Bully Venustus?

L

Luca Brazzi

AC Members
Oct 12, 2002
299
0
0
Visit site
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom