55 Gallon Acei Tank - Need Help

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Zbbal

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I have a 55 gallon tank with seven Aceis, and up until recently everything has been okay. However, I am noticing more and more battle wounds and missing scales from the weaker of the seven. I am afraid that three more aggressive fish are going to slowly kill the rest. I have already added more hiding spots, but that has little effect against the dominant Aceis. Any help is appreciated.
 

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Josh Holloway--Be mine!!!
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7 Acies?? Adding 3 more aggressive fish?? I am sorry, what is the question??
 

Zbbal

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Ah, sorry for the misunderstanding. I have seven Acei, and three of them are extremely aggressive and terrorizing the other four. I'm just not sure how to lessen the violence. Also, is there a recommended method or medicine to help ensure the wounds some of the fish have heal properly?
 

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Josh Holloway--Be mine!!!
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Oh. They are just getting "Mature" and territorial. The three are probably males. The other 4 is going to have to be moved, there is no other option. In the future, you may be left with only "one".

The injured fish should heal by themselves, but they MUST be moved/removed.
 

Zbbal

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That doesn't make sense, no offense. They are all injured, it's just that four out of the seven are weaker in temperament and get abused more by the Alpha and the other two fish. I can remove some of the fish, but doesn't that ultimately defeat the purpose of having an Acei community in my 55? What would be the purpose of a 55 with a few Acei? According to threads on this site and others, Malawi Mbuna become more aggressive with less fish in the tank. I guess I'm not getting what you are saying.
 

Slappy*McFish

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Rearrange the decor and/or continue to add more rock for territories and hideaways.
 

Pittbull

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OP stated that he had already added more decor just for that reason, with the size of the Acei in mind i would vent check them and only keep one male and the rest females they may be jockeying for dominance and chances are that the 3 bullies are all males.. I have 5 right at full grown adults Acei, one male and four females in a 120gal with large Black Calvus and mine too fight, but its expected...

If you do not want to remove the two other aggressors you might want to try adding 4 Larger Mbuna to offset their dominance.. For anything healing weekly water changes with stress coat and or adding a tablespoon of non iodized salt per 5gal of water will help in the process..
 

Zbbal

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I can still add more caves, so I'll do that. What should I do if the aggression continues? I've separated the three from the four before, and the four start attacking each other. I realize that owning cichlids means learning to break up these fights, I just hope I can find a way to keep my babies and protect them.
 

djlamonica

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Id add another group of mbuna or more acei I personally over stock the hell out of mbuna tank have about 25 mbuna small groups. Just make sure you over filter over 10x gph and do large weekly water changes. I keep 5 acei 8 yellow labs 5 rustys 4 neon jewels 3 polits 5 tropheus something or other.
In a 55
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Zbbal

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I added some salt earlier, so I'm glad I'm on the right track. I'll try and vent them tomorrow. If the three bullies end up being all males should I keep the Alpha or the least aggressive male? If I were to get more Mbuna, which would work best with my group?
 
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