Tank mate aggression

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T

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Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 17, 2012
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USA
Hello!

I have I 29 gallon african cichlid tank with the following:

Electric Yellow pair
Acei
Demasoni
Chinese Algae Eater
Red-tailed Shark


Here's the beef, my Demasoni has become the dominate male despite his size. All my fish are an inch or under, but the Demasoni harasses the Acei the most. Not to the fin-nipping point, but random driven short-burst chases. I really like my Demasoni, so is there anything I can do to reduce this aggression? I am saving my money to add more hiding spaces in the tank, but would more fish help also? I have a little fetish about nicknaming each of my fish so I want to be able to tell them apart... Any other relatively 'peaceful' cichlids to suit my aquarium? Last question: Can I feed my fish regular lettuce (I think iceberg)? I want to keep my Electric Yellow's color electric yellow because my last lab was kind of an orangish-yellow. Thank you in advance! :)

~Autumn
 
i would get rid of the red-tailed shark (water parameters are different), upgrade your tank size (you could get away with using a 40 gallon), add more mbuna, and add a lot more rock. then the demasoni should chill out.
iceberg lettuce is mostly water with little nutritional value. go with romaine, zucchini, and peas :)
 
Your tank would be much better suited to dwarf cichlids or a planted tank.
Look around for a 55, Petco is having a $1 per gallon sale right now and you should be able to get a pretty good setup.
 
Thanks, but I can't get a bigger tank ok? I am lucky I have my 29 gallon. My dad found this rude when I asked if we could get a bigger tank. I even said i would pay for it and it was a dollar per gallon! he believes it just trial and error for cichlids. :D I will make him read the responses of people who have experience. For goodness sake, we don't even have a hospital tank! (I think I might have to secretly buy a little one and throw away the receipt so he can't return it. hehe.) Anyway. Get rid of the red-tail huh? Shucks. he really is a neat fish. So demasoni will hopefully be getting more hiding places...
 
The only thing that will work out long term is either some labs or demasoni. But I would avoid the demasoni since they usually require a hospital tank.
 
So your saying inly one species? or labs and demasoni's mixed? Can't I have a few (3-4) of each?
 
So your saying only one species? or labs and demasoni's mixed? Can't I have a few (3-4) of each?
 
oops, why can't my tank be a SMALL community?
 
ok. I think i get it a little more. I need a bigger tank because I need more hiding spaces and I need more fish to reduce aggression and more fish means a bigger tank. great. So if I did only Electric Yellows, how many could i have in in a 29 gallon?
 
For only labs, you could do 1 male to 3 or 4 females. Then you could add a few synodontis catfish or a bristlenose pleco.
 
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