Bully Venustus?

[Luca Brazzi]

I have 9 Africans in my tank. One of them is a Venustus. There are 2 other fish that are the same size as the Venustus (About 3"). The rest are smaller 1.5 - 2". The Venustus seems to be bullying anything not as big as he is (constantly chasing them around).

Is this real agression or are they only playing? If the smaller guys/gals were actually afraid, wouldnt they hide instead of staying out in the open? There are plenty of places for them to hide out.

[fishlips]

Thats what they do. As long as your fish can get away from the attacks its safe. My africans always chase each other around. I've lost a few but they may have been of weaker stock. I try to keep the agression in check by over stocking a bit so its spread out the agressive behavior over more fish rather than the same ones.

[morleyz]

I second that. My venustus is particular interested in harassing smaller fish. I order what was supposed to be a 2.5" cyrtocara moorii that turned out to be about .75" tops and the venustus chased it around constantly for about the first 2 weeks. No harm came from it that I can see. If you don't see any damage, I wouldn't worry about it.

[Luca Brazzi]

I added 2 more fish last night so my current total is 11 in a 75 gal. The list of fish is

1 Venustus
1 Exasperatus
1 Red fin Zebra
2 Metraclima Zebra?
1 Chipokae
1 Kenyi
1 PS Scolofi
2 Yellow labs

And I forget the one other PS. something-or-other

Im feeding Spirulina, and occasionally Spectrum Cichlid pellets

Am I set up for disaster?

Should I add more?


I know that some of these fish can grow to 10" but I guess I'll deal with that when I get to it.

[Reiner]

You might get into trouble when the Chipokae grows up and is a male ( they are often considered to be 1 of the meanest African's out there) . But only time will tell. Also the Venustus might need a little more protein in it's diet since it is a piscivore in the wild but the other fish are all vegeterian. As long as it is eating though and not looking skinny I wouldn't worry to much

[Luca Brazzi]

Ive noticed that I put the Kenyi and the Chipokae in there last night the Venustus has chilled out quite a bit (no longer chasing everyone around). However, I know that Im just at the beginning, the fish are all small. Who knows what these fish will be like when they get older.