Scrapping fish

[Mebbid]

My 5 rusty cichlids have grown to the point in their life when they have started fighting and they really go at it. The only problem is my dominant male gets ticked off when they decide to fight and then takes it out on every fish in the tank. Is that normal?

 

[cmbtengnr43]

Yes its like in a pack of dogs when non alpha males fight the alpha sets em strait as if to say hey hey hey I didn't say y'all could fight its a dominance thing and cichlids establish a pecking order. You need to up size your tank and provide more territories in way of hiding places or remove some of them. Also sometimes changing the tank around then putting them back in resets the pecking order and can temporarily relieve aggression but its catch 22 Cuz it can also make ot worse as they will begin fight over spaces again. Best bet get a bigger tank

 

[Mebbid]

Heh I figured as much. It's a 55g tank with a cookie cutter stocking list for a 55g. Cynotilapia afra, yellow labs, and rusty cichlids. The dom male is a crossbreed with something else though. Still an absolutely stunning fish though.

 

[cmbtengnr43]

Absolutley so how many do you have in there total ?

 

[Mebbid]

5 Rustys, 5 yellow Labs, and 6 Afras

 

[Andrew McFadden]

Yes its like in a pack of dogs when non alpha males fight the alpha sets em strait as if to say hey hey hey I didn't say y'all could fight its a dominance thing and cichlids establish a pecking order. You need to up size your tank and provide more territories in way of hiding places or remove some of them. Also sometimes changing the tank around then putting them back in resets the pecking order and can temporarily relieve aggression but its catch 22 Cuz it can also make ot worse as they will begin fight over spaces again. Best bet get a bigger tank

Great advice/ info^^

5 Rustys, 5 yellow Labs, and 6 Afras

How many males and females?

I hate rustys.. I have more problems with them in groups then any other fish. And people say they are one of the easiest.

 

[Mebbid]

Great advice/ info^^



How many males and females?

I hate rustys.. I have more problems with them in groups then any other fish. And people say they are one of the easiest.

Yellow Labs - 2m 3f
Afra - 2m 4f
Rusty - Unsure yet

The yellow labs and rustys are just finally out of their juvie stage and can finally sex them. I just haven't tore apart the tank to vent the rustys yet. I am going to trade in my extra males of both the afra and yellow labs and will shoot for 1 of the rustys to be male. I just have to contact the breeder and I can trade them in when I get a chance.

 

[Andrew McFadden]

The new that are being really aggressive are probably going to be males. They maybe starting to try to breed ( they start young) and they get super aggressive to females and other fish that won't get out of the way. My cobue killed my over aggressive rusty. I would try fixing the numbers and rescape the tank.