Flavus issues

[moldyform]

I have a 6 ft display tank with various Affricans.

I recently took a few fish out due to over crowding. Also added 3 male Afra C. Flavus was ok before this but now is ferocious, chacing these males resentlessly.

Flavus is approx 10-12 cm long and an awsome male and dont want to get rid of it just yet.

Is there any way of tamming him. Maybe with a female or two???

Cheers

[electricyellowz]

Usually a female would make him worse because he will want to claim more territory and will become more agressive to fish that want to swim past his territory.

You could also try adding in new rocks to create more hiding places for other fish.

Hope that helps,

Ben

[Mattnshez]

Try adding more rocks or creating some caves

[Josh]

Your male flavus probably see your afra as a threat to him. All he would see is the yellow color and this would be setting him off.

[moldyform]

Thanks Guys. It deinetly got worse after Afra were added. I'll put more rocks in and see how it goes.

Cheers

[CThompson]

I have Cobwe and flavus living side by side and breeding without an issue. The problem here isn't with the flavus, but with your tinkering. You said you removed fish due to overcrowding, then said but you added the cobwe. That strikes me as being counter productive, and you have the results from this.

Cobwe can be seriously aggressive (as can a lot of mbuna), the flavus is probably thinking along the lines of it is better to be the aggressor, than be picked on. Removing the flavus will very likely just transfer the issue to another fish deciding that it is better to be the aggressor.

If there is no damage being done let them sort it out. A six foot tank is not a bad size, three cobwe and a flavus should be able to get along. How the tank is set up will be critical.

Moving the decor around will likely increase aggression with all fish as they fight to re-establish territories and pecking order. Not the best solution to increase aggression when you are trying to do the opposite, but may be an option.

Adding more places to hide may be your best solution, put some places up high and increase what is already there.

[moldyform]

Thanks Cthompson. I took about 9 fish out of about 25 fish then added 3 Afra.

So far the Afra have showed no agressivness to any other fish. But Flavus is as you said being the aggressor.

You said to put hiding places up higher. How do you acheve this as it seems it is the higher places that the Afra tend to try and hide like above power heads ect.

Cheers

[electricyellowz]

How do you acheve this

You stack rocks on to of each other. Usually fish that are being attacked go to hide in the top corner of the tank or behind high powerheads etc..

[CThompson]

You can also add some floating agricultural piping or even some standard pvc and attach it near the surface.

One of the simplest strategies to combat cichlid aggression is one that is a usually a winner on a hobbyist level as well. That is with fish numbers. A dominate fish can only spread himself so thin, and his activates though just as active will have less and less of a negative side. To a large extent it is this aggression that keeps our cichlids so active and interesting.

So taking out these fish has actively gone in the opposite direction to this basic way of tackling aggression. In addition to that, you put three what I assume to be adults back into the tank that had no history with the tank’s hierarchy. Of course the male flavus is going to act as he is, he has nothing to lose, and everything to win.

If NO damage is being done by this flavus, then don’t worry about it.

I don’t know enough detail to know fully what is going on, but you say you took the nine out due to overcrowding. Why was it overcrowded? I suspect you may have thought that this was an issue that you needed to deal with but wouldn’t be surprised if your conclusion was faulty. Indeed, 25 fish in a six foot tank is NOT overcrowed. I've got 70 + adult Tropheus in a six foot tank (higher than standared height though). I've got uncounted numbers of breeding adult mbunas in a tank 4 foot 8 inches, I'd guess 50 odd, with no issues other than lots of water changes.

Provided your fish weren’t being damaged, and the filter/s were handling the bioload, you should have left well enough alone – “if it isn’t broke don’t fix it”. Indeed one of the “secrets” to keeping cichlids is to not fiddle. Set it up, then maintain (wc and filters). If you have to add new fish do so NOT with adults. Young fish will not be seen as a threat and will for the most part be ignored, and the newly introduced young fish will be well aware that they are outmatched by existing adults and will just “fit in”. As they grow older and larger they will test their boundaries and gain more territory and more standing, but this will be done incrementally and have virtually no impact or disturbance. Contrast this with adding three new adult mbuna….and if you were the flavus you probably wouldn’t be so constrained.

Craig

[moldyform]

Thanks Craig.

The reason for taking out fish was i thought that the tank was crowded, most likley didnt have enough rock work + i had too many E.blues and yellows and it was these i took out.

So adding more fish and rock work with higher hidouts seems to be way to go.

Cheers