Red Zebra (Orange, White, Yellow)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Aulonocara Sp. OB Peacock[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]OB Peacock[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Nimbochromis venustus[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Venustus[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Aulonocara stuartgranti[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Dragon's Blood[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Nimbochromis livingstonii[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Livingstonii[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Pseudotropheus crabro[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Bumblebee cichlid[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]Sciaenochromis ahli[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Blue Ahli[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 3"]Aulonocara jacobfreibergi (Undu Reef)[/TD]
[TD]Lemon Jake[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Aulonocara jacobfreibergi[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Eureka Red[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Dimidiochromis compressiceps[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Malawi Eyebiter[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]Thorichthys meeki[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Firemouth[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]Ancistrus cirrhosus[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Albino Bristlenose Pleco[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]Peckoltia sp. L066[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]L066 Gypsy King Tiger Pleco[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]Cyrtocara moorii[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Blue Dolphin[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]Unidentified[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Silver[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]Unidentified[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Reddish (juvie Ahli?)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]Unidentified[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Black/Grey [/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]


Ok, the format is still a little messed up...
I know eventually the venustus and compressiceps will outgrow the tank... I've also notice one of the red zebras (the orange one) chasing and picking at the Dragon's Blood quite a bit... Lookalike aggression? Would it be better to remove the orange zebra?
My firemouth is a little haggard, some fin shredding, hiding out a lot, but I've not noticed anything when the lights are on... The lemon jake also hides a lot, seen some picking by the venustus, but no fin shredding or anything like that... The two newest un-identified cichlids seem to be doing ok, the black/grey barred one is just fine, the reddish barred one (has reddish anal fins and white on the dorsal fins like my blue ahli?) has some shredding on its dorsal fin, and they hide in the lower areas a lot, but don't seem stressed. And those two newest ones are half the size of any others. The venustus and dragon's blood are tied for the largest, easily, probably close to 3", most of the rest in the 2-2.5" range, the two new ones probably in the 1.5" range...

All the fish come up to eat together and get along while there's food around...

Anything I'm missing?
 
Hi I can see several issues here,as you have said the nimbochromis and compressiceps will outgrow your tank,the firemouth is a central American cichlid and shouldn't be mixed with Africans,the aulonocara can be mixed but be aware that the females of most look similar and the males cant tell them apart and will crossbreed (although the fry won't last too long with the predators) they can also be mixed with the sciaenochromis (probably fryeri as real ahli are rare in the trade and not as blue),these can also be kept with the moorii,but the rest are mbuna and can/should be kept together with a lot of rocks and kept relatively crowded to spread aggression so no one fish is picked on constantly,your unidentified cichlids could be mbuna or haps and should have been identified at point of sale! your bristlenose will probably be ok even in hard water but i'm not certain about the L-number long term as it may prefer softer water,i think you should do some research/reading etc to find out more about the fish you want to keep as you can't just put anything you like in your tank as there will be compatability issues at the very least,cheers Paul
 
L66 king tiger pleco will not do to well in your water, the bn will be fine. Also I would get all the mbuna out of there as they will constantly cause promblems. I never mix mbuns with haps/peacocks. Never works well for me as the mbuna are too aggressive. But thats just my experiance.
 
jordanlewis100 said:
Hi I can see several issues here,as you have said the nimbochromis and compressiceps will outgrow your tank,the firemouth is a central American cichlid and shouldn't be mixed with Africans,the aulonocara can be mixed but be aware that the females of most look similar and the males cant tell them apart and will crossbreed (although the fry won't last too long with the predators) they can also be mixed with the sciaenochromis (probably fryeri as real ahli are rare in the trade and not as blue),these can also be kept with the moorii,but the rest are mbuna and can/should be kept together with a lot of rocks and kept relatively crowded to spread aggression so no one fish is picked on constantly,your unidentified cichlids could be mbuna or haps and should have been identified at point of sale! your bristlenose will probably be ok even in hard water but i'm not certain about the L-number long term as it may prefer softer water,i think you should do some research/reading etc to find out more about the fish you want to keep as you can't just put anything you like in your tank as there will be compatability issues at the very least,cheers Paul
Click to expand...

+1
 
Well, when I bought most of my stock, from a LFS specializing in cichlids (the retail outlet of Bluegrass Cichlids) the guy assured me they would all be fine mixed together, as they were not wild caught, and therefore "didn't know how to act towards each other". I had several people tell me putting the fire mouth in could be a mixed bag, some said no problem, some said possible problem, some said they don't mix CA/SA and Africans just on principle...
One of the unknowns I posted on here and haven't gotten an ID, the guy that sold it to me knew what it was, but for the life of me I can't remember what he said... The other two small ones, one is colored kind of like an Otter Point, and shaped like my ahli (and it was also sold as a true ahli, color on him varies a lot depending on mood and time of day) and the other small one has a peacock shape, waiting for them both to do some growing up.
When the majority of the stock was sold to me, I was assured they were all male, as I clearly told him I was making an all male tank... So I hope I don't have any issues related to male/female mixing...
I did all my homework, and put things together the best I could, with the advice of another forum and a salesman that after some more research and dissecting some of his comments, may have passed along some bad info...

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The salesman isn't going to tell you, "buying all these fish will give you headaches. They won't get along, and there's a high probability some will be killed. Some don't even require the same water characteristics."

The whole bit about them not being wild caught so they don't know any better is pure nonsense.

Mbuna just aren't compatible with peacocks. Those who tell you different are the exception, not the rule. Labidochromis caeruleus is about the only mbuna that is consistently successfully kept with peacocks or other non-mbuna africans.

The setup may work for a while, but once the mbuna start to stake a claim in the tank, especially in a 75, the peacocks just aren't going to be able to handle it. And bumblebees are just dicks. Red zebras can be real jerks too. I have em, I know.
 
I tried to remove my red zebra... that little ***hole is fast... Haven't managed to net him yet... And two days ago my BN turned up dead... Not sure which one got him, but something had been nibbling on him postmortem... The L066 seems to be doing fine, just hides out in a crack in the central driftwood all day usually...

I think the bumblebee is the one eating my plants... It stinks I got such bad info from Bluegrass Aquatics, as their retail location is the only place within reasonable distance from me (just over an hour) that has a decent cichlid selection, and actually knows anything about them... (vs the LFS "assorted african" tanks)

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