Green Terror Problems

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shabedi

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 2, 2013
5
0
0
California
I have an 80 gallon cichlid tank with a 7" Oscar and a few African cichlids. They get along pretty well. The Oscar doesn't really bother anyone, unless they try to challenge it.
A couple months ago, I got a young green terror. I knew from the stat that green terrors can be pretty nasty. He was bullied a lot at first but there were plenty of hiding places for him to hide and the tank wasn't too crowded.
Lately a few fish have been dying, and I found out that the terror, which is now about 4.5" long is terrorizing my tank.
I moved the furniture around, to try and throw him off, but I now realize he's bothering my Oscar, to a point where it is hiding all the time. The green terror is literally less than half its size. I asked a few people and they said the best thing to do is to get more S. American cichlids to act as a sort of a checks and balances around the tank. My tank was pretty empty, all I had is the terror, my Oscar, and six African cichlids. Will adding more solve the problem? What should I do?
I'm very experienced with community fish but I recently decided to start a cichlid tank almost a year ago and I'm not used to so much aggression. Honestly everything was going fine until the green terror started to mature. I knew he would get more aggressive but I didn't know it would be this bad D:
And he is definitely male, I'm not sure about the Oscar though, it isn't too aggressive, it could be a female maybe.
I took some advice from someone at my local fish store--they said I should get something like a Jack Dempsey, so I did.
Unfortunately, they fought a lot more, and even though my terror kept winning, he was getting really beat up. His lower lip was actually coming off a little. I figured he wouldn't be able to keep it up so I moved him to a separate tank. Without my terror in my main tank, everyone seems to be getting along fine, the new Dempsey doesn't bother anyone really, it was just my terror.
I heard from a few other people that getting another Oscar or some silver dollars will help, but I don't know for sure.
Please help! thanks.
 
Don't get more cichlids it won't end well your are actually kind of overstocked. Oscars aren't very tough at small sizes.that tank is realistically only big enough for the Oscar and maybe the Dempsey. I advise getting rid of the Gt. Be aware the Dempsey may do the same thing once it begins to mature.

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i had a green terror in my 30 long when i was young. it was about 6 inches when it died(whole tank crashed,i was like 11 lol) well this thing was a boss, he outshined everyone,out-ate everyone and bullied everyone. all i remember is there wasnt a second when this fish wasnt smackin around another fish. i have my dempsey and a bunch of other fish including a jag in my 125 now and i bought a little 3 inch green terror when my dempsey was around 5 inches. the minute i put the terror in he went straight to the dempseys cave and started a 4-5 minute brawl. the dempsey demolished him and left him with cloud eye for a month. i was convinced the terror was going to be blind but he was fine. moral of the story in my book green terrors are extremely scrappy bull headed fish who need to outshine and outdo every fish in its vicinity. they will challenge any fish even if it means them dieing. if green terrors had the dentition and size of say a jag they would be complete maulers. luckily they only get around 10 inches and dont have that deadly of jaws(but hell they could stress a fish to death). depending on the kind of hobbyist you are you are gonne be left with a choice now. me personally i love terrors. i dont own one because im already a bit overstocked and honestly i may be able to fit one in but my tank is quite free of ego and my fish have an odd respect for one anothers space lol and i dont wanna mess up tht balance. when i had my 30 i had africans, 2 dempseys, a red devil and like 3 or 4 other medium sized fish talk about overstocked. well realistically noone really ended up dieing cuz there was enough fish to disperse the ***woopins. if you overstock you may be ok but your tank is going to need a serious maintenence regimine. and if you really like the terror its gonna be that or do a 1 fish tank and by one fish tank i mean 1 cichlid(the terror). cichlids are MUCH less aggressive towards other oddball fish like polypterus/plecos/catfish and all those fish cuz those fish displays different behavior and cichlids dont see them as competition for a mate and watever. hope it works out definitly keep us posted cuz we are here to help.
 
I think I'm going to keep the GT out, after a day my fish are already coming out and seem to have completely forgotten about him. Too bad though he'll have to be by himself. The Dempsey just minds his own business too so that's good for now. I'll see if anything changes from now on. I'm tempted to fill the tank more cause it still looks pretty empty but is that a bad idea? Oddballs can be some nice looking fish xD


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I think I'm going to keep the GT out, after a day my fish are already coming out and seem to have completely forgotten about him. Too bad though he'll have to be by himself. The Dempsey just minds his own business too so that's good for now. I'll see if anything changes from now on. I'm tempted to fill the tank more cause it still looks pretty empty but is that a bad idea? Oddballs can be some nice looking fish xD


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Maybe add some sort of oddball but don't add more cichlids


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Strange! IME, GT is one of the most peaceful cichlids, and they are only aggressive towards its own species at sexual maturity. When I put GT with Africans, I only worry about Aficans bullying the GT, not the other way around. There must be variation of temperament from different strains.
 
Strange! IME, GT is one of the most peaceful cichlids, and they are only aggressive towards its own species at sexual maturity. When I put GT with Africans, I only worry about Aficans bullying the GT, not the other way around. There must be variation of temperament from different strains.
yea true. i guess it differs from fish to fish. i never seen a peaceful one tho lol
 
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