Green Texas Not Getting Along W/ Other Tankmates Now

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C L O W N K N I F E

C L O W N K N I F E

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Sep 10, 2011
3,213
7
38
Plumas Lake, California
Sorry, I don't know the gender of my green texas so I'll just say its a "he", well anyway......

One of my texas cichlids was about 1" when I got him roughly a month ago, now he is 2.5"-3" and now that hes bigger, I noticed tonight that he is harassing my other cichlids (2 parrots, 1 firemouth, 1 jack dempsey, & 1 green texas). He has grown so rapidly these past few weeks especially compared to my other cichlids. I am feeding all my cichlids a mixture of brine shrimp, cichlid pellets & flakes.

I don't know why he is so aggressive all of a sudden, because a few days ago he was fine. he would occasionally get harassed by my smaller firemouth and bigger jack dempsey, but now the tables seem to have turned? He is swimming around the tank acting like he runs the place and wants the tank all by himself. He is also chasing all the other cichlids away from their hiding spots. He even was chasing my firemouth and blood parrot to the point they were jumping out of the water to try and get away.

I have a few assumptions as to why he may be acting differently now. Perhaps my 70g is getting to be too small? Or maybe since he has grown so rapidly and is almost the biggest in the tank, he knows he can get away with such things? Possibly even both those assumptions?

I don't have another tank yet to seperate the fish, but if I did I would have seperated them by now

I also tried rearranging the tank numerous times

So, is my only other option, to get rid of him?

:help2:
 
This happened to me with my small male GT, I just moved the plants an stuff around an he calmed right down.
 
Well, I tried to rearrange the tank several times and it didn't make a difference...I guess theres nothing I can do besides divide the tank or get rid of him and I don't want to do either :(


How do I delete my own thread? Been looking for a way to do it and can't find out how....if anyone knows please tell, thanks :)
 
I had a male GT (5") go nuts and best his tankmate up (oscar 9") so bad I had to get rid of the GT. The oscar (now 10"+) has fallen out with my texas (8")..... they are been moved from the 450 litre growout tank to a 84x26x24 tomorrow though and I have a couple of new cichlids to throw in the mix.


When you rearrange the tank make sure when the fish are at rest in their own resting spots they can't see the other fish...... breaking up the line of sight can work wonders.





Good luck bro
 
I hate it when that happens, since u tried rearanging and it didn't work u could try adding more hidding places and breaking the line of sight as suggested and u can also try lowering the temp to the lower limit. It is said that it lowers their metabolism and decrese agressivity, but haven't tried it personally yet. I prefer just taking them back and getting a smaller one or smth else instead.
 
yeah, that sounds like a combination of growing fish and small tank. (for the adults, i'm assuming that at least both the texas will be going into a larger home)

probably is a male just hitting puberty or something. texas have a reputation for having a change in behavior at around that time.

to decrease aggression i would suggest dither fish. But most importanly, rearrange the tank and add as many vertical visual barriers as possible so the other fish aren't always in it's sight
 
Green texas could be very aggressive starting 2.5", especially toward its own family. Once it becomes aggressive, i don't think theres anything that can reduce its aggression except upgrading into a bigger tank. I've tried few giant danios as dither fish, but it didn't help at all and were eventually killed by 4" green texas. So the best solution is to get rid of other fish or the green texas.
 
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