Old tankmates fighting?? Please help

Lynsey

Lynsey

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Nov 28, 2002
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Here is my setup:

75 gallon long (5 feet long x 1.5 feet wide X 16" tall):

1 Albino Oscar (10" including tail)
1 Blood Parrot (5" including tail)
1 Sunshine Pleco L-14 (8")
5 Giant Danios
2 Fluval 404 canisters, 1 Maxi-jet 1200, weekly water changes. I have not tested my ammonia or nitrites in a while, but my nitrates are never above 10ppm.

The Oscar and BP have been in the tank together for over a year now. They were both about 2-2.5" when first introduced to the tank. They have always gotten along great. I have never seen them fight or chase each other once. They even sleep in the same pot together at night.

Now, the last two days the Oscar has been chasing the BP. The Oscar chases him around with his mouth open. The Oscar even cornered the BP, however the Oscar doesn't do anything to him when he corners him. I have not seen the Oscar bite the BP, but the BP is rather stressed from the chase. The Oscar is also vibrating his tail when the BP come nearby.

What should I do?? I love them both and don't want to part with either one. I know most of you don't like BP's, but he was my very first cichlid and I got him before I even knew what he was.

I was thinking about possibly adding a smaller convict to maybe break up the fighting or a milder geophagus of some sort, but I don't want my tank to be overcrowded. I don't mind getting rid of the danios to make room if you think it would help. Or is there anyway that they will "work it out".....I don't really know if fish do that or if it just gets worse. Any advice would be helpful. Or maybe a couple silver dollars instead of the danios, to add to the middle of the tank, instead of the top (which is where the danios hang out)
 
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I would add some new decor so that territories can be more clearly demarcated and so that there are more hiding places. I hope all goes well for you.
 
I am going to rearrange the tank tomorrow and possibly put the Oscar in a bucket while I do it so the tank will be new to him when I put him back. I also made a pot/cave that has an entrance and an exit that the BP can just fit in, but Oscar can not so hopefully that will provide the BP with a safe retreating place. I was also thinking about adding a few silver dollars to break up the middle of the tank, and possibly getting rid of the danios. Does this sound like a good idea?
 
For now I added 4 silver dollars. I will take the danios out later. I rearranged the tank, I even switched the filter intake/output and moved the powerhead to the otherside of the tank, so even the water current is different. I took out a huge pot that i had in there (I mean huge!!) so now there is alot more swimming room for them. I am letting the temp come down a bit too. I have power compact lights on the tank, so they keep the temp up at about 81-82. I am going to switch the lights out too and make it more of a subdude biotope instead of the bright powercompacts. I also made the BP a place to hide that the Oscar can't get to. So hopefully they will be friends again, or at least tolerate each other. So far so good. :) but only time will tell.
 
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