Is a bare tank better or worse for aggression?
- Thread starter cambrew
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Having lots of sight breaks and so on helps, although designated territory in a large enough tank should work
I don't know if it would have much affect on aggression as said above the rest of the tank decor would probably have a greater effect, but I will say that sa/ca cichlids love to dig and taking away the opportunity to imo is a bad thing.
IMO not really. IME cichlids seem to like certain areas of the tank. In my 150g I have re-arranged things many times, and regardless of what decore. Some prefer one end of the tank some prefer the middle.
Decore is important to make fish feel safe. The more hiding spots and natural aquascaping help the fish feel at home. Substrait is important for digging and in some species breeding.
Some species are more inclined to hide like the ambush preditors.
Decore is important to make fish feel safe. The more hiding spots and natural aquascaping help the fish feel at home. Substrait is important for digging and in some species breeding.
Some species are more inclined to hide like the ambush preditors.
It depends. If you crowd a lot of fish in a bare tank, the aggression is so diffused that no one fish is targeted. But if you keep only a few fish, it's a death sentence for the weaklings. I have seen many Malawian tanks crowded fish like sardine in a featureless tank. It works to manage the aggression, but it looks more like fish for sale in LFS. The dynamic is stressful and busy like rush hour in Grand Central.
Sorry I read it as bare bottom tank, if you had a completely bare tank and overstocked, the fish wouldn't be able to claim a territory therefore aggression would be kept to a minimum. But IMO all your left with is a group of drab looking fish bobbing about with no personality, sa/ca cichlids need territory to display there personality, character traits and some of there natural behaviour which we find endearing.
There's a huge difference between African and American cichlids. In nature Africans living closely where Americans are more spread out. It really comes down to the species. Solitary Americans tend to be the most aggressive and least likely to tollorate tankmates regardless of crowding. I have had fish in a crowded tank target one and will pick on that one and show no aggression to others.
But then you have species that do very well in crowding like thorichthys. Cichlids that typically live in groups tend to be the most peaceful and do well in crowded tanks.
Crowding can diffuse aggression of American as much as with African, but the scale is different. Have you seen large Midas coexist peacefully in 300+ gal tank in youtube or in public aquarium. Midas max out to 15 inch, Mbuna 6 inch, so you need proportionally much bigger tank to achieve crowding harmony.
Cichlid living in group in the wild doesn't make them more peaceful or more amenable to crowding management. Mbuna and Tropheus live in large congregation to graze algae on rock in the wild, yet they are the most aggressive species in respective lake. Predatory haps that spread out in the wild are the more peaceful species in captivity.
Few people keep solitary Africans because they are small fish. But I have kept one 6 inch Chipokee in a 10 gal after he killed every one in the community tank. He is a glass banger and attack even his own reflection.
I only suggest Bare Bottom for raising babies with massive water changes all the time. A Fish that requires soft clean water with little nitrate waste laying around. Can siphon up all the food and crap all the time and change the water and the fish are guaranteed to grow to their full potential. A lot of fish get stunted (especially Discus) because even though the tank looks pretty with all the neat sand,rocks and plants it's still going to need frequent water changes especially in a crowded tank.
