Agressive African Cichlid

[Graham]

I have an Ob peacock cichlid who I have raised since he was small. I am having a lot of issues with aggression. I have done all of the normal things when dealing with an aggressive fish. I add salt, I rearrange the scape in the tank, and even put him in a net for long periods of time to seclude him. When he is in the net the fish are fine, but as soon as I release him, he goes right back to running the tank. He takes on fish much larger than him, large mbuna and a borleyi which could easily take him. He just beat up a smaller fish over night to the point that I'm not sure if he's going to make it. What i'm looking for, is what's the next step from here? I am not interested in setting up an entire new tank for this guy, and quite frankly I'm considering selling him if the aggression doesn't tone down.

[bitterman]

Have you tried putting him in another tank for a few weeks to month.. a rubber main with filter and heater can work...  As soon as you move him reorganize the tank and allow the other fish to find there spot.

How big is the tank? If the tank is too small might need a bigger tank. I know with Frontosa a 6' tank is really needed... anything less and aggression issues can occur as they age.
How is the stocking? Sometimes adding more fish will decrease aggression
Keeping the lights off too will decrease aggression often.

Outside of the above you might have to find him a new home.

Bruce

[ajm1961]

One solution I can think of is "overcrowding". How many fish do you have in the tank already and how big is your tank? Another solution is to have more rocks, plants or perhaps a sponge filter to help the fish hide.
Yet another way is to get another equally "bully" fish...
I've done all three at some point, and in some cases, you just have to sell him. However, that could open up the bully niche to the next in line.

Overcrowding has worked best for me... and make sure to over-filter!

My 2 cents.

[Graham]

I currently have 15-20 africans in a 72 gallon bowfront aquarium. The tank has two marineland c-360 filters on it so I'm hoping that that more than over filters it. Oh, and the tank is 4 ft long so I'm assuming that it is more than fine for a fish of medium size. There is a female ob peacock in the tank as well I might add. She is fairly small (>2 inches), but she has already held once and ended up giving me around 50 fry! Should I separate the female and put her in another tank? I have one for my smaller africans. I'm thinking maybe that's what could be driving him crazy.

[ajm1961]

I think you nailed it...

Not sure how he will react to the removal of the female though. It might be worth trying.

Anyone else have experience in separating mates?

[robt18]

I wouldn't separate them. If the male and female are getting along then you've hit the jackpot, separating them makes you run the risk of her getting killed when she's reintroduced.

I would add a few larger fish into the tank to hopefully spread out the aggression. Also, make sure the tank is scaped in a way that there 's lots of different territory, ie. not a rock pile on one side (that the OB will dominate) and everyone else is left to the other half of the tank.

This is very common in africans, however. Typically you'll always have one dominant male in a tank that picks on everyone. If you remove him, someone else will colour up (often immediately) and start getting more aggressive and become the alpha. I've always had best result with lots of fish (and filtration) and rock work.

[sanny]

Hey Graham, another way of reducing aggression besides over crowding is lowering your tank temprature. Ive reduced aggression with this method.