Temporary stock ideas to help with agression?

[SaltyPlum]

I have a 200 gallon tank, stocked with the follwing cichlids:
- Male dovii - 13"
- Jag pair - (male 13" & female 8")
- Male festae 8/9"

For a good 3 weeks everything was working fine until the dovii and the male jag started ripping into each other. I put a divider in to seperate the jag pair and they have since spawn twice.

The festae and dovii were good tank mates for a while until recently i noticed the festae hiding more than usaul and carrying a few battle wounds and now have moved it into my sump.

Im moving house in a few months and plan to keep the dovii on he's own in the 200g and buy a 300g and stock it with all my favourite Americans, as well as a breeding rack for any spawn fry.

As i currently dont have the room to set up the 300g, could I overstock my tank now with equal size cichlids i plan to keep to help even out the agression for a few nonths until i can get properly set up?

I dont want to give up any fish as they're all great quality looking fish and have big plans for them.

Any helpful advice would be appreciated.

 

[Gourami Swami]

I would divide them instead, chacnes are you'd spend money on big fish and then your cichlids would kill them right away since they are already established in the tank. Or you would add something that could kill your current fish. Either way probably not a great solution imo

 

[Stanzzzz7]

I think your plans will be a little short lived.
A male dovii, if that's what you have, will out grow a 200 gallon.
I also think a pair of jags could cause you problems in a 300 community.
I also agree with Gourami, adding more fish is just more fuel for the fire.

 

[SaltyPlum]

I would divide them instead, chacnes are you'd spend money on big fish and then your cichlids would kill them right away since they are already established in the tank. Or you would add something that could kill your current fish. Either way probably not a great solution imo

Yeah I can see how that would work, however it would also result in reducing less room having 3 separated parts. Plus i hate looking at my tank with a divider in it, and having 2 dividers over 3 months is really going to frustrate me and test my patience. But may be my only option if i dont want to give up any fish.

Appreciate your advice

 

[SaltyPlum]

I think your plans will be a little short lived.
A male dovii, if that's what you have, will out grow a 200 gallon.
I also think a pair of jags could cause you problems in a 300 community.
I also agree with Gourami, adding more fish is just more fuel for the fire.

My profile pic is of my 13" male dovii, and a 200g is ample room to accommodate a male dovii on it's own for majority of it's life. Obviously commonsense would prevail as it gets bigger and struggles to turn in a 2.5 foot wide tank (considering doviis max out around 2ft in size).

The jag pair will most likely be kept alone and stationed with the breeding rack, but saying that trial and error if i decide to put them in the 300g community. At this point of time im trying to come up with a solution on how to keep my fish together and safe for 3 months until i have more room to get them properly set up.

 

[duanes]

I agree with Stanzzzz7, a 200 gal is way to small to house 1 male dovii for life, there was an article in th Buntbarsche Bulletin, a while back saying a 500 gal was a bit wimpy.
In fact its a bit small for a manganese pair in a real sense.

 

[SaltyPlum]

I agree with Stanzzzz7, a 200 gal is way to small to house 1 male dovii for life, there was an article in th Buntbarsche Bulletin, a while back saying a 500 gal was a bit wimpy.
In fact its a bit small for a manganese pair in a real sense.

Tank size will be forever an ongoing debate when it comes to keeping certain fish. But like i mentioned before, commonsense will prevail as it gets bigger and im pretty confident the 200g will be fine for most of it's life. You will find on youtube most big doviis and dovii pair are kept in aquariums from 180g to 240g (obviously controversial again).