Added a new cichlid last night..

[JoeyGeeze]

Hi all
Last night I purchased a new guy for my tank and I'm looking for some advice. I have added a small rainbow cichlid (herotilapia multispinosa) to my 46 gallon which currently contains ten small tiger barbs and one male young kribensis. All my researching lead me to believe that it should work out fine, however, last night and this morning my krib is NOT happy. He's chasing the rainbow around the tank and flaring up his fins a lot. They seem to be getting into several confrontations.

Please don't crucify me if you feel this is a huge mistake on my part. If so, I can return the rainbow to the store. Just looking for some advice and decide whether or not this was a bad move. The krib and barbs get along no issues, but now I've introduced somebody into the kribs territory I guess. Will this calm down after a few days ? When I first added the kribensis the barbs bothered him for a couple days then left him alone, no problems for a month now. That's what I'm hoping for with the rainbow. My tank is 36 inches long so I figured they could coexist.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[JoeyGeeze]

Any advice or help with this? I'm new to the hobby so I could use some suggestions. Is this normal for fish to react like this to new fish in the tank or is this an actual problem ?

 

[HUKIT]

You Krib is simply just showing its dominance, as long as no one is being damaged or being prevented from eating don't worry as they will settle in within a couple of days. If it progesses into the situations above then one of them will need to be rehomed, welcome to the world of cichlids.

 

[Pton46]

Try rearranging the Tank Decor , the Krib will be distracted and hopefully leave your need addition alone.

 

[JoeyGeeze]

welcome to the world of cichlids.

This made me laugh lol.

Thanks for the responses, I will be rearranging the decor first thing tomorrow morning. My main concern right now is that neither fish gets hurt or stressed out.

When I first dropped the Rainbow Cichlid in, the Krib showed colors I never even seen before. It's an albino and still is young so it hasnt colored up fully yet on the fins, but he flared up and turned red and yellow, I thought to myself "uh oh."

From what I have read/been told, both fish are peaceful enough to co exist, as long as I do not plan on breeding either.

 

[Malawi Freak]

Rainbows are very peaceful for the most part. The Krib is showing who the boss is. Just watch out for the rainbow cause they can get stressed easily.

Enjoy the change of colors on it though, mine will be light with dark stripes one day then dark with light stripes the next.

 

[JoeyGeeze]

Rainbows are very peaceful for the most part. The Krib is showing who the boss is. Just watch out for the rainbow cause they can get stressed easily.

Enjoy the change of colors on it though, mine will be light with dark stripes one day then dark with light stripes the next.

@Malawi, much appreciated response, as we've spoke before. The rainbows colors right now are dull because it's nervous. I really hope this works out for the best. Somebody told me another cichlid would help just to break up the aggression. Tomorrow I will be rearranging the decor. I didn't expect the Krib to be that mean!!

The rainbow is so cool looking, he must have changed 5 different colors since I bought it.

 

[Cichlid-dude]

Whenever i add a new cichlid to my tank this always happens. the dominant male will show the new comers who the boss of the tank is. they settle down after a few days and they fall into the order. I do sometimes rearrange the decor a bit as to make them find new territorries. I think you should be fine after a few days. good luck.

 

[JoeyGeeze]

Hi guys, just to give an update, things definitely seemed to have settled down a little bit. They are coexisting and the new guy is eating. The Krib every once in a while will chase him away if it gets too close, but he isn't terrorizing him. Oddly enough the rainbow seems to be swimming with the tiger barbs a lot lol.

I'm still waiting for the rainbow to color up a little, it's pretty dull and darker colored. Sometimes it becomes a light grey and shows nice blue colors and other times it has dark stripes towards the tail. No signs of yellow just yet.

Thanks for the help!!

 

[JoeyGeeze]

Here's a couple pics!

 

[JoeyGeeze]

Rainbows are very peaceful for the most part. The Krib is showing who the boss is. Just watch out for the rainbow cause they can get stressed easily.

Enjoy the change of colors on it though, mine will be light with dark stripes one day then dark with light stripes the next.

So I've had the rainbow in the tank now since Thursday night. The krib doesn't search the fish out, however, when it comes down to the bottom of the tank he chases it away. I've noticed that the rainbow seems to pace against the glass a lot, up and down, over and over. This seems to be an obvious sign he doesnt want to be there, as none of my other fish do anything like that. I may bring it back to the store if it's not happy. My other option is to add another cichlid, maybe something to distract the krib a little bit so the rainbow isnt picked on. Not sure what to do.

 

[Malawi Freak]

My rainbow has done the same and he has been in 3 different tanks. Even my 125.

 

[JoeyGeeze]

Really? So its something not to worry about too much? I'm going to give it until Friday I think and then make my final decision.

 

[Malawi Freak]

Yeah, I believe it's normal for them to do that.

 

[JoeyGeeze]

Question....Not to beat a dead horse here, but if I returned the Rainbow for something less peaceful that would stand up (not bully) the Krib, what would my options be? From all my research I've read about keyholes, curviceps, and rams as being "peaceful." Maybe I'm better off with something more semi aggressive to match what's in my tank?