Seeking some aggresson help....

[krzr3000]

I have had a 7" female urophthalmus (mayan cichlid) and 5" JD (hes an adult but deformed so hes a shorty) in a divided 55 for a year now. Occasionally i take out the eggcrate divider for maintenance. They pretty much sit there jaw-locked and eventually leave eachother with chewed up mouths if left together.

I'm just wondering, would adding maybe a few adult cons or similar cichlids fray some of the aggression? These are the only new world cichlids i have, i have mostly mbuna where i know more fish equals less aggression. I would like to give them full run of the tank...but i'm not optimistic. Any ideas?
Thanks

 

[jgentry]

It's not likely to work. A 55g just doesn't give enough space for both to setup territories. Plus they are related fish and even more likely to not get along.

 

[orbit]

It's not likely to work. A 55g just doesn't give enough space for both to setup territories.

Agree. The only thing you could try is to pull the devider, add a lot of enclosures, rearrange the tank and just hope for the best... A 55g would be okay for two of the same size fish you have but any more would be cramped living...

 

[WildCAught]

The JD will get killed. Uro's are bullies that can back up their threats. It may (unlikely) work if you introduce some other fish but unfortunately your fish have a grudge with each other with all the tension they've had through the divider.

 

[krzr3000]

The JD will get killed. Uro's are bullies that can back up their threats. It may (unlikely) work if you introduce some other fish but unfortunately your fish have a grudge with each other with all the tension they've had through the divider.

I think thats it...
I have tried rearranging and such and it didn't really help. Right now with the divider they each have similar setups on each side...a flower pot and pvc pipe so i didn't see territory being such a big issue. Oh well...

Its actually the JD being the bully at first at least, when i pull the divider the uro is more attentive to trying to kill my hand. But the JD is persistent and i think it finally gets to the uro.

Thanks for looking.

 

[Pyramid_Party]

Maybe think about gettign rid of one of them and just keeping the other. Its actually small for both of these fish in the long run.

 

[Mattyou]

 

[krzr3000]

Maybe think about gettign rid of one of them and just keeping the other. Its actually small for both of these fish in the long run.

Normally i would agree but...
The uro is almost 2 years old...i would say full grown.
I got the JD from a guy dumping all his fish off at the shop i worked at. It should be 10" but like i said its deformed. Head is normal to about 5" back then it looks it was chopped in half and grew fins. The guy said he had it for 5 years. For the most part it just sits in its pot/pvc until feeding time or if the divider is out.