Question!

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Notorious

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 14, 2010
11
0
0
Colorado
I have a 55g right now I'm saving up for a 125 should be able to afford in a month or two, but in the mean time in my 55 I have a pleco, texas, red devil, and some kind of little catfish. It's just a grow out tank till i get my 125. My red devil won't leave the texas alone is there any fish i can add to maybe take the pressure off my texas?
 
Sorry but no. It will only get worse from here. Red Devils arnt community fish unless you have a monster tank, or a mild mannored 1 which is extremely rare.
55gal is kind of small for 1 of these guys as adults. Get rid of the tex and things should be peaceful. I dont believe dithers wont help in this situation.
 
Not really. Depending on their size, youll probably either need to divide the tank or get rid of the red devil. In all honesty, it probably wont even stop in a 125. Ive had several red devils that refused to let anyone live in a 125 with them...
 
I think I might just get rid of my red devil I really like the aggression, but my Texas is just way to pretty to get rid of it's the best colored one I've ever seen.
 
Notorious;4379681; said:
If I just keep the Texas can I add more fish even if it has to be non cichlids or something?

Not until a bigger tank is up and running.
Texas are just as aggressive as red devils and you will run into the same problem with the texas being too aggressive. Like I said, these arnt community fish. They are 1 fish armies that eliminate competition.
 
I had a problem with an Amphilophus Amarillo in my tank 2 weeks ago, I bought a lot of driftwood and created hiding places. Aggression really went down.
There are of course fish you can add, like silver dollars, but you can't add those in a 55.

I see you have that 125 in 2 months, maybe you could try and find some small silver dollars, add hiding places and do a lot of water changes until then you have your 125.

But it's really a lot of work.. and even after that the Red Devil may still be too aggressive.
 
Years ago I had a RD and a Tex together and they fought constantly, neither would back down. Dithers didn't help either. They just killed the dithers and returned to destroying each other. This was in a tank double the size of yours. I don't know which you should keep. No matter what you decide, if you add other cichlids with them in the future your tank will need to be bigger and the added cichlids will need to have the same temperment as well. Any cichlid that will just run or take the abuse will surely die. I have a Cyano with some Viejas and a JD with no problems. The Cyano gets a little pushy during feeding but other than that things are good.
 
Notorious;4379681; said:
If I just keep the Texas can I add more fish even if it has to be non cichlids or something?

No your tank is to small for a community like that. Red devils are well devils hence the name lol Texas cichlids are beautiful you have two choices you can either keep your Texas and rehome the Devil or the exact opposite remove the Texas and keep the devil either way you HAVE to upgrade even if you keep just one of those. Red devils will kill anything and everything when the grow to the size of just 6inches at least IME, I'd personally keep the Texas if you have a pure Texas Cichlid they get amazignly beautiful and are just full of personality, but in the end it's you tank and your choice I just hope you make the right choices. Hope I was able to help!

~Kyle
 
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