ButlerKoferri(sp)

[F Thc]

I've had my tank for about 6 months..

55 Gal.
Had 5 Convicts, A blue acura, and A dempsey.
Bought some fire mouths and a dragon fish..
All devoured by the convicts.. Mind you these are small and medium
convicts..
Went to the local fish place, talked to a very cute, but not to bright
college girl who worked there. I saw a large striped fish in the
"agressive" section, and asked about it and how well it would "get
along" with the other fish.
She assured me it would be just fine..

This fish is the devil.!

It has since ate 3 convicts.. digs up all the plants. mauled the Blue
acura, and an algea eater(they have been moved to a new tank)
Tears the plastic plants apart, moves the gravel into big piles(thus his
name "bob" the builder)
and is always attacking him self in the mirrored backround. It also
plays kick ball with the skull and crossbones ceramic piece as well.

I put a divider wall in and this fish either jumps over, or when I raise
it to the cover, digs under the wall. I think this fish was Steve
McQueen in its past life.

The Jack demsey and remaining convicts have since bunkered down in the
volcanic rocks and ceramic caves... and come out only to feed , and then
they are under attack.

My questions are:

1)is this normal behavior?
2)Do they make Fish Prozac?
3)What can I do to stop this fish from destroying the inside on the
tank.

I like "bob" But another big tank is out of the question, wife would
drag me into divorce court(I have three tanks) He is about 6 inches
long and a great looking specimen. I saw one in the same store about
three weeks ago that was about 4 inches and a sign on the tank said
"19.95 or Best offer" so I think these fish are known for being a pain
in the butt.

ANY suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[RedForeman ©®]

I posted some pics over in alt.binaries.aquaria for 'us' to see the beast
you have... it's also called the Tiger Tilapia....


"F Thc" > wrote in message
...
> I've had my tank for about 6 months..
>
> 55 Gal.
> Had 5 Convicts, A blue acura, and A dempsey.
> Bought some fire mouths and a dragon fish..
> All devoured by the convicts.. Mind you these are small and medium
> convicts..
> Went to the local fish place, talked to a very cute, but not to bright
> college girl who worked there. I saw a large striped fish in the
> "agressive" section, and asked about it and how well it would "get
> along" with the other fish.
> She assured me it would be just fine..
>
> This fish is the devil.!
>
> It has since ate 3 convicts.. digs up all the plants. mauled the Blue
> acura, and an algea eater(they have been moved to a new tank)
> Tears the plastic plants apart, moves the gravel into big piles(thus his
> name "bob" the builder)
> and is always attacking him self in the mirrored backround. It also
> plays kick ball with the skull and crossbones ceramic piece as well.
>
> I put a divider wall in and this fish either jumps over, or when I raise
> it to the cover, digs under the wall. I think this fish was Steve
> McQueen in its past life.
>
> The Jack demsey and remaining convicts have since bunkered down in the
> volcanic rocks and ceramic caves... and come out only to feed , and then
> they are under attack.
>
> My questions are:
>
> 1)is this normal behavior?
> 2)Do they make Fish Prozac?
> 3)What can I do to stop this fish from destroying the inside on the
> tank.
>
> I like "bob" But another big tank is out of the question, wife would
> drag me into divorce court(I have three tanks) He is about 6 inches
> long and a great looking specimen. I saw one in the same store about
> three weeks ago that was about 4 inches and a sign on the tank said
> "19.95 or Best offer" so I think these fish are known for being a pain
> in the butt.
>
> ANY suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
>
>

[[email protected]]

Tilapia buttikoferi is nice looking but extremely aggressive cichlid.
I can still remember the first ones being brought back from West
Africa by a father & son team who ran a small shop in London. They
shipped young, wild fish all over the world and made they were a very
popular species for a while. Then people began to comment that they
were a seriously nasty fish. Tilapia buttikoferi will kill almost any
other fish and completely wreck all but the most stable tank
arrangements. They eat anything, meat, fish, plants, snails and bits
of fingers if you get too close. However if you can establish a
compatible pair you will have an amazing production line. Getting rid
of hundreds of young Tilapia buttikoferi is not easy. Most shops won't
touch them.


Steve

--
EasyNN-plus. The easy way to build neural networks.
Build networks from numeric, text and image files.
http://www.easynn.com

[The Madd Hatter]

Two words.... Frying Pan......

I put one in my 100 GAL once at 7" range... It turned my 10" oscars
into cat food, almost killed my gar pike, and pretty much destroyed
everything in its path except for my snakehead... It was the smallest
fish inthe tank by atleast 3".... Did I mention that all this happened
with in a 3 hour timespan while I went out for dinner?

Try matching him up w/ a cesar salad, and a hint of lemon... Great
brownie points w/ the wife!



On Wed, 23 Jul 2003 22:50:24 +0100, wrote:

>Tilapia buttikoferi is nice looking but extremely aggressive cichlid.
>I can still remember the first ones being brought back from West
>Africa by a father & son team who ran a small shop in London. They
>shipped young, wild fish all over the world and made they were a very
>popular species for a while. Then people began to comment that they
>were a seriously nasty fish. Tilapia buttikoferi will kill almost any
>other fish and completely wreck all but the most stable tank
>arrangements. They eat anything, meat, fish, plants, snails and bits
>of fingers if you get too close. However if you can establish a
>compatible pair you will have an amazing production line. Getting rid
>of hundreds of young Tilapia buttikoferi is not easy. Most shops won't
>touch them.
>
>
>Steve

[blove]

ahh my fave cichlid of all time. we got this gorgeous 8 incher in, some guy
gave it to the petshop i work at. i so wanted that fish but didnt have the
funds to get the 75 gallon it needed :( 50 bucks well some guy bought it
and he came in not to long ago for feeders and he went on how it kept
attacking his oscars wich he had em all in a 55 and he went on to say he had
to move the butterkoferi into a 10 gallon (wanted to drown this guy in the
feeder tank, btw) as he was walkin away he was arguin with his wife, his
wife sayin he got too many feeders (he only got 50) and hes sayin that the
fish havnt eatin in like 2 months. (i really hate ignorant stupid people,
the store i work at is a magnet for em)


"F Thc" > wrote in message
...
> I've had my tank for about 6 months..
>
> 55 Gal.
> Had 5 Convicts, A blue acura, and A dempsey.
> Bought some fire mouths and a dragon fish..
> All devoured by the convicts.. Mind you these are small and medium
> convicts..
> Went to the local fish place, talked to a very cute, but not to bright
> college girl who worked there. I saw a large striped fish in the
> "agressive" section, and asked about it and how well it would "get
> along" with the other fish.
> She assured me it would be just fine..
>
> This fish is the devil.!
>
> It has since ate 3 convicts.. digs up all the plants. mauled the Blue
> acura, and an algea eater(they have been moved to a new tank)
> Tears the plastic plants apart, moves the gravel into big piles(thus his
> name "bob" the builder)
> and is always attacking him self in the mirrored backround. It also
> plays kick ball with the skull and crossbones ceramic piece as well.
>
> I put a divider wall in and this fish either jumps over, or when I raise
> it to the cover, digs under the wall. I think this fish was Steve
> McQueen in its past life.
>
> The Jack demsey and remaining convicts have since bunkered down in the
> volcanic rocks and ceramic caves... and come out only to feed , and then
> they are under attack.
>
> My questions are:
>
> 1)is this normal behavior?
> 2)Do they make Fish Prozac?
> 3)What can I do to stop this fish from destroying the inside on the
> tank.
>
> I like "bob" But another big tank is out of the question, wife would
> drag me into divorce court(I have three tanks) He is about 6 inches
> long and a great looking specimen. I saw one in the same store about
> three weeks ago that was about 4 inches and a sign on the tank said
> "19.95 or Best offer" so I think these fish are known for being a pain
> in the butt.
>
> ANY suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
>
>

[Ty Tab]

Well my friend got me a 20 gallon tanks from a apartment next to his,
the people there got thrown out, and I put the Dempsey, and the acura in
it. Now they are battling for dominance, and the acura is looking a bit
battered . Im thinking of selling them all and getting some gold fish.
lol At least they dont try and kill each other..

Thanks for the help.

[blove]

ya but goldfish get big and are really messy
rule is 10 gallons per medium size goldfish
id go with community tropicals, perhaps a school of tetras and cory cats or
somethin.

"Ty Tab" > wrote in message
...
> Well my friend got me a 20 gallon tanks from a apartment next to his,
> the people there got thrown out, and I put the Dempsey, and the acura in
> it. Now they are battling for dominance, and the acura is looking a bit
> battered . Im thinking of selling them all and getting some gold fish.
> lol At least they dont try and kill each other..
>
> Thanks for the help.
>

[Jim Brown]

Ty Tab > wrote in message
...
> Well my friend got me a 20 gallon tanks from a apartment next to his,
> the people there got thrown out, and I put the Dempsey, and the acura in
> it. Now they are battling for dominance, and the acura is looking a bit
> battered . Im thinking of selling them all and getting some gold fish.
> lol At least they dont try and kill each other..
>
> Thanks for the help.
>

Your problem would appear to stem from keeping incompatible cichlids
together. Jack Dempsey's can be quite aggressive and territorial, while the
acara's are generally more mild mannered in comparison. Having said that,
they would be ill-suited to sharing a 20 gallon tank.
If you want to stay with cichlids, there are a number of them that exhibit
the same characteristics without the excessive aggression. Keyholes and
many of the smaller cichlids come to mind, and you can keep many of them
with non-cichlid community fish. Research before buying will help you come
up with several winning combinations.
Goldfish aren't bad either, just messy and lack the feisty life of a
cichlid.

Jim