I have a question

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Exteremecheddar123

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Oct 2, 2012
Messages
150
I have one African cichlid and it is a killing machine! It killed most of my tank mates and I can't add any new fish because he will kill them. I don't know why he is so aggressive and crazy ? Is it because my tank is a 30 g tall? Or is it because I fed him live food? I'm not sure so it's ok if you aren't but any tips could help !
 
What other fish did you have in there? And 30 gallon is a little small for African cichlids
 
Well I had a JD ( which was a mistake but he stayed managed for 3 years until, this one went on a killing spree. I also had a convict who is still living with the 2 Africans. I dont know the ur common names but these are the he scientifc names :
Metraclima estherae
Cynotilapia afra
 
Convicts are overly aggressive so they usually do fine with Africans, I'm not too sure about JD's though.
 
The JD died a few months back but I introduced the the Africans after the dempsey was in the tank for 1 1/2 yrs
 
My Jacks are bully's. But they were established in the tank first and I can't put anything in there with it it's dead.
 
I skimmed the article, didn't see why it can't eat live food.

How big is the bully fish? Did you try getting a pair larger than him? A 30 is really small so be careful I think with cichlids whatever you put in there it's going to be a fight.
 
I have a similar african cichlid as the one in the 2nd picture and he was hell I got him to calm down by taking him out and adding a fish specifically to take him out of dominance like and assassin basically except not deadly and rearranged the tank and put him back in and the new fish did its job then it lost all of its dominant spirit.
 
I have tried other Africans who were 1-2 in bigger than him and he still killed them. There isn't a lot of selection to put into my tank that will calm him down because the tank is only 30 g & I don't have a spare tank in my house.
 
30 is small... You may have to try to find him a companion same species or have only him.
 
I think that is my best plan just wait but he seems to be doing fine with the others except for a little bit of chasing here and there. Also I wanted to mention, the orange African stays by the filter or in the corner with his mouth out of the water. I have an aerator in the tank so why is he gulping air? Should this be something of concern?
 
It's not good for any fish to be at a corner gasping for air could mean your need to better place your air line or he is just being bullied into the corner submission
 
And I agree 30g is a bit small for Africans most agree anyway since your not planning to change id say 5 fish is your max you can try 7 or 8 maybe that's calms him Down you can put him in a breeder type tank. Rearrange the tank wait a day or so than release him see if that works if all else fails you can rehome him and start over or just keep the 3 you have and not add anything else also I always noticed feeding fish live always made them more aggressive just my own personal experience on that
 
Back
Top Bottom