spike in aggression

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M

mr-t

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 15, 2008
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Salisbury, UK
ok, i guess i new it was going to hasppen at some point but the change was so quick. my cichlids have always got along minus the odd bit of chasing.

this was until this weekend, i came home from work to see the smaller of my 2 convicts on its side at the top of the tank with pretty much all its scales missing on its left side and some serious deeper damage. i was thinking he was not long for this mortal coil anyway as he was swimming head down and flipping over (not through choice it would appear)

since this occured the aggression in the tank has spiked massivly. the convict which is left and my green terror have been at each other hammer and nail, they have been lip locking (the first time i have ever witnesed this in my tank) and both are looking like they have bee in the wars especially the green terrors bottom lip (i am supprised that the terror was handed such a beating by the con, is this normal?)

at one point my gt was being hounded by the con, parrot and my banded leporinus? also the jag (juvi) was hounding the leporinus and robertsonni and the robertsonni was helping out my gt.

if things get any worse i am going to have to loose some of my fish as i do not have a spare tank.

any thoughts?

cheers
 
create a bunch of hiding places... What size tank? They should calm down once territories form again...
 
the tank is a 450 L (120G i think) i have added extra plants and hiding spots but they just seem to keep meeting up at one end to fight it out, neither the con or the terror are prepared to back down once it kicks off
 
any other fish in there?
 
My gt is the same way.. my new jewel bit through his bottom lip and took part of his fin. But now he runs the whole tank again. No more lip locking. The GT chases but never fights or has to fight. Weird how the GT seems fragile but mighty. Good luck maybe the bullies need to come out of the tank while you redecorate then reintroduce...
 
ummm the same stuff happened in my tank when my pike cichlid choked and died. he was the king of the tank. the alpha anyways after he died the whole balance got mixed up. i had all juvies in my tank 2" and under sept a 3" oscar and 3" pike. i had 4 firemouths 2 jags and the oscar n pike cichlid well after pike cichlid died one of the jags hit a growth spurt. there was a constant war going on in my tank for about 2 weeks than it died down. but i lost all 4 of my firemouths. but they were just in there as dithers. i got them for a buck. but it should all calm down once they re establish their hierarchy
 
have added more plants and changed a few of the landmarks to try and calm things down. until yestarday i had not seen my parrot or convict as they were both hiding behind some large rocks at the back of the tank. i think this was because they decided that my gt was not gonna back down and decided they had better make themselves scarse. thay seem to have settled now and are all eating healthly and the fighting seems to have slowed to just chasing.

it would appear that my gt has won the battle, i am still awaiting the war as chuck norris (jag) gets big enough to try for dominance, fingers crossed there will be no blood shed, thaks for advice guys
 
i dont think you will have to worry about the jag. once he is big enough he will quickly establish dominance in the tank and from what ive seen of jags once they know everyone is afraid of em they really dont bother the othere fishes anymore.
 
good news then, i never thought i would get so wound up when the con, parrot and leporinus all started on my gt, he used to be such a stunner, now he looks like a cage fighter, haha
 
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