I've got 2 red heads in a 75G with a Super red severum. I had 6, 3 males, 3 females. Hurricane Irma killed 3 of them as I tried to transport them from Florida to North Carolina. Now the two remaining are both males. My dominant one killed off one already and seems to be working on this one as well. No one messes with Sevvy as they know, he might have one eye but he will wreck you. Should I get more to quell the fighting? They are expensive at $35 a piece. They would also likely come in small. Any ideas how I can get them to not kill each other? I had 2 meeki but they got to aggressive so I got rid of them.
Geo. Tapajos Aggression
- Thread starter TheNewSeverum
- Start date
Personally I would remove 1 of them but also may have issue with the Severum and Red head tapajos .
This was never an issue before the 3 females died. No one has messed with the severum once. Removing a redhead leaves 2 fish in my tank minus my plecos which most you never see. These fish were not cheap. Bad enough I lost 4, but to lose another one? Thats a little ridiculous. There has to be some other option. Can anyone else weigh in on this?
If you can get more Geophagus Tapajos that are about the same size and female that would help. I didn't know if you wanted to add any other specie of Cichlid but you will still have the other Geo Redhead being harrassed. Earlier you stated the other Red heads were a bit smaller that's why I suggested removeing the one. You don't necessarily have to get rid of the Geo just seperate until you get more the appropriate size.
I bought 6 at the same time so they all grew up together. They were roughly the same size maybe slightly larger. What I was saying is ordering more would be possible however they would be a lot smaller. I dont have a second tank. I have no room for a second tank, nor the money to set up another one. If I was going to add another cichlid it would be another geophagus. They were good in a group. Now one dominates the tank.
i have a colony of 5 in my 150g with a juvie asian aro...the geos do fight but i don't see that much aggression with mine...just a little chasing around...they range from 3" to 5" right now...i don't see them being that aggressive to kill one another..
Would you if they were all in a 75 gallon half the size of your 150?
With a 48x18 footprint there's not a lot you can do to keep an aggressive cichlid from finding and beating on another cichlid. You could let nature take it's course, remove the less aggressive specimen before it is killed, or becomes sick from stress, or do as Stanzz suggests. With only one tank there's not a lot of options.
Generally agree with comments above, with one exception. I bred red heads for a while and had no trouble keeping them in a 75, whether as a group, a pair, or a pair with an extra female or two... in various combinations of tankmates, including a severum. So imo the problem isn't keeping geo Tapajos in a 75 gal tank.
But-- whatever history or dynamics led to your dominant male becoming aggressive, there's not much you can do but remove one of the males at this point (or temporarily divide the tank until you can sell or trade him). Adding some juvies to rebuild a group might be okay, assuming your aggressive male settles down without a single rival male in the tank, or adding several other adults could work by completely changing the dynamics-- but in your scenario, once one of your males targets the other, there's little chance it's a problem that will go away without some intervention.
The other thing to keep an eye on if you have just the sev and geo (and plecos) for a while is that the severum doesn't decide he doesn't like the geo around. Generally sevs and geos get along well, pretty much always ime and normally I wouldn't expect a problem, but just the two cichlids in the tank is a little bit of a wild card with your male geo's attitude. May not be any problem, but just something to watch.
But-- whatever history or dynamics led to your dominant male becoming aggressive, there's not much you can do but remove one of the males at this point (or temporarily divide the tank until you can sell or trade him). Adding some juvies to rebuild a group might be okay, assuming your aggressive male settles down without a single rival male in the tank, or adding several other adults could work by completely changing the dynamics-- but in your scenario, once one of your males targets the other, there's little chance it's a problem that will go away without some intervention.
The other thing to keep an eye on if you have just the sev and geo (and plecos) for a while is that the severum doesn't decide he doesn't like the geo around. Generally sevs and geos get along well, pretty much always ime and normally I wouldn't expect a problem, but just the two cichlids in the tank is a little bit of a wild card with your male geo's attitude. May not be any problem, but just something to watch.