South American Aggression issues

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akagochi

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Oct 13, 2011
Messages
171
Location
seattle, Wa
Hola fish fam,

I have had my 125 up and running for about 7 months, and before that I had a 55. I have had all of my SA cichlids since they were juviniles.
2 tiger oscars (1albino)
Geo
gold severum
JD (runt)
chocolate
pleco
blood red parrot

For some reason the other fish are suddenly nipping at the Parrot fish. The fish in this tank are normally compatible...a little posturing here and there, but not the chasing and fin nipping that is going on now. The poor parrot fish hides under rocks now, and when he comes out he gets chased again. Whats really weird is that it's the Gold Sevrum, who usually hangs out and swims with the Parrot Fish, who is the lead antagonizer.

Your thoughts and solutions are welcome.
 
It's not uncommon for juvenile cichlids to "buddy up" so to speak when young to feel secure but what when the fish start to reach maturity their real behavior starts to show. That is alot of fish in a 125g, in my opinion your going to have potential aggression and water quality issues as that many fish does not allow for the needed territory for individual somewhat aggressive fish.
 
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I had a parrot fish in my 75 with SA Cichlids and it would not come out for anything, not even food. I actually had had to shake him out of the hiding spot. I only had him for a few days and I returned him. It has been my experience that they do not work well together. The parrot fish was bigger than all of the cichlids and he was still scared.
I realize this probably doesn't help you at all but I can relate.
 
It's perfectly normal for cichlids to turn on each other, even when they have grown up with each other in the past year or 2 years. Water quality and temperature affects aggression. Temperature above 80f and nitrates above 40ppm will make the fish more aggressive, in my experience.

It's time to rehome the BP. It won't get any better.
 
I run three canister filters and do a weekly PWC to keep water quality stable. I keep the temp at about 79 degrees and have plenty of hiding spots. There isn't really any other aggression but as they get bigger we will see.

I will continue to monitor but if the problem persists as some of you have mentioned then maybe I need to rehome him.
 
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