# Thinking about getting rid of all my cichlids !



## Acipenser (Apr 21, 2010)

I am starting to tire of all the fighting, the need for larger and larger tanks just to keep 3 or 4 fish. Thinking about going back to gold fish or maybe a nice community set up.


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

what kind of cichlids?


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## ibenu (Apr 21, 2010)

You having MTS fights with spouse? Bill has a ton in his tanks, hiding spots galore. i understand different types have different requirements. ratios. There has to be a way you could maybe switch up the strains so you could have many instead of just the 3-4. What size tank you running that only has that many?

That rock that Bill uses for cubby holes is from a neat place down near gilley off of SE marine. Next week Friday I'd like to go.. 

As I re read your post I realize you may be talking about all the fish fighting... Put it out there what type exactly are giving you trouble maybe some members here have found solutions to what your dealing with...

Starting to grow on me the cichlids are.. Bunch more micro managing required than a community tank to start.. Hopes you figure it out and dont give up as much as I like goldies and all...


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## snow (Apr 21, 2010)

Start a pleco tank. Or maybe get a couple of stingrays depending on how big you tank is of course. Maybe try saltwater.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

snow said:


> Start a pleco tank. Or maybe get a couple of stingrays depending on how big you tank is of course. Maybe try saltwater.


There's plenty of fighting in my pleco tank....


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## snow (Apr 21, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> There's plenty of fighting in my pleco tank....


You know what you need? More plecos. The more you have the less they will fight.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

I don't need to do more than 2 water changes a week, and I already have 50. 

Edit: the problem is territory. If I didn't have any caves or rockwork or plants, then there would not be any territories. But I dislike glass boxes of water.


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## Roaming Ravyn (Jul 15, 2010)

I found that there is less fighting in an overstocked tank of Africans. Once you are down to a few they can really focus their aggression. 

But I also got fed up - now I am moving to all severums.


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## donjuan_corn (May 6, 2010)

I agree, i moved away from the africans and now have what is listed in my signiature. IT's soooo peacefull and fun to watch!


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## TCR (Jul 13, 2010)

donjuan_corn said:


> I agree, i moved away from the africans and now have what is listed in my signiature. IT's soooo peacefull and fun to watch!


its looks like an awesome set up and tetras are awesome colours... a flock of cardinals look really cool


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## Aquaman (Apr 21, 2010)

Depending on what type you have you may just need MORE . Or a better set up tank with hiding places and or boundaries ? for the fish . It all depends on the fish and the mix. One wrong fish in the group and you have a unhappy Aquarium. 
Have you ever been to Toms ? ( new member here  goes by Africancichlids ) He has tanks full of Africans and I have yet to see aggression from any of them.
Don't give up on them ..They are beautiful fish .... Not that there aren't nice gold fish ....


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## Ursus sapien (Apr 21, 2010)

personally, I prefer fish that display over fish that fight. things stay interesting but no one gets injured...


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## donjuan_corn (May 6, 2010)

Actually I also agree with Aquaman, I only sold my 55 gallon because I was moving. Had 20 Cichlids in there and there was barely any agression, But when I had 5-8 there would be fights all the time. Try overstocking before you give up.


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

If you decide to pack it in, you could try a community tank set up with just a pair of cichlids as the focal point. There's many species that only pick off fry and small shrimp


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## AWW (Apr 22, 2010)

Add more fish. Ballance the agression. In my 100 gallon, i have very soo agressive cichlids. THey just cant fight much because there are to many people to fight against.


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## Smiladon (Apr 23, 2010)

Maybe you can list what you have in the tank with some pics or a video and we could try and find the potential culprit 

Not all African Cichlids are aggressive. Depending on tank setup and tank mates, there can be more or less aggression.

Check out my tank and see if you would call this aggression:
YouTube - 125 Gallon Tank - Nov 28, 2009


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

my demasoni are aggressive as hell esp around spawning time
but theyre also tough as nails and seem to be ok with exchanging beatings with each other, and since so far none have died as a result of a whooping from another ive just gotten used to the way they are.
ive even seen 1 week old fry getting territorial and chasing others, i think cichlid aggression is just part of what makes them so successful in the wild


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## fisherman (Apr 22, 2010)

get some dwarf cichlids, problem solved, you get to keep cichlids in smaller tanks and you can go planted.. check out the apistogramma species or blue rams..


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## Acipenser (Apr 21, 2010)

My problem is I like fish with personalitys, these tend to be big aggressive sa/ca cichlids. I wanted to lower aggression and had heard from others about lowering aggression thru introducing extra fish. So I reluctantly tried it in my 110G. I was pretty hessitant about it but thought I would give it a shot. one of the reasons I wanted to try it was I felt my single FH was bored, it was constantly lying in the bottom of the tank for days on end seamingly bored. I picked up a Green texas oscar and midas all about 6" as well as a 5" Jaguar, I rearanged the tank, did a big water change and introduced these new fish.

With in a few hours the texas was missing a bunch of scales, the midas was batterd and bruised and the O and Jag were hiding in the top right corner of the tank.

My advisor said I needed more fish in the tank and time for them to settle in so I added another 5 inch nasty affrican that someone no longer wanted because it was terrorizing it's tank mates, this new fish now hides in the top corner with the jag and O.

I relocated the other fishies into 10g and 20G hospital tanks all set up on my kitchen counter ( you should of seen the wifes face when she got home, looked like she had been doing shots of pickle juice.) Any way I would like to know if it can be done but not at the expence of a fish's suffering..

That 48x24x24 120G at KE maybe an early self christmas present, on the other hand I wonder if I can keep all those fish in any sized tank ? I do like the personality of the affrican maybe Ill try them for a bit.


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

When I had my tank of Africans (Haps and Peacocks - all relatively large at 5-8") there was definitely some aggression as they are inherently territorial fish. Nothing that the right stocking and tank size with proper scaping couldn't handle. I do hear ya that I find that big SA/CA cichlids seem to have a bit more personality. I really enjoy my big Uarus and Severums as they are like puppies that come to the glass and beg for food everytime I walk by the tank. I like my big Geophagus as well, but they are not nearly as personable. The fish that you've listed are obviously much more aggressive than the fish that I've listed. Most fishkeepers tend to keep those fish in aggressive predator tanks and you need to be careful with the tankmate selection. Hopefully someone with "monster" fish experience could chime in to provide some guidance for you with regard to your fish.


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## simonfish (May 29, 2010)

FH, Jaguar. Texas, Midas are all large and aggressive fishes, 110G is too small to house them. I like Cichlid as they have more personality and I love to see their parental care. 
Agreed with Tony, Uaru, Severum(quite aggressive to me) Chocolate are less aggressive, they just push each other.
I love Geophagus, may be a good choice to keep Geophaugs, Bolivia Ram, German Ram, Angel, + some Cories. I think that look nice.


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