One of my cichlids may have to go...

[manoosie]

Fish in my 55g:

4 Yellow labs (pretty sure all are males)
2 red zebras
3 Kenyi
1 ararutus
1 johanni
1 Acei
1 peacock eel
1 pleco

One of the labs is the biggest fish in the tank and is the dominant male. The problem is this: He chases all the fish (mostly the labs) ALL DAY. He has his territory, but will venture out to chase for no reason. He is getting meaner, and the stress on my fish is getting worse. The labs are often in the corner facing upwards (reminds me of the blair witch thing where they stand in the corner before she kills them). What are my options here? I am thinking...

1) Get rid of him. I dont know what will happen when I take him out, but I feel like if I put another male lab in their it will only get worse. Unfortunatly, I have no way of telling whether a lab is male or female at the lfs.

2) Put him on time out. I dont have another tank, so I dont know how I would do this. But I wonder if i left him out of the tank for a couple days if he would calm down. I doubt it, but it could work...

3) Get him some ladies. I run into the same problem as the first option, since i cant tell females from males at the lfs. However, since he chases everyone I dont know if its just a sexual frustration thing.

 

[dskidmore]

Option 1 and 2 are likely to generate a new dominant male, who will have some of the same issues.

I had a cichlid that killed every tankmate I put in with him. I couldn't find his species in any of the local stores, so I was unable to find him a mate and try your option 3.

In the end, I had to get rid of him. I only had the one, so I didn't have a problem after that with a new dominant male arising.

 

[TankGirl]

I think he will have to go. As dskidmore mentions, almost definitely a new individual will take over as dominant but I don't really see another option. You might consider trading in the entire bunch for a new bunch of juvies that would hopefully yield some females for you, if your LFS is willing.

 

[Tiffi]

If you take option #3 they might start to breed and really kill everybody in the tank.

I would keep the most dominant male and bring the others back. Try to get a female for him somehow or some juvis and bring the rest except for the PAIR you want to keep back.

 

[TankGirl]

I have had success with a trio of L. caeruleus in a community tank - they were in fact the least aggressive fish in the bunch - but you never know. I got several batches of fry from them before I sold them.

Sometimes just rearranging the decor is enough to calm everyone down, and sometimes you just have to remove the bully. You could try just removing him for now and watching the others to see what they do, and taking it from there.

 

[Elmware]

Have you tried re-arranging any of the ornaments in the tank?

Oops, been mentioned.

 

[manoosie]

Have you tried re-arranging any of the ornaments in the tank?

Oops, been mentioned.

Yea, tried that with no luck. This guy really picks on them regardless of where they are. I think for now I should pull him out and see what happens. Can I just stick him in a bucket of tank water? How long can I leave him in it?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Also be careful with your Auratus. Is it a male or female? They are the most aggressive African Cichlid in Lake Malawi. It's just a heads up if you see aggression down the line.

I would also return it to the lfs. Another fish will emerge as the dominate fish in the tank, but hopefully it won't be as bad.

 

[TankGirl]

You can leave him in a bucket for a short time, but not long enough for a new pecking order to be established. For that to work you would need him out of there for a couple of weeks, and a bucket is not going to work for that, lol.

This is why having some sort of quarrantine tank or emergency setup is going to be so useful to you as a keeper of Africans. There are situations that are going to come up, especially in a larger tank like a 55, where you may need to remove an individual for one reason or the other, and a 10gal could do the trick for your needs. They are very cheap, and a cheap HOB or sponge filter (you can leave either of these running on your big tank when not needed) plus a heater is all you need. Keep the 10gal dry when not in use and it is easy as pie to set up when you need it. Just food for thought, lol.

 

[Elmware]

Those little guys are neat fish. Whenever I come close to my tank, the cichlid comes right out to me like as if he wants to rip my head off if he could.