Tank Decorations and Cichla

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motorhead1980

motorhead1980

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 8, 2013
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Ontario
Would like to get some opinions on the following from those who have kept multiple Cichla in a tank.

I have a large piece of driftwood in my barebottom tank, looks more like a tree trunk which. Is weighted down. This piece does not realky have any sharp pieces, and i bought it for that reason. It does take up about 15-20% of the bottom space and almost to the top of my 180.

My issue is that there is some chasing going on in the tank, mainly my large Mono (12") darts after and chases one of my 9-10" Orinos. The Orinos does push back from time to time though.

I have noticed when the chase is on, it happens around the wood usually. I have noticed some fin tears, nothing serious on the Orino only. Not sure if its from hitting the wood., or quick nips from the Mono.

Should I take it out to give them more swimming room, or just leave it in? If i take it out it will basically be a bare tank as decorations go, and less for them to potentially run in to.
 
motorhead1980 said:
Would like to get some opinions on the following from those who have kept multiple Cichla in a tank.

I have a large piece of driftwood in my barebottom tank, looks more like a tree trunk which. Is weighted down. This piece does not realky have any sharp pieces, and i bought it for that reason. It does take up about 15-20% of the bottom space and almost to the top of my 180.

My issue is that there is some chasing going on in the tank, mainly my large Mono (12") darts after and chases one of my 9-10" Orinos. The Orinos does push back from time to time though.

I have noticed when the chase is on, it happens around the wood usually. I have noticed some fin tears, nothing serious on the Orino only. Not sure if its from hitting the wood., or quick nips from the Mono.

Should I take it out to give them more swimming room, or just leave it in? If i take it out it will basically be a bare tank as decorations go, and less for them to potentially run in to.
Click to expand...

This is how it looked before the 20171003_204839.jpg monos when I first set it up.
 
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Im seeing two orinos and one azul. Orinos no you cannot stop it. There the most agressive. You can move the piece around to confuse territorial claims. But other than that id leave it. Take another close up shot of the fish. But the one far right that i think your claiming is mono looks orino to me due to the occelate spot being in the same area as your orino. There rio meta's by the way
 
jimmie1974 said:
Im seeing two orinos and one azul. Orinos no you cannot stop it. There the most agressive. You can move the piece around to confuse territorial claims. But other than that id leave it. Take another close up shot of the fish. But the one far right that i think your claiming is mono looks orino to me due to the occelate spot being in the same area as your orino. There rio meta's by the way
Click to expand...
That picture is older, it was just to show what the driftwood looked like. There are now 2 Monos in there as well. Its one of my Monos that chasing the Orino, as the Orino is smaller.
 
jimmie1974 said:
I would move the wood around. Other than that its just male agression
Click to expand...
Was actually wondering whether you thought taking out the wood to give them more swimming room and no territory was more important or leaving the wood in, as it looks nice and does give some structure.
 
Get some dithers I didn't see any in the pic, silver dollars or something similar to spread aggression around (give them something different to chase around), this should help tremendously especially if there is some territory behavior. It's good that the orino is pushing back once he gets some size on the pecking order should be established don't stress if there isn't to much damage done to the fish make sure you have clean water and add salt to heal torn fins and such
 
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Yes you need some dithers.
 
cigars said:
Get some dithers I didn't see any in the pic, silver dollars or something similar to spread aggression around (give them something different to chase around), this should help tremendously especially if there is some territory behavior. It's good that the orino is pushing back once he gets some size on the pecking order should be established don't stress if there isn't to much damage done to the fish make sure you have clean water and add salt to heal torn fins and such
Click to expand...
Thanks for the feedback. Actually getting a Kelberi today that is closer in size to the 12", so we will see how that changes the dynamic. I have not used salt with bass, I have used Epsom salts before with other fish.
What type of salt do you reccomend and how much. The water is kept clean, I'm overly anal about that, actually enjoy water changes. As I mentioned its just some fin tears and some rub marks on heads and sides.
 
1 Tablespoon per 5 gallon I also use epsom salt when needed, I find that really good tank maintenance heals all wounds on fish quickly, peacock bass seem to do really well in odd numbers but you really should add dithers
 
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