What is my severum doing?

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M

myklein2

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 13, 2010
30
0
0
New Hampshire
My 6" gold severum has started acting strange. He stays in the top corner of the tank just staring upwards. When he leaves the corner, he is aggressive towards every other fish.

I have been growing it out for almost a year from about quarter size. He has been with 3 silver dollars the whole time and a green severum. i added a couple cory cats a while back with no problem. I just introduced a 3" electric blue jack dempsey a couple weeks ago. The EBJD is low man on the totem pole in the tank and doesnt challenge anyone.

My severum has always been the most mellow, peaceful cichlid I have had. It never bothered anyone. It is just strange to me that my gold severum is going after everyone and claiming half of the tank as its own. Does this have anything to do with spawning?

Could have the EBJD set him over the edge somehow?

They are in a 75 gallon, water quality is good and i feed them well.
 
Omg my green severum is doing the same thing well not Almost the same. She was always so good and nice to everyone. Then I added a true parrot 4" same size as the severum. I all so had her since she was an inch. My severum now she is a big b**** always going after the new guy. I think it's just a power thing the order has been messed up and they have to work it out again.
 
I just wanted to follow up. Its been about 2 weeks and my severum has chilled out and gone back to his peaceful ways. He is still a little aggressive during feeding time, but even that has gotten better the last couple of days. It looks like everything in the tank will fine.
 
Glad to hear it has calmed down.

Most cichlids will act aggressively to newly introduced fish (especially other cichlids) because they view their tank as their territory. When a new fish comes in, they have to let that fish know who's boss.

The best way to curb that is to either combine the fish into a new tank together at the same time, or pull the existing cichlids, rearrange the tank, and re-add the existing and new fish back at the same time.

My male turquoise severum was nasty toward everything I tried to mix him with, so instead I turned the tables on him and mixed him with everything else. Worked like a charm. :)
 
Good advice. I should have tried that. I think I am stocked now for cichlids. But I will keep that in mind if I am ever in that situation again. Thanks!
 
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