HELP!!!

[Broke EF]

Hey guys, now that racing season is winding down I am back to messing with the aquarium. Not that I neglect it other times, but I focus more attention to it in the winter. Anyway, for those who dont know I have a 46 gallon bow front with a Fluval 306 filter. I currently have the following fish

1 Lemon Tetra
7 Diamond Tetra
1 Panda Cory
1 L183 Starlight Pleco

Now I know my numbers suck. I had some major die off that wiped out the lemons, and the panda's died shortly after. I left the tank alone expect maintenance for a while (months) to make sure everything was OK. The other day I decided to start adding fish again. I went to get either Panda's or Lemon's but they didn't have either. Well they had Panda's, but they didn't look great so I passed. So I ended up getting two long fin rams. They look like long fin gold rams?!

I know I should have filled the schools back in first, but the wife fell in love and I wanted new fish. I acclimated them just fine, and everything was good. I got them on Saturday, and now today I have problems!

There is one Diamond tetra that is much larger than the rest. They are all from about the same time (I think one or two were replaced) and all but one are close in size. The large one was always boss of the tank, but never aggressive. Now today I come home, and it is being VERY aggressive to everything. It is on the left side of the tank, and attacks everything that comes anywhere close to it. The Rams are pretty chill, and don't seem to mind much. However it looks like they have gotten nipped a little. The other tetras all try to school with the large one and it just attacks them.

I am not really sure what to do, I fed them and that did nothing. Water was changed a day or two before I added the rams. I don't know it if will settle down on its own, or I need to get it out of there. HELP!!!


Thanks in advance,
Sean

 

[Rivercats]

This is a pain in the backside situation. I've seen large males do that when wanting to spawn but if it's chasing all other fish off I'm sure that's not it. For some reason the addition of the rams could just have triggered something. Sometimes fish can be fish for years and suddenly go aggressive for no apparent reason. About the only way I know how to deal with this is to "try" to remove the offender, rearrange the tank so it looks totally different, let the other fish settle down, then readd the problem child. Many times this works but not always. It's worth a try.

As for the addition of the new rams be sure to keep your nitrates low, they are very sensitive to them or poor water quality in general.