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hi i have a loan 8" midas in a 250L tank, im wondering if its possible to calm him down! hes super aggressive, and i know theyre meant to be, but i would like to put some sort of plants in there to brighten up the tank, and help the filter.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to how i can calm him down, or any suggestions of hardy plants? (but not fake)

cheers, kev

You might be able to try plants like anubias, java fern, or maybe a sword. The anubias and java fern you will need to tie down to a rock or chunk of driftwood.

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I have been told that to calm a fish down you turn the temp down to the lower end of what the fish can handle, 73-75F. I have not done this myself but you can try it.

u really cant calm down a midas they are really aggressive fish if u must have some fish in with them id try rainbow fish or giant danios cuz they are to quick to be caught. otherwise i would try if i was u but i might find one after killing a lot of fish and wasteing a lot of money.

Wouldnt be much point, probably wont have a marked effect and would just lower the fish's metabolism making it long term more susceptible to disease, and taking a fish off peak condition to attempt to "tame it" isnt really appropriate.

If its not hurting other fish or itself there isnt even a great deal of point in calming it. Its an aggressive territorial species, its what they do. I think trying to govern its aggression directly is a touch of unrealistic expectation personally.

Any particular reason you want to govern its behaviour to be less aggressive? If your not liking its personality purely out of irritation, perhaps consider a different calmer species. Not much point in choosing an aggressive cichlid and then expecting it not to be aggressive. Its not a rabid goldfish, its an aggressive species.

AHH a Midas, they have a mind of there own, dont they?
You have any pics of him, would love to see some.

Pretty much not gonna calm him down no matter what. You can try Anubias tied onto driftwood like riri said, if its just a matter of decorations. He will likely leave floating plants alone as well. Maybe a bigger tank would allow you to decorate some as he just wants as much space as possible. RD's can sometimes calm down a little in bigger quarters. At 8" already though he should not have any tank mates unless you're talking about a significantly large tank with other very aggressive large cichlids.

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