My Ob is bullying...

[Jakepen]

I have 4 peacocks in my tank, 2 are ob. And one is bullying the other, like annoyingly bad. I can tell its stressing him out, constantly having to evade him, kind of hides in corners, always has to be on alert. Both same size, I think both are male. I don't want him stressed to death. This ob doesn't bother the other two peacocks though, is it because there different species? Is my best bet to put another 2 obs in the tank?

 

[PC3]

I do not know much about these fish but how well planted is your aquarium. Try and maybe add a few more plants to separate the fish. Sorry I can't help so much. Maybe you might need to get rid of 1

 

[mariah]

I have 4 peacocks in my tank, 2 are ob. And one is bullying the other, like annoyingly bad. I can tell its stressing him out, constantly having to evade him, kind of hides in corners, always has to be on alert. Both same size, I think both are male. I don't want him stressed to death. This ob doesn't bother the other two peacocks though, is it because there different species? Is my best bet to put another 2 obs in the tank?

I have 2 Ob zebras (they arent peacocks), 2 strawberry peacocks, 5 electric yellows and 5 coblat blue zebras. I think that the peacocks are a lot less aggresive. I have had two deaths and had to re-home a VERY mean dominant male. There is always one tank that has a dominant and rules the tank. you can do two things... you can re-home the mean guy, and hope that the next cichlid that takes over his spot is nicer or if he is your favourite fish, you can re-home all the ones he picks on. Since there are two males they are trying to show the other one what one is more dominant and would get a female if there is one in there. What size is your tank? if there is more room you can try increasing the number from 2 to 5

 

[SKB]

I agree with what Mariah said completely. There will always be a "bully" in the tank, trying to show its dominance. Just depends on the nature of the fish on how aggressive it is.

If you have more room, more cichlids could lesson aggression. Or decorate your tank with more rocks, shells, plants, whatever or however your tank is set up. A lot of hiding spaces helps. But it isn't going to change that the OB wants to show the peacock whos boss. It will just help with coverage. So adding more cichlids (depending on tank size) or re-homing one of them are my suggestions.

 

[Jakepen]

Yaa, both of the obs have amazing colors already, so I really don't want to get rid of either. I have a 70 gallon with 13 in there right now, my lfs is getting some more obs in Tuesday, so I'll be getting atleast another 2 than. And I have 13 cichlid stones in the tank, and tons of slate, so hiding places are not an issue.

 

[Haymaker]

I think that's a good move I had a very aggressive Kenyi who seamed particularly angry at one of my johanni I added another Kenyi and few other aggressive Africans now he splits his time evenly because he looses his target in the mix and things have settled down

 

[mariah]

Yaa, both of the obs have amazing colors already, so I really don't want to get rid of either. I have a 70 gallon with 13 in there right now, my lfs is getting some more obs in Tuesday, so I'll be getting atleast another 2 than. And I have 13 cichlid stones in the tank, and tons of slate, so hiding places are not an issue.

I like to have at least 3-4 hiding spots for each fish.... nice small ones where they okay fit in. Yes i would get more on Tuesday. I heard that odd numbers are better then even... just so there is an extra one. If they start locking lips you have to take one out or it will die. I had to get rid of my two favourite ones right off the hand.... but just learn to like another or that one fish you like, will be the only one you have lol. Yes you have a lot of room for more fish in your tank. My tank is 55 gallons and i can have up to 18-19 but have to change the water about every 5 days. You can go to at least 25 maybe but go to like 22 and then watch the levels over about a month then if they are good you can add a bit more but once they get bigger they poop more

 

[Jakepen]

I like to have at least 3-4 hiding spots for each fish.... nice small ones where they okay fit in. Yes i would get more on Tuesday. I heard that odd numbers are better then even... just so there is an extra one. If they start locking lips you have to take one out or it will die. I had to get rid of my two favourite ones right off the hand.... but just learn to like another or that one fish you like, will be the only one you have lol. Yes you have a lot of room for more fish in your tank. My tank is 55 gallons and i can have up to 18-19 but have to change the water about every 5 days. You can go to at least 25 maybe but go to like 22 and then watch the levels over about a month then if they are good you can add a bit more but once they get bigger they poop more

I have the fluval 406, the bio max that came with that, than bought another pack of bio max put that into the two open trays in my emperor 400, I cycled my tank for about three weeks before adding fish. My bio filter is very strong, I believe. But I think the most I would go to is 20 fish, Im going to do a 50% water change weekly. But I just want to keep the water as pristine as I can, so once I find the number that evens out aggression, I'll probably stop there...unless of course down the road I see a fish that I have to have.

 

[mariah]

I have the fluval 406, the bio max that came with that, than bought another pack of bio max put that into the two open trays in my emperor 400, I cycled my tank for about three weeks before adding fish. My bio filter is very strong, I believe. But I think the most I would go to is 20 fish, Im going to do a 50% water change weekly. But I just want to keep the water as pristine as I can, so once I find the number that evens out aggression, I'll probably stop there...unless of course down the road I see a fish that I have to have.

Okay so you only have the 4 fish currently?

 

[mariah]

I have the fluval 406, the bio max that came with that, than bought another pack of bio max put that into the two open trays in my emperor 400, I cycled my tank for about three weeks before adding fish. My bio filter is very strong, I believe. But I think the most I would go to is 20 fish, Im going to do a 50% water change weekly. But I just want to keep the water as pristine as I can, so once I find the number that evens out aggression, I'll probably stop there...unless of course down the road I see a fish that I have to have.

I forgot to mention there is another thing you can do... for the one that is being a meany, you can place him into a bucket with holes in the bottom and attach it to the side of the tank and float it for a week. Then introduce him so then maybe another cichlid moved up in the chain and will teach him. I did attempt this but he went right to picking on them again so he went.

 

[Jakepen]

Okay so you only have the 4 fish currently?

No, I have 4 yellow labs, 2 red zebras, 2 cobalt zebras, 1 demasoni, and the 4 peacocks

 

[mariah]

No, I have 4 yellow labs, 2 red zebras, 2 cobalt zebras, 1 demasoni, and the 4 peacocks

Okay so you have 13 so I would get 3 more OB but you can get 2 if you want. Usually peacocks are not that much of a problem. You might have a probem with both the red zebras and coblat zebras. I have to increase my cobalts to 5 (the more you have the more an angry fish can picking on a few a little bit in stead of kill and pick on just one)

 

[MMantelli]

On peacocks are known to not like other on peacocks and also not like other orange colored fish you can try removing the aggressor for a little while and mabey moving a couple stones around then put him back in sometimes with cichlids that helps I completely re-scape my cichlid tank every few months so no 2 fight over 1 specific spot for too long.