Mean fish

[Casper]

I have a 46 gallon tank and have 8 african cichlids.
1 lace syndontis catfish
1 queen botia
5 albino cory
5 clown loach
1 chinese algae eater


Problem!~ One of my cichlids is mercilessly chasing another. He won't let him come out to eat, when he does he is right on his tail biting him, etc.
the poor fish just hides up in the plants most of the time.
i had to take him out a few weeks ago cause he looked bad and treat him with melafix for a week, he got better and he is back in the main tank.

but the one fish keeps on him.

My question is, why does this one fish only bother him? I never see him chasing any other of the fish.
Question 2: Is there anything that you know can be done about this?
I really don't have anywhere else to keep them. I medicated the one fish in a 5 gallon tank and that is too small for even one cichlid.

The fish being chased is a Red Fin Boreli? and the one doing the chasing...i am not sure of his name, but he is all black with a wide orange stripe from behind his head straight down to the bottom.

the red fin is getting fungus again from the stress!

thanks for any replies

[jimbo]

First I would like to ask what kind of cichlids(species) you have in there. Also which are males and which are females.

Jimmy

[Casper]

Well? When I bought most of them I didn't have a clue what I was buying. I thought they were pretty and bought them. I know, stupid reason for buying. Shoulda researched, but I didn't.

All I know for certain is I have
2 yellow labs, one male , one female
1 auratus female

i believe the rest are males
1 red fin boreli
1 black with orange stripe (don't know what it is)

1 that is not malawi, it is from the other lake Tang? something
it is skinny and long black and yellow check looking

and for the rest I would just have to explain their colors, cause I bought them from Wal Mart out of a tank that said Assorted Cichlids

1 Blue with light black stripes
1 Peach colored
1 Peach with gray spots

Sorry! :( It is a well established tank though, I've had it over 2 years. The black with orange stripe was the last one i added about a year ago. He is the one causing trouble

Does that help any?

[Jinks]

sounds like a bumble bee! haha..

does it look anything like this....
http://www.stjinks.com/album/13/13-5.jpg

if so have fun!

[Casper]

No, that's not him.

He is completely black from head to tail with one orange wide strip that begins about behind the eye and goes down, not across.

:(

[jimbo]

Yo, quite a mix you got in there. It sounds pretty overstocked to me. Lake Tanganyika would be the other lake and my guess would be a Julidochromis sp. for the "long black and yellow check looking" that's coming from it.

I'm not sure about the “black with orange stripe” (Pseudotropheus sp.?) Are these stripes (or is this stripe) vertical or horizontal? The red fin is probably “Copadichromis borleyi red fin” (Hap) those are relatively peaceful fish. The peach colored could be an Estherae or Ps.zebra I’m not sure about the other ones

The only thing I can recommend is to make a choice which species to go on with. Your tank is suitable for 2/3 males with each 2 females. I’m not familiar with an all male tank so I can’t give you any advise on that. Perhaps somebody else can.
So my suggestion, keep the Yellow Lab and add an extra female.
Get rid of the Julio; get rid of the black with orange stripe; try to find a female for the Blue with light black stripes if you can find out which species it is.
You could keep the female Auratus(I know they look nice) but don’t add a male as they can be pretty “aggressive”. Get rid of the Peach with gray spots. You could keep the peach colored.
I just read your last posting; this might be a male Melanochromis Auratus I'll look for a pic.

I will leave what to do with the other fish to someone else , I’m not so familiar with common names.
I’ll leave this for now, perhaps you can think this over.

Jimmy

[Lisa]

I'm definitely no Cichlid expert. I made the same mistake as you - brought home "pretty" fish. It became a warzone. Look at my posted reply to "Mixing Cichlids?" to get the details. Anyways, I personally would remove the culprit before it gets worse. Once it knocks off the one it's picking on I'd imagine it would find another victim. :( Sorry about the aggressive turn and good luck!

[jimbo]

Would this be the one?
http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/aquainfo/fish_c9.jpg

[Jinks]

oh.. that guy with the orange stripe going down is probaly a tropheus! oops i thought you meant more than one stripe! ;)

http://www.gladiator914.homestead.com/duboisipics.html

That is one variety!!

http://www.gladiator914.homestead.com/CherrySpotsPics.html

that is another!

[O-man21]

I think she (he? sorry can't tell by screen name) is implying that it is one horizontal orange line that runs from the back of it's eye to the base of it's tail while the rest of the body is black. I would rule out any tropheus sp. because they have vertical lines.

[Jinks]

hehe oh.. couldnt tell what heshe meant.. :) by going down i assume from top to bottom!

[Casper]

Yes, it looks like the tropheus one.

by going down I meant from eye to bottom of fish...lol not to the tail, sorry!

thanks for all the replies. I'm trying to get some pics of the fish so I can post and you can take a look. the one who is being harassed has an open wound on its body now ;( gonna have to take him out again and treat.

Is it possible to just have the one fish in a 10 gallon tank by itself?
or is 10 gallon even too small for that.?

Still reading the replies! Just wanted to post and say that the one fish is a tropheus. He looks like the second link, but only has one orange stripe.

I hate to get rid of them, I've had them for so long, but I guess I do need to do something. When I did take out the red fin for treatment, the black fish didn't seem to chase any others? so maybe he just doesn't like the red fin?

thanks again!

[telecubby]

I have a 46 gallon tank and have 8 african cichlids.
1 lace syndontis catfish
1 queen botia
5 albino cory
5 clown loach
1 chinese algae eater


Problem!~ One of my cichlids is mercilessly chasing another. He won't let him come out to eat, when he does he is right on his tail biting him, etc.
the poor fish just hides up in the plants most of the time.
i had to take him out a few weeks ago cause he looked bad and treat him with melafix for a week, he got better and he is back in the main tank.

but the one fish keeps on him.

Take 1 or the other back to the lfs.

My question is, why does this one fish only bother him? I never see him chasing any other of the fish.
Question 2: Is there anything that you know can be done about this?
I really don't have anywhere else to keep them. I medicated the one fish in a 5 gallon tank and that is too small for even one cichlid.

The fish being chased is a Red Fin Boreli? and the one doing the chasing...i am not sure of his name, but he is all black with a wide orange stripe from behind his head straight down to the bottom.

the red fin is getting fungus again from the stress!

thanks for any replies

take one or the other back to your local lfs

[NatakuTseng]

This thread is over 2 years old.

Geesh, don't you have anything better to do than digging up threads that are anchient and the issues long ago solved and yet still replying to it? I suppose not.

[wwildcats04]

you dont have to call people low lifes just because they dug up a thread that was old. Its okay I dont think your a low life, some people from time to time on this forum can be not so nice

[IndianaSam]

you dont have to call people low lifes just because they dug up a thread that was old. Its okay I dont think your a low life, some people from time to time on this forum can be not so nice

It's a pretty common response from him. A guy who knows a lot about fish keeping, but could use work on his interpersonal skills.

If find it fun to just grab some popcorn and watch the show.

[telecubby]

it's ok Nataku has a crush on me & has nothing better to do than track down my responses, so she can be uhelpful & slanderous. If they didn't leave ancient threads open we wouldn't be haveing this discussion & thanks :rolleyes: