how to introduce a new fish?

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x3kenster

Feeder Fish
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Sep 8, 2009
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i recently just picked up a 4" Texas and introduced him to my 100g that is housing a JD, a FH, and an Oscar. well i rearranged the decors before i put him in to isolate the old territories but that didnt help any because as soon as i put in him they basically all decided to chase and attack him. i thought maybe they would leave him alone after a while but after standing and observing for over 30 mins nothing changed and it seemed like the texas was getting really stressed. i decided to take the jd, oscar and fh out and threw them into my 60g so the texas can get comfortable in his new home without the harassment. the fh will be rehomed into the 60g alone perm. but that still leaves the oscar and jd. should i try it again once the texas feels at home or it probably wont happen? how do you guys introduce a new fish into the tank without the residents trying to regulate on it?

thanks in advance,
-noob:(
 
Yea this is the problem with central/ southern cichlids, they are just so aggressive and territorial. I mean the basic way that I have used is changing the decor in the tank, maybe feed the others while initially dropping the new fish in, turning off the lights...that about sums it up. I mean you can try and re-introduce but I dont think it is really gonna work but, you never know! Sometimes these cichlids are a hit or miss kinda thing. Good luck
 
yea i might try again once the texas looks comfortable. thought the texas would do fine since they are all pretty much the same size. im sure he can hold his own, just not against 3 at a time!
 
Your doing the right things. I would add some dithers in the tank so the aggression of the known fish are dispersed between the texas and lets say silver dollars or tinfoil barbs... you can always take them out when you feel they all get along wel..
 
i might would suggest removing all the fish and adding least aggressive to most aggressive 1 at a time every 15 mins...not always a good idea but having the smallest/least aggressive in there first and then having the larger/most aggressive fish added they enter his(smallest/least aggressive) territory

ive done this with Piranhas and its worked great for me

just an idea
 
in situations where the established fish are all adult and aggressive, the only option I would do is perhaps add a divider with the new fish on one side in order to let it properly acclimate to the tank without dealing with tankmates, then when you are ready to introduce to the 'community' remove the divider, preferably with the lights off, and essentially just hope for the best
 
Dividing the tank, and temporarily removing the fish is probably just putting a dampener on the situation. My answer would be time. A species like a Cyano or Carpinte is going to adapt relatively quickly, and should be able to hold it's own in a day or 2. Unless they're harming the fish real bad, just let them do they're thing. If it still doesn't come around, put it somewhere else.
 
well i tried most of the advice and it didnt seem to work. i do not want to keep them together too long without my supervision because they constantly chase him non stop. its not just a scare away chase, its a hunt you down, i wanna kill you chase lol. so i just removed the aggressive guys into the 60g for now and threw my less aggressive guys into the 100g with the texas. seems to be working right now. although now the flowerhorn is getting harassed by the oscar and the jd.
 
Usually every time I've have added a new cichlid to a cichlid tank, it gets punked by everyone the first day - their way of trying to establish dominance. I see the situation going the other way in the near future with the "less" aggressive ones in with the tex. What is the size difference between the new fish and the current ones you moved?
 
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