When do you give up on an aggressive fish?

[Seedy J]

tl;dr - I've got an aggressive fish that I like, but doesn't play nice with others in the tank. Should I get rid of him?

I've got an all-male Lake Malawi tank with 11 haps and peacocks. The dominant male was a Red Empress who was very cordial about being #1... once he'd established his dominance, he more or less left everyone else alone. One day I added a Cyrtocara moorii blue dolphin named Steven Tyler. ST eventually became the dominant male and harassed the Red Empress constantly. The RE looked stressed, had some battle damage, and spent most of his time hiding in a corner or behind the filter intake.

I eventually got tired of watching the carnage and isolated ST in a 20 gallon tank for 2 weeks. I rearranged the decorations in the main tank, and the RE became the dominant male again. After serving out his 2 week sentence, I added ST back to the main tank.

Things stayed peaceful for about a week until I did a water change yesterday. The RE had dug some pits in the sand, and I flattened them out. This morning, I woke up to the RE hiding behind a powerhead and ST chasing him whenever he tried to venture out.

I like ST, but if I had to pick one, I'd keep the RE. He's got nicer colors and isn't a bully. Aside from moving the whole group into a bigger tank (which won't be an option for at least a few months), I'm not sure what else I can try, and the bigger tank might not even work.

I'd hate to do it, but is it time to find a new home for Steven Tyler?

 

[BichirKing]

sounds like it might be time for another tank! I have a nice male HRP convict who had the same issues with a firemouth. now the fire mouth is dead and the HRP is in a 10g waiting for the 75g to be unoccupied. if another tank is out of the question maybe your lfs would swap you for a different fish?

 

[RD.]

I used to have an all male hap tank years ago. What size is your current tank, and what size are your fish? IME once one turned out to be hyper dominant, they stayed that way. If your fish are young enough they may settle down, but I wouldn't bet on it. All male hap tanks can be a juggling act for sure.

 

[LBDave]

Sorta why I don't keep africans anymore.

 

[Backfromthedead]

Hard to say. Your fish could be widdling down just the fish it considers competition in the tank, or it could just be a killer and only get worse as it becomes older.

I gave up on my midevil awhile ago. pure evil that one. My solution wasnt to get rid of it though, but build/acquire more and larger tanks. Its a slippery slope going that route though.

Good luck with your quandary though.

 

[jaws7777]

Ive never had success with any of the common tactics like rearranging decor or time outs. The dominant fish always reclaimed his spot on the thrown. I got sick of the musical tanks and stopped keeping multiple cichlids. Only have two that are sentimental to the family and they still bicker in a 300 gal

 

[A201]

I recently dealt with a similar situation with a very out of control XL OB Peacock. He had every fish in the tank cornered at one end. The OB bullied one peacock to death, and was on the verge of killing another, when I came up with the idea of "elevating the hardscape".
My rock hardscape spans the entire length of the 5 ft. tank. The rocks avg. About 13-14 inches tall, which left a lot of swimming room between the surface and the rocks. My Nimbochromis cichlids dominate the lower rocky areas, which left all the Aulonocaras the spacious mid to upper level to swim. With no line of sight breaks or points of refuge, the weaker upper level swimmers were sitting ducks for the aggressive OB. To solve the problem I strategically stacked four large pieces of DW on top of the rock hardscape. The DW provided elevated cover and concealment for the weaker fish. It ended the OB 's reign of terror.

 

[Seedy J]

What size is your current tank, and what size are your fish?

It's a 55g, fish are all 3-5". More detailed stocking here. I actually went out and got a 75g for them, but I got a killer deal on a high tech planted tank setup so I'm going to use it for that instead. I'm worried that even if I get another 75 for them, it won't change anything... but I guess I could pick one up next time Petco has a sale. I'm getting some garage shelving for my tanks and could fit another 75, or even a 125 if I find a good deal. I also have an empty 135 but I've got other plans for it.

The OB bullied one peacock to death, and was on the verge of killing another, when I came up with the idea of "elevating the hardscape".
My rock hardscape spans the entire length of the 5 ft. tank.

I might have to try this... I just stack my rocks and don't use anything to hold them together so that I can move them around when the fish start getting territorial. As a result, my hardscape doesn't have much "elevation" to it (and when it does, it eventually just falls over). Maybe I can just glue a few groups of rocks together to keep things modular but more stable.

 

[RD.]

Ok, rings a bell now after re-reading that thread. lol More of an all male peacock tank, with a few haps tossed in. Most haps are open water fish, so I designed my 125 all male hap tank with that in mind. (no peacocks) I had large granite boulders in my tank, but no caves, and nothing but the tops of the boulders that a fish could claim for territory. Sometimes less is more.

 

[Mdoka]

Ive never had success with any of the common tactics like rearranging decor or time outs. The dominant fish always reclaimed his spot on the thrown.

I have had these same results with all male hap/peacock tanks. I have two 125 setups like this. I’ve even tried to put two aggressors together, but it usually ends up one on each end of the tank torturing all of the other fish back and forth. No good, in the end, I would take the bully to my lfs and trade him in. These are just my results. You could possibly trade the blue dolphin in for another one. The new blue dolphin could be less aggressive. I’ve done a same fish swap before with success. Good luck, I hope you get it worked out.