Power shift in my south american tank... Ideas?

[Loureed]

My Sa tank has a JD , parrot, and a convict. They have been happy up until recently. My convict and JD are the best of friends but my Parrot who is smaller is attacking the JD. They have plenty of room and places to hide and call their own. There hasn't been any damage but the nipping is getting more aggressive. What can I do to end this power struggle?

 

[5x5]

Not to be overly picky, but you don't have a single South American Cichlid In that tank!

 

[Coursair]

Central American Cichlids and one hybrid.

 

[jrodqualls]

Convict cichlids are South American fish. I have them myself

 

[HUKIT]

Convict cichlids are South American fish. I have them myself

You may want to research a little prior to posting incorrect statements, Cryptoheros Nigrofasciatus are from Central America!

 

[jrodqualls]

Well even so you may want to try an not be rude when posting anything. Try a lil respect on your next post. Sides correcting people an try to be a show off are two totally different things... Mean people smh :/

 

[HUKIT]

Convict cichlids are South American fish. I have them myself

It's ok for you to correct someone with incorrect information? I have no need to show off my knowledge, I haven't felt the desire to impress someone since I was 12...grow up.

 

[jetajockey]

Well even so you may want to try an not be rude when posting anything. Try a lil respect on your next post. Sides correcting people an try to be a show off are two totally different things... Mean people smh :/

There's nothing rude about correcting misinformation. Two people ahead of your post had an opposing view to yours, at that point I'd have been double checking my information.

No one likes being told they are wrong, but don't confuse it with rudeness. If you were belittled or called a name then its a different story completely, but that didn't happen in this thread.

 

[jrodqualls]

I guess not. Sorry. But please try an be a lil calmer when responding there are people that make mistakes an a lot of them when enjoyin this hobby. I myself have had my share of mishaps but I enjoy what I learn from the people like yourself who already have knowledge in this field. So again sorry for my mistake an I did look it up juss now an boom your right central americans an so are firemouth cichlids I thought both were south american.

 

[jetajockey]

Its all good, it can be hard not to imply tone of others when communicating through text.

Back to the topic, I've never mixed these species myself. What size tank is this again? I suspect that if the jd turns out to be male that the balance of power would shift after he hits his growth spurt.

I've had male jds rip apart perceived threat fish when they get in breeding mode.

 

[Loureed]

Wow... This forum gets more and more discouraging everyday. I am asking for advice bc I am learning, I've had goldfish and community tropicals, so cichlids are new to me. I also live in Dayton so the lfs are nothing but misinformation. Their tanks were all labeled south American. I have them in a 30 but my 55 for them is days away from being fully cycled. I am probably going to take them all back and just keep a 5 inch clown knife till it gets bigger and then rehome it to my sister Inlaws 300 tank. I'm pretty sure cichlids are just not in my future.

 

[Jacobsal91]

Wow... This forum gets more and more discouraging everyday. I am asking for advice bc I am learning, I've had goldfish and community tropicals, so cichlids are new to me. I also live in Dayton so the lfs are nothing but misinformation. Their tanks were all labeled south American. I have them in a 30 but my 55 for them is days away from being fully cycled. I am probably going to take them all back and just keep a 5 inch clown knife till it gets bigger and then rehome it to my sister Inlaws 300 tank. I'm pretty sure cichlids are just not in my future.

Cichlids can be a bit tedious, if not given the proper enviorment it can lead to severe aggression problems. I would try to rehome them to the 55 u have asap. Dont be discouraged, and also a 55 gal is usually the minimun reccomendation for cichlids. So you might still have an overstockked tank if your not careful with what your doing. Just keep a close eye on them if you see any
Problems try rehoming the more
Aggressive ones. But putting the fish into the 55 may just solve your nipping issue. These are my veiws and opinions.

 

[HUKIT]

There are no surefire ways to reduce aggression in aggressive fish, this is one of the biggest sources of frustration and one of greatest rewards when it works out. I've had fish snap during the night and kill every tankmate within hours, some of my current fish have killed dozens of others. The only thing that can be done is keep the largest tank possible(and even then it can still fail), increase the breaks in the line of sight, and rearrange the tank decor occasionally to make the fish reestablish their territories and enable individual areas to occupy. When central and south american fish start to mature their behavior changes overnight, don't give up there since there are no fish IMO that offers the rewards of keeping new world cichlids.

 

[jetajockey]

Wow... This forum gets more and more discouraging everyday. I am asking for advice bc I am learning, I've had goldfish and community tropicals, so cichlids are new to me. I also live in Dayton so the lfs are nothing but misinformation. Their tanks were all labeled south American. I have them in a 30 but my 55 for them is days away from being fully cycled. I am probably going to take them all back and just keep a 5 inch clown knife till it gets bigger and then rehome it to my sister Inlaws 300 tank. I'm pretty sure cichlids are just not in my future.

What do you find discouraging? If it's in relation to the back and forth earlier in the thread about convicts being sa or ca, I just want to say that it's extremely important for us to try to be as accurate as possible. In doing so we have to hold each other accountable when we think someone is incorrect.

The reason is fairly simple, when we post things on here they are in stone, and they will pop up on a basic google search. When someone is googling for information on something and they see it here, and it turns out it's inaccurate, then they just continue the inaccuracy thinking it is valid because they saw it here. Or ultimately it makes the forum look bad/ a place that gives bad or inaccurate advice. Anyhow back to the topic.

I don't know of any good LFS in your area, but I can tell you that we are planning to move near there soon. With a lot of help and even more luck I will have my own LFS and I can promise you it will be the best one around, so here's for hoping.

It does sound like your aggression issues could be related to the tank size, apart from getting a bigger tank in the meantime you could put more cover in there to help break line of sight.

Is there any actual damage or is the BP just giving chase?

 

[Loureed]

Rehoused them, added half the water out of their thirty, and half the substrate, put the filter materials in the fifties filters to help with cycling and hoping it will keep the tank a little more balanced ( fingers crossed) this makes the tank total 1 jack Dempsey (light colored female?) 2 and a half inches, 1 parrot size of a golf ball, 1 convict 1 and a half inches, 5 inch clown knife, and 2 inchish sized clown loaches to help with stray food. All seem pleasant for now. Thank you for the encouragement, I really love these fish and I need to remember its a learning experience

 

[Loureed]

Here's the tank

 

[jetajockey]

If you have a close up pic of the JD we can try to sex it.

 

[Loureed]

What do you find discouraging? If it's in relation to the back and forth earlier in the thread about convicts being sa or ca, I just want to say that it's extremely important for us to try to be as accurate as possible. In doing so we have to hold each other accountable when we think someone is incorrect.

The reason is fairly simple, when we post things on here they are in stone, and they will pop up on a basic google search. When someone is googling for information on something and they see it here, and it turns out it's inaccurate, then they just continue the inaccuracy thinking it is valid because they saw it here. Or ultimately it makes the forum look bad/ a place that gives bad or inaccurate advice. Anyhow back to the topic.

I don't know of any good LFS in your area, but I can tell you that we are planning to move near there soon. With a lot of help and even more luck I will have my own LFS and I can promise you it will be the best one around, so here's for hoping.

It does sound like your aggression issues could be related to the tank size, apart from getting a bigger tank in the meantime you could put more cover in there to help break line of sight.

Is there any actual damage or is the BP just giving chase?

Thanks for the encouragement! I understand the need for accuracy, just a bit frustrated I suppose. If you do open a store open it near the Greene. That is really the only shopping center on the rise and still making money around here. We have gerbers and it's pretty good about things but try used to only deal private and just recently went public so it's kind of intimidating at times. Please do open a store! There are lots of people here wishing petsmart would stop pretending they know things. Just advertise! If you get a name and location ahead of time I can help spread the word and I actually work for a screen printing and promotional products company, so anything we can do to help I'm sure we can get some discounts and such for local biz. If you open a store here I will be your number one customer, bc we have very few options here

 

[HUKIT]

I would move the rock on the left further away from side to create another area for a fish to establish a territory, the more breaks in the line of sight the better.

 

[Loureed]

If you have a close up pic of the JD we can try to sex it.

Here are a few