Tank mates for an aggressive african cichlid (X posted)

[Sunshyn]

I have one aggressive African cichlid all alone in his tank. He has
killed off all of his african tank mates. Not exactly sure what he
is... kinda looks like a metriaclima zebra. He's gorgeous but foul
tempered.

Can anyone think of some other creature I can put into the tank w/ him
that he can't/won't kill? Or am I just out of luck?

Sunshyn

[bettasngoldfish]

How big is your fish? How big is your tank? Are you sure the other
fish died as a result of this fish picking on them? Have you checked
your water perameters?

[bettasngoldfish]

I have a pseudotropheus crabro aka bumble bee african cichlid that
lives with this type of catfish
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/mochokid/synodont/121_f.php they
get along very well.


Maria

[Sunshyn]

bettasngoldfish wrote:

> How big is your fish? How big is your tank? Are you sure the other
> fish died as a result of this fish picking on them? Have you checked
> your water perameters?
>

In the order asked:
3"
50 gallons
positive
yes, all normal

[bettasngoldfish]

Can you post a picture of your fish? Maybe that would help if we knew
exactly what type of cichlid you have. Were all the fish about the
same size/age when you added them to the tank? When adding a new fish
to a tank with aggressive fish already living there it helps to
rearrange the tank decor. It keeps them busy by trying to find a new
territory rather than bother the new fish. Hope I am making sense, its
getting late and I am very tired....

[Sunshyn]

This is the best pic I could get... the flash both spooks him (faded
colors) and blows out the markings, plus he seems to be feeling shy today:

http://www.angelfire.com/ny3/sunshyn178/images/cichlid1.jpg

yes, all the fish where the same size, roughly only a few weeks after
him. i know i should not have waited. I rearranged the decor before i
got new fish and again upon introducing new fish... he doesn't care.
all was well for about 2 weeks until he decided who to kill first.
after the first one, he killed one every other day. I also got 4 new
ones all at once because just one or two at a time usually causes
trouble....

[Elaine T]

Sunshyn wrote:
> I have one aggressive African cichlid all alone in his tank. He has
> killed off all of his african tank mates. Not exactly sure what he
> is... kinda looks like a metriaclima zebra. He's gorgeous but foul
> tempered.
>
> Can anyone think of some other creature I can put into the tank w/ him
> that he can't/won't kill? Or am I just out of luck?
>
> Sunshyn

You need to stock in a bunch of mbuna at once, and then introduce your
zebra back in. In more detail...

First, move the zebra into quarantine. Use ammonia to get your
biofilter so it will support many more fish - I'm not an expert of
fishless cycling but I think you shoot for 1 ppm by adding a drop at a
time and keep dosing that daily. Once there is no ammonia and nitrite
and your filter has more capacity (could be as fast as a week or so)
stock a bunch of other similarly tempered cichlids into the tank all at
once. Give them a week or so to find territories. Finally, rearrange
the tank, turn the lights out, and move the killer zebra back into the tank.

For tankmates, I would consider Melanochromis auratas, other differently
Pseudotropheus spp. like Pseudotropheus lombardoi, Labeotropheus
fuelleborni, and other aggressive mbuna.

The suggestion of a Synodontis catfish is also a good one.

--
__ Elaine T __
><__'> http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><

[steve]

Sunshyn wrote:
> I have one aggressive African cichlid all alone in his tank. He has
> killed off all of his african tank mates. He's gorgeous but foul
> tempered.


You sure it's not female?

:)

steve (ducking)

[NetMax]

"Sunshyn" > wrote in message
...
>I have one aggressive African cichlid all alone in his tank. He has
>killed off all of his african tank mates. Not exactly sure what he
>is... kinda looks like a metriaclima zebra. He's gorgeous but foul
>tempered.
>
> Can anyone think of some other creature I can put into the tank w/ him
> that he can't/won't kill? Or am I just out of luck?
>
> Sunshyn

The bottom line is that he/she is a mbuna or a farmer. In the wild, how
well they survive depends on how much rockwork they can defend, because
the algae & bugs living in the rockwork are their source of nutrition.
Any fish added is a potential competitor to this food supply.
Ironically, they often tolerate Plecos even though they go after the same
food, because Plecos are not indigenous to African lakes and in our
aquariums, the mbuna don't actually have enough algae to compete with
other fish (and learn about Plecos). Their territorial behaviour is
instinctive and directed at similar bodied fish.

Knowing this, some possible options are to introduce non-territorially
threatening fish (a lot of dither fish at the same time, bottom crew
etc), or remove the mbuna and stock the tank with other fish for several
weeks. Then introducing the mbuna into what appears to be a new
environment with established territories may put him/her on his/her heals
for a while.

It is Steve's fault that I'm on this 'his/her' stuff ;~)

Personally, I think that if you try to territorially reset the tank, this
will be an ongoing problem. Your fish is in prime condition, and
newcomers will likely be smaller, weaker, less aggressive, less
assertive. Alpha fish smell weakness. My approach would be to pull the
mbuna out for a week, introduce a lot of similar sized but not similar
bodied, fast swimming dither fish. If you want to populate the bottom of
the tank, either choose innocuous targets (cats), or multiple targets (a
half dozen Labs), and be sure to change up the rockwork, as much as
possible.
--
www.NetMax.tk