HELP with my new fish

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tattis

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
May 27, 2003
Messages
8
Location
Cyprus
I have a 25g african cichlid tank with 6 fish inside(1 female red zebra, 1 venustus, 2 aulonocara, 1 female tropheus, 1 male zebra) for 1 month now. Yesterday I introduced one more fish (aulonocara albino) and within 2 hours the other fish chased it to death (especially my red zebra). All the fish are about the same size (4-5 cm) except my venustus which is 8 cm. Did I do sth wrong? It's like they will not accept any other fish in the tank... Must I do sth before introducing any other fish??? :(
 
This will happen in such a small tank with Africans. They are very territorial, and will do that every time. Plus, as the fish mature, you will run into problems with the fish already in the tank. I tried to have an African tank with a 30 gallon, and it didn't work out to well. You should think about getting a larger tank, at least 55 gallons. 6 cichlids is really too many for that little tank, and you shouldn't try to add more. Once you have a bigger tank, fish can be added by moving all the territories around. While the fish are trying to establish new territories, the additional fish will slip by unnoticed.
 
Afrcian Ccihlids are very territorial, By the time they mature the tank will be chaos.

Never buy 1 cichlid and put it in a tank with some preexisting ones. A fish naturally gets stressed and needs time to adjust and calm down. The other fish pick on him becasue he is weak. A better thing to do is put in 10-11 cichlids and then they can't single one out and kill it as easily.

Also get a 55gal tank Please! In 1-2 years their will only be 1 Cichlid left in the tank, it is way too small.

Dan :)
 
Cichlids are hard to keep in a small tank--just about impossible. I have an 80 gal tank with cichlids similar to yours and we cannot add anymore adult fish. There's room, but no matter what I do, change the rocks around, add more than one fish, they are dead by morning.
Did I do sth wrong? It's like they will not accept any other fish in the tank... Must I do sth before introducing any other fish???
You simply cannot add anymore fish to this tank and you need to come up with a plan as this fish mature. My husband and I went from 29 gal to 80 gal when our cichlids hit maturity (you can see ours in my gallery).
 
Thanks

Thanks to all of you.

I think I'll take tour advice and start planning either for a bigger tank or new inhabitants in my existing.

However, is a bit of wonder how my LFS keeps about 20 african cichlids in tanks about the same size as mine....
 
However, is a bit of wonder how my LFS keeps about 20 african cichlids in tanks about the same size as mine....
LFS sell the juvies and they get sold fairly quickly.
 
However, is a bit of wonder how my LFS keeps about 20 african cichlids in tanks about the same size as mine....

Plus if you watch them, they do fight, you just don't have to deal with the losers. And they are usually kept in a pretty bare tank in the lfs, there's too many fish and not enough territory to cover. That's fine for the short time the lfs keep them, but not good for their long term care.
 
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