What should I do? I have a dominant african territorial in my tank...

[Mantis_22]

Ok heres the lo-down so noone flame me. I have a 10gl, cleaned every 3 days and very well maintenanced. It has lots of hideouts and for the record im going to add more soon. It has two Blue African Cichlids in it. One is a bit smaller and one is larger. The larger seems to be the dominant of the tank. Now im not stupid or anything cause i know cichlids (africans) are very territorial. What I wanted to do is add a load of hideouts so noone gets picky and fights. Yet it seems the other cichlid that is larger picks on the smaller one. I am still debating on wheter I should move the smaller cichlid out to another tank. It it WAY peaceful and is 0% territorial. I know that because it used to be in a guppy tank awhile back and got along just fine with no 1 little incident. Should I move the smaller cichlid out into a 10gl community tank? Then maybe add 2 large Peppered Cories to this tank with the cichlid in it? I also know well the agressive cichlid I have in this tank that is territorial never messes with cories due to that they used to be always together till I switched them in my tanks. Should I do this? Also what are some other very strong fish that arent subdued by territory disputes. Rapheal (Talking Catfish) are one on my list but im looking for something with just a tad bit more movement but smaller. Anyways tanks for reading all this mumbo jumbo. There are some pics of the tank and fish below...

http://www.imahosting.com/sigs/may1404.jpg The 10gl tank (Adding more hideouts soon)

http://www.imahosting.com/sigs/may1402.jpg The smaller and peaceful cichlid which gets picked on...

http://www.imahosting.com/sigs/may1403.jpg The dominant and bully african...

[JSchmidt]

Sorry, but I don't believe you will find just about any african cichlid that will be OK with tankmates in a 10 gallon tank. It's just too small. That's really to small of a tank for that kind of fish anyway; not enough swimming room. It might be big enough for a shelldweller, but not a hap or mbuna... Sorry.

The smaller fish may become aggressive if he's no longer being dominated by the bigger one, something that's likely to increase in probability as it ages and matures.

If you're to keep that kind of fish, you're just going to have to invest in appropriately sized tanks.

This also begs the issue of water type and the fact that most african cichlids do better in water that is much more basic and much harder than the typical community tank.

Jim

[Mantis_22]

well i understand that, my PH is 7.6 always. I guess I'll just add more hiding places and things should be better. Maybe I'll add some floating plants for the smaller cichlid. Anyways thanks, but im not the richest guy in the world when it comes to fish tanks. I'm a sore 10gl loser lol...

[ChilDawg]

Hey, Mantis_22, it's not going to get much better as they mature...plus I believe those guys are plant-eaters. I'd sell at least one of them back, and either keep one as a specimen, or go African via the shellie route. If you choose to go that way, I'll give you a list of shellie links.

[Mantis_22]

I'll just move the smaller cichlid out, the cichlids were gifts :rolleyes:. Anyways give me some of those links, ive never heard of shellies?

[ChilDawg]

http://www.cichlidrecipe.com/shellweb/

http://www.cichlidae.com/tanks/t016.html

http://www.aquariacentral.com/artic...ldwellers.shtml

http://www.nature.com/nsu/000803/000803-1.html
(That one is actually just interesting, but it gives you an idea of the dynamics of social interaction between the shellies.)

http://www.tanganyikan-cichlids.co.uk/Articles.htm
(This is just an all-around good site with regard to Tanganyikan Cichlids...it's worth a read!)

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articl...ller_corner.php
(Again, a site with many good articles within it about your shellies.)

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/n_brevis.php
(A species-specific one written by our own Jayhawk.)

HTH,

Matthew

[Mantis_22]

thanks for the links

[ChilDawg]

No prob. It's my favorite thing to do here! :)

[jimbo]

Everything you want to know about the ones you have in your tank, or just read the part; 12. Compatible Fish - a complicated issue.
http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/aquainfo/index.html

Good luck

[DavidT]

From your pics it looks like you have a maylandia callainos (very aggressive) and maybe a pseudotropheus lombardoi (mega aggressive). Niether of these cichlids will live in a 10 gallon tank with anything else.

Please do not put any corydoras in the tank they will definately be killed.

My advise is to separate the fish and then read up on how to keep them. If you decide that you don't want to buy a bigger tank, 55 gallon minimum, then give the cichlids to an LFS.

David

[Mantis_22]

they look like they are getting used to eachother little by little. They just stare at eachother sometimes like "woah isint that the guy I wanted to kill awhile back?" lol. anyways I guess as long as I see no ripped to shread pieces of tails and fins its all good. Thet chase rarely but the smaller one is way much more intelligent. When the agressive one chases he can lead at a high pace around the tank faking like hes going into the glass then turn. The result... The larger cichlid hits his head and goes back to his cave lol...

[jimbo]

Nonetheless be careful, if one of the Malawi’s finds the opportunity
to kill the other one, he will.
These things always occur when you’re not around.
When you’re lucky, one of them will end up in one of the top corners.
No matter what happens, I’m sure this tank is not big enough for these creatures.

Jimmy.