fighting cichlids?

Question

I have a 5ft tank with diffrent cichlids, it has been running about a year now and all is well.

3 weeks ago i bought 2 zebra ciclids, they hid fot the 1st week alot and then they started fighting with each other locking lips and being agressive. now the smaller 1 has went into hiding and just sits in the corner of tank all day in the vase and when the bigger one goes in the other pushes it out. they are starting to attack random fish now and i dunno what to do

The 2 zebras dont fight with each other any more.
I just seen the smaller one and her colours are lovely, the black is blacker and the white is brighter, her belly is bright yellow and slightly yellow at top, the fins have a bright blue tinge to them!

iv just tried to shine a torch into the cave and i think there MIGHT BE EGGS!

They look like little grains of sand (i have gravel in my tank)that glissen in the light, looks like there is a fair amount but its hard to see, i went to take the cave out for a look but the big 1 went to bite me so ill pass on that idea.

i just looked them up on google and they are convicts cichlids, also read about breeding and i think pete has hit the spot and people gave his answer a bad rating

Answer 1

They are breeding. zebra cichlids are just another name for convict cichlids
You must have a male and a female, males are bigger.

The fighting you seen is them courting and now the female will be in the cave fanning the eggs and the male will be guarding them this is why he is attacking other fish.

Soon they will hatch into wrigglers and the parents may mover them several times until the hatch into fry about 5 days later and start swimming around tank.
This is when they need to be fed on baby brine shrimp and crushed flakes.
This is also when they will become very aggressive and attack or even kill a fish that wont give up its territory.

They will take over the tank and push all your fish into 1 corner to protect their young.

Taking out the eggs will solve the problem until the breed again, you can also put up a tank divide to protect the other fish or move the eggs and parents into another tank.

its so fun to watch them look after babies and herd them round tank. they pick them up and carry them in their mouth.

Answer 2

Most cichlids are a bit aggressive and very territorial-particularly if they are both male.

I'm afraid the only thing to do is remove one of them from the tank and see what happens. With a bit of luck everything will quieten down but it's possible that the aggressive tendency of the bully will then be used on the other fish in the tank.

Don't try "punishing" the bully by imprisoning it in a plastic bag or something. It won't work.

Fish are not very intelligent and, with the exception of instinctive actions like seeking food or escaping predators, have a very short memory span-not more than a few seconds for most species. It won't have a clue why it's "in prison" and within a few seconds of releasing it, it won't remember what happened last time it acted the bully.

Answer 3

incredibly, your tank is badly stocked relating to conserving african cichlids. maximum african cichlids do not do properly in small communities (small communities inspire the main dominant fish to attack tankmates at will with little to no opposition). they are terrific saved in bigger communities (8+). An african tank with balanced aggression (that's what you opt for) could have an alpha fish (which rules the tank); some sub-dominants (that are the competitors and opposition); and greater than a number of different decrease-'ranked' fish. African cichlids are hierarchal and a pecking order will for sure be usual. while saved in bigger communities, aggression is 'unfolded', so each 'purpose' is merely difficulty to a fragment of aggression incredibly than being a recipient of one hundred% of the punishment as is the case including your orange cichlid. Aggression in african cichlid tanks could be balanced or perhaps minimized if stocked impressive. to sparkling up the subject upload greater african cichlids. A fifty 5-gal could desire to be seen the minimum with lots of those fish and you will be able to desire to probable upload 10 greater...upload them in communities of four or greater (by way of their nature, african cichlids are exempt to the 'a million inch of fish in line with gal' rule of thumb).

Answer 4

Mbuna like Zebras can't be kept in pairs, one will always kill the other. You have two choices here - either take out one of the current ones, or go buy at least 4 more to give them a group and disperse any aggression.

Cichlids are not friends, and we need to be careful about mixing them to make sure they are compatible and kept in the right numbers. Blind stocking with no research inevitably leads to problems with aggression. Zebras should never be mixed with new world cichlids, and only kept with other fish of similar behaviour and aggression levels. Improper stocking leads to fatalities at worst, and inhibited behaviour at best.

Go to www.cichlid-forum.com and start reading up. Spend some time learning how to properly care for these fish - it will pay off in the end.

What kind of cichlids are they?? You may want to use the proper name for them for the best advice - the mbuna I'm referring to above are mouthbrooders - you wouldn't see eggs in the cave.

Answer 5

Congrats with this kind of behavior, you have babies. Make sure to read up on this fish and how to help them care of for there babies. Also know that if they have babies, depending on how many fish that you really have in your tank, you might start loosing one of two since cichlids can be very territorial when they have a brood.

Answer 6

Cichlids are actually really good parents, they're biting you because they're defending their brood, just leave everything the way it is, and you will soon seem some fry swimming around there


Hope that helps
good luck and congrats



EB

Answer 7

One thing you can try put the one who is the fighter in jail ie in a bag leave him there floating in the bag for 2 hours them let him out has worked on my fish in the past

Answer 8

well first of all the fish just meet so they are now getting used to each othwer GIVE IT SOMETIME