Thoughts on black water extract...

[angelmisty]

I've got a 55g tank with 4 angels, a pleco, 4 gouramis, n a green cory cat...what are the thoughts on blackwater extract. Recent spike in aggression with normal water parameters. Unsuccessfull with stresscoat treatment.

 

[Kov]

Are you wanting to lower your pH? I believe it will do that pretty dramatically, as well as give your water that yellowish (blackwater) tint characteristic of having new driftwood in the tank.

 

[azmodan]

I've got a 55g tank with 4 angels, a pleco, 4 gouramis, n a green cory cat...what are the thoughts on blackwater extract. Recent spike in aggression with normal water parameters. Unsuccessfull with stresscoat treatment.

Not quite sure what you're looking for here. Are you looking to lower your PH or keep aggression down? Unfortunately there isn't really any sort of chemical or treatment that you can add to a tank to keep aggression down. Gouramis (cousins to bettas) do not typically tolerate other male gouramis very well, so it sounds like they might've started reaching sexual maturity and are now fighting. Four angels can often end badly in a 55g as well, but it depends on the angels too.

 

[Rivercats]

How bit are the angels body sizes (dime, nickel, quarter, etc)? Also how long have you had them? Are any two of them staying close together and chasing the others? What exactly type of aggression are you seeing?

 

[angelmisty]

How bit are the angels body sizes (dime, nickel, quarter, etc)? Also how long have you had them? Are any two of them staying close together and chasing the others? What exactly type of aggression are you seeing?

We have one black angel that's probably silver dollar sized, who was our original angel after establishing the tank (4 months ago or so)...n now we have 3 platinums (added 3 weeks ago) lost one yesterday due to aggression, that are between nickel n quarter sized...

None of the platinum angels seem to be pairing off, and they aren't the ones being aggressive...our larger black angel, on the other hand, is going after the platinums but leaving the 4 gourami (approx. 2") alone.

And the type of aggression...the black angel keeps chasing the other angels as well as nipping at them..

 

[MrIasc]

We have one black angel that's probably silver dollar sized, who was our original angel after establishing the tank (4 months ago or so)...n now we have 3 platinums (added 3 weeks ago) lost one yesterday due to aggression, that are between nickel n quarter sized...

None of the platinum angels seem to be pairing off, and they aren't the ones being aggressive...our larger black angel, on the other hand, is going after the platinums but leaving the 4 gourami (approx. 2") alone.

And the type of aggression...the black angel keeps chasing the other angels as well as nipping at them..

Sounds to me like your black angel has claimed the tank as his own, I would swap out the small angels for something else. You could however try and rearrange your decor and reintroduce your fish? But I think your angel will more then likely return to being intolerant of the others after a while.

 

[angelmisty]

Not quite sure what you're looking for here. Are you looking to lower your PH or keep aggression down? Unfortunately there isn't really any sort of chemical or treatment that you can add to a tank to keep aggression down. Gouramis (cousins to bettas) do not typically tolerate other male gouramis very well, so it sounds like they might've started reaching sexual maturity and are now fighting. Four angels can often end badly in a 55g as well, but it depends on the angels too.

Just wondering if a climate angels are used too would help tame them. As far as i can tell i only have one male gourami. They are/were all ideal tankmates until about 3 days ago.

 

[angelmisty]

Sounds to me like your black angel has claimed the tank as his own, I would swap out the small angels for something else. You could however try and rearrange your decor and reintroduce your fish? But I think your angel will more then likely return to being intolerant of the others after a while.

I was hoping you wouldn't say that...hate the thought of just one fish taking control of a whole tank. I was pondering a transfer for the 3 small angels to a 10g tank till i can fatten them up. Like 3-6 months. Only trouble is it would be a new tank. Not crazy on the fisheless method

 

[HUKIT]

Actually high levels of tantric acid will reduce aggression in cichlids or any other fish for that matter as the line of sight is decreased, the individual territory claimed will reduce as the visibility decreases. The fish becomes less likely to wander further from it's smaller territory for fear of predation.

This tank( after a huge water change still dark) housed two breeding pairs of cichlasoma salvini which are some of the nastiest central American cichlids with knarly teeth, the higher levels of tannins worked very well to reduce aggression...even when breeding.

 

[Rivercats]

I would also add tannins but another method that often works is to temporarily remove the black angel to a bucket, then totally rearrange the tank making sure to have some tall plants to break the line of sight, then once your done put the angel back in the tank. This will often trick the angel into thinking it is in a new tank where it has no territory. But I can tell you that if the above methods don't work you may need to rehome him. Even if you remove the small angels for awhile till they are bigger it won't change the fact the original angel will still have the "this tank is mine" syndrome. I originally started out with 14 young angels in my 220g. But as they grew and matured I had 2 males get very large and mean. They kept all the angels in a state of turmoil. OnceI removed the 2 aggressive males the other 12 have lived together just fine. I even have 2 or 3 pairs spawning at the same time without problems. Remember Angels are cichlids and sometimes you just run across a really aggressive one, which over the years I've found tend to be males.