How to reduce PM's aggression?

[Fishes33]

I got myself a pair of Paretroplus Menarambo. They have laid eggs before but unfortunately the previous owner removed the eggs prematurely and the male is being very aggressive since. It will constantly nick on the female. When I put the male into a community tank, it will bully all the similar size fish. After awhile it will just go back and nick the female again... again and again...

Is there ways to make the male a bit less aggressive and maybe to accept the female again???

As for now, I just separated the two in different tanks.

 

[ciclasoman]

Simple answer: NO

Your male or female, goes both ways, will kill the other in due time. You need a group. All cichlids temper their aggression when additional fish of the species share living quarters. This may not be feasible at this point as it is rather hard to find adult Paretroplus so my suggestion, though I've never done this, is to install a permanent divider- light diffuser (folks call them eggcrate for reasons I don't understand). You must make sure it is extremely well secured or you will have a dead fish overnight.

 

[krichardson]

Rapps has juvies if you want to start a group to raise.

 

[koltsixx]

I've only got juvies myself so no personal experience with adults but from what I read Menarambo particularly aggressive toward conspecifics, with most suggesting no less then a group of six. As such your best bet is probably to do what cichlasoman said remove the female or install a divider to prevent her eventual demise at the males incessant picking. Here's a small article from the cichlid room companion that mentions said excessive conspecific aggression http://www.cichlidae.com/article.php?id=169 And while I don't know if such a procedure would work with Menarambo but many have had success breeding cichlids through dividers so if your reason for picking up the pair was breeding it may still be possible.

 

[Fishes33]

Simple answer: NO

Your male or female, goes both ways, will kill the other in due time. You need a group. All cichlids temper their aggression when additional fish of the species share living quarters. This may not be feasible at this point as it is rather hard to find adult Paretroplus so my suggestion, though I've never done this, is to install a permanent divider- light diffuser (folks call them eggcrate for reasons I don't understand). You must make sure it is extremely well secured or you will have a dead fish overnight.

I see! It's been done before with a divider. My current tank is a bowfront, I don't think an eggcrate will be secure enough, so two separate tanks for now.

Rapps has juvies if you want to start a group to raise.

I don't think I can support a group of these guys. They are 7"-8" and they are HUGE >.<" bulkier than my datnoid >.<"

I've only got juvies myself so no personal experience with adults but from what I read Menarambo particularly aggressive toward conspecifics, with most suggesting no less then a group of six. As such your best bet is probably to do what cichlasoman said remove the female or install a divider to prevent her eventual demise at the males incessant picking. Here's a small article from the cichlid room companion that mentions said excessive conspecific aggression http://www.cichlidae.com/article.php?id=169 And while I don't know if such a procedure would work with Menarambo but many have had success breeding cichlids through dividers so if your reason for picking up the pair was breeding it may still be possible.

They are like discus, they need a group to survive, but these fish aren't flat... ~~"

Thanks for the suggestion, but i think they will be better off with a new owner. >.<"

 

[duanes]

I agree with Jose, once a pair has been separated, and once a group dynamic has been broken, I've found it impossible to reunite. I had a group of 6 adult menerambo living together for years, but because they would constantly eat eggs, i tried to segregate the pair from the group, when I did they all immediately started to kill each other.
The group hierarchy in all the Paretroplus species seems to be the most important factor in their life, without it, all crumbles. I've had a group of 5 P. maculatus together for about 3 years, and won't mess with it at all.

 

[jgentry]

Yes, a group is needed with these guys to keep the aggression down. Davesfish.com had adults for sale the last time I looked at his list. I never kept paretroplus in groups smaller than 5.

 

[duanes]

Sorry if this seems a derail, but I find the group dynamic seems to work with most (not all (Nandopsis for one)) cichlids. It seems to really be determined by the allowed amount of space, most tanks just too cramped.
A while back I tried a trio of Herichthys pantostictus which failed miserably.
I now have 10 together, with plenty of petty squabbling but (as yet) nothing serious.

This summer I plan on moving my P maculatus to a 500 gal pool to see what happens.
Right now its housing a trio of C saxitillus, half dozen ceibals, some Gymnos, and carp, in theory not a great combination, but so far so good in the shallow but spread out area.

 

[jgentry]

Great point duanes. Most cichlids do tend to get along better in groups if the proper amount of space can be given. In a pond setting with 600+ gallons it's amazing what can be kept together with basically no aggression, even with fish spawning there was never much aggression.

 

[Fishes33]

very nice duanes



the female got settle in with my datnoids and start showing the color of her fins (I love it, she's so pretty)

the last pic is the male in a shallow tank

If they were in a group of 6+, it would look spectacular, but who am I kidding!?! I can't afford a 500G tank at the moment! >.<" so I am just going to look for a new owner for the pair!