|
Post by corycatwoman on Jul 29, 2009 13:58:08 GMT -5
need to lower agression in my african cichlid tank. currently have 2 half matured males of seperate species.
psuedotrophus crabro (bumblebee cichlid)
Labidochromis caeruleus (yellow lab)
i think its time for me to add a group of a single species or 2 africans of seperate species.
option A- sell or get rid of one of the fish in my tank.
option B- purchase a group of labs.
option C- purchase a group of bumblebees
option D- purchase 2 new species 1 each and watch carefully over the next few days and hope the agression is spread.
Currently in my tank the agression is still mild but theres definately a fair amount of stress going both ways.
the bumble bee will stress the lab during lights off time. and the lab stresses the bumblebee during lights on time and neither of them back down to establish dominance i believe there doing a tango that will lead to one of them never giving up dominance until theres only 1 left.
what would you all think is best solution?
|
|
|
Post by goldenpuon on Jul 29, 2009 14:48:03 GMT -5
It is only a guess since I don't know much on cichlids but considering their aggressive nature but I'd say it is best to get rid of one of the fish.
Also, purshasing a new group of labs doesn't sound like a good idea in case they are males. That would just create more stress in the tank.
|
|
|
Post by bikeguy33 on Jul 29, 2009 14:54:31 GMT -5
i would either get rid off the bees and add a few more labs or visa versa. either way will work. in the meantime tho...if the aggression is still mild, i would leave them as they are as long as none are showing signs of stress....
|
|
|
Post by corycatwoman on Jul 29, 2009 14:54:53 GMT -5
well from what ive studied up on with multi species tanks is if you get more fish the subdominant fish can run into the swarm of other subdominant fish and the dominant fish gets confused and retreats and it spreads the agression out rather then onto 1 specific fish.
|
|
|
Post by corycatwoman on Jul 29, 2009 14:56:15 GMT -5
thats what i was thinking bikeguy but i was also thinking maybe adding 1 or 2 of either one for the time being it couldnt hurt anything as far as stress goes
|
|
|
Post by corycatwoman on Jul 29, 2009 14:57:26 GMT -5
no ones stressed out but there both maturing fast and once 1 of them hits maturity im sure theres no going back to being play pals
|
|
|
Post by corycatwoman on Jul 29, 2009 15:08:55 GMT -5
i would think 3 labs and a bee would be fine as long as the lab stays dominant for the time being until i can find a home for the bee. right now the bee is roughly 3 to 3 1/4 inch and lab is same just much girthier. lab has been dominant whole time despite me rearanging decor weekly.
i think if i add a pair of something i really dont care what it is what ever is best advised i dont want anymore issues at this point in time but they need to be a pair and decent sized 2 inches or 2 and half inches would be perfect to keep both the lab and the bumble bee dominant and still spread aggression.
i was thinking of the psuedotrophus socofoli to put more of a blue in my tank and still keep a relitively mild mbuna that stays in same size range as both the bee and the labs.
i could also just get a pair of labs aswell as i mentioned earlier and go back to single species tank in long run.
|
|
|
Post by corycatwoman on Jul 29, 2009 15:14:20 GMT -5
also on a quick note i could possibly get 3 psuedotrophus socofoli and 2 psuedotrophus crabro and find a home for my lab and have 2 sub species with a decent sized number for my footprint to maintain a mild agressive tank.
|
|
|
Post by corycatwoman on Jul 29, 2009 15:16:17 GMT -5
i will let everyone state there opinions and maintain rearanging decor weekly until theres an ultimate solution or i can find a home for either the lab or the bee.
|
|
|
Post by brenda on Jul 29, 2009 20:52:42 GMT -5
What size is the tank? I think bikeguys advice is the way to go. Either have a group of the bee's or the labs. Depending on tank size I wouldn't add more species. You will always have chasing of some level in an african tank. The bigger the tank the nore options you have.
|
|
|
Post by corycatwoman on Jul 29, 2009 21:07:45 GMT -5
thing is the tank isnt a regular size ive had hard time finding glass top for it. but its a 29 gallon bow front so the foot print is a lil larger then a regular square tank but its still too small for a large set up. thats why i was trying to keep my numbers in colonies small. even if i were to get a single species colony up and running i still would be pushing my luck with the correct numbers. i think i can get 4- 6 mbuna that reach max size of 5 inches in it. anymore it would be too many fish and mayhem. any less the agression is going to be the major issue.
|
|
|
Post by corycatwoman on Jul 29, 2009 21:10:44 GMT -5
dimensions= front to back-12 inches. or 15 inches from center bow. bottom to top- 20 inches side to side- 24 inches
footprint is only roughly 38-42 inches give or take 2 or 3 inches
|
|
|
Post by corycatwoman on Jul 29, 2009 21:13:28 GMT -5
will record a video of the 2 of them see if anyone can spot any behavior that is new to me all i can see is the lab is dominant and there isnt much agression just chase away and maybe a tiny nip or 2 to make a point to get the heck outa my space but nothing serious that would cause wounds or fin tears or any extra stress than a typical african tank has.
|
|
|
Post by corycatwoman on Jul 29, 2009 21:16:17 GMT -5
im looking at either having a mix species tank or an all female single species tank which will be incredibly hard to do. i believe the correct colonie of single species is 1 male for 5-7 females. and i currently by random luck drew 2 males of 2 different species. so im 2 outa 2 tries on males.
|
|
|
Post by corycatwoman on Jul 30, 2009 14:32:03 GMT -5
option a - start from scratch remove all decor and all fish and rebuild.
option b- remove all decor and the crabro and leave the caeraleus.
option c- leave well enough be for the moment since no ones being agressive or showing signs of stress buy my time for a little bit longer.
option d - remove both cichlids and start a peacock tank instead of mbuna.
|
|
|
Post by Carl on Jul 31, 2009 10:08:11 GMT -5
One thought I have, regardless of the option you choose, and that is to add more natural rocks that have lots of holes and then layer these in a way to provide more space for fish to have their own little home. Lace rock works well for this. I have also found with the Malawi Cichlids I have kept over the years that is there are lots of caves of varying sizes and as well if the fish vary in size, that I have had less problems with multiple caves where some of the larger fish cannot follow the small cichlids. Lace Rock (AKA Waterfall rock at some building supply dealers): Carl
|
|
|
Post by goldenpuon on Jul 31, 2009 14:25:30 GMT -5
Sorry CoryCatWoman. The advice I gave when I first posted was wrong since Bill and Brenda who have much more experience keeping cichlids said a differently than me. I was making an educated guess. Sorry about that.
|
|
|
Post by corycatwoman on Jul 31, 2009 18:52:07 GMT -5
no problem i find myself giving educated guesses to questions i dont know the answer to aswell but i more make them sound optomistic rather then educated. i understood what you were saying none the less and thank you all for your help. i did add a bunch of natural rock carl i will post a picture shortly.
|
|
|
Post by corycatwoman on Jul 31, 2009 18:54:48 GMT -5
i believe the larger lighter colord rocks are limestone chunks and the smaller ones are mixed granite and other river cobble from my local fishing spot on the illinois river. i scrubbed them down with a copper wire pad thing. and then boiled them. then soaked them in a bleach water solution. then rinsed, then re boiled. then let dry and then stacked them in there all clusterd theres endless amounts of hiding places in there now.
|
|
|
Post by corycatwoman on Jul 31, 2009 18:55:29 GMT -5
i still have my cups in there i was afraid to take them out completely since both have grown accustomed to there own cup.
|
|