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	Are cichilids less aggressive in cooler water.
steven1982 Hobbyist Posts: 104 Kudos: 74 Votes: 38 Registered: 13-Jan-2008	Edited by steven1982 I heard that cichilids are less aggressive in cooler water, 72F, mainly Jack Dempsey. Does anyone know of this?
Posted 09-Feb-2008 01:52
Mez Ultimate Fish Guru Asian Hardfeather Enthusiast Posts: 3300 Votes: 162 Registered: 23-Feb-2001	This is not making the fish less aggressive, its lowering their body temperature to slow their metabolism, so they go into a state of slowness. Not a nice thing..
Posted 09-Feb-2008 02:14
longhairedgit Fish Guru Lord of the Beasts Posts: 2502 Kudos: 1778 Votes: 29 Registered: 21-Aug-2005	Edited by longhairedgit Yup metabolically speaking being in the wrong temperature for fish has multiple health implications. A warm water fish placed in coolwater will have reduced digestive efficiency, recieve little nutrition from the digestive process,gill lamellae always respond to changing conditions, and long term that nearly always has ramifications on oxygen metabolism and the efficiency of waste removal from the renal system, and risks underdevelopment and constipation, it may well dampen aggression because it literally takes the fish off condition, reduces its hormonal activity and cellular replacement, effectively taking out of proper condition and forcing it into ill health, lack of fitness and vastly increases its chances of falling victim to disease, and further makes it less likely to recover from said disease. Agression in a cichlid is normal, you cant change that,you find a way to live with it, and for most cases, if you really want an agressive fish to live with others it takes large water volumes wherien the fish can have its territory free of interlopers. Normal fish behaviour is there to be lived with, it is not in our remit as fishkeepers to control their natural urges, any more than it is for me to keep you outdoors in the freezing rain because you may lose your temper. Id rather have you around being slightly mean than in a hospital bed with pneumonia being really passive and weak.lol Good fishkeepers will allow the personalities of their fish to be indulged and expressed. Finding ways to live with that so that the fish lead full lives without incessant fighting, suboordination, or indeed victimising other fish is the art behind cichlid keeping. If you want calmer fish, choose calmer species. Out of thousands of species there is surely one to fit everyones needs. No attempt to modify a fishs behaviour comes without some negative consequence. Stratification of space and territory, compatible species, and tanksize, and thats pretty much it. If you choose an aggressive species, from the outset you have to accept that limits what you can keep with it. Allowing fights, trying to control their natural behaviour with overstock, or temperature and using dithers are not especially humane solutions. I tend to think the better fishkeepers avoid them like the plague. A fish and its behaviour defines its aquarium specification. When we push too hard to control natural fish behaviour, all we get is sick specimens, and often deaths. Same goes for coldwater fish in warm water incidentally, a la goldfish in a small tropical tank, they too often get digestive issues and oxygen defecits, and fish like the fancies unable to cope with outdoor temp variation often find themselves in unsuitably warm aquaria, they too become victims of disease. Notably swim bladder failures, dropsy, and gaseous gastrointestinal bloating and bouyancy issues are all far too common in the fancy goldfish area of the hobby, mostly thanks to our breeding and keeping of fish and evolving them into new forms ill suited to survival, many goldies are so organ compressed they come with environmental intolerances as standard. Be a shame to see vibrant natural fish such as dempseys are go through the same forces that so warped goldies in reverse. Generally speaking its better to accept a fish for everything they happen to be, moods and all, and accept that as a limitation of the hobby. Catering for , rather than controlling fish is fishkeeping. Catering has benefits, especially on the self education front, control is about making mistakes without the wider context to realise it. I actually normally view unusually placid specimens of aggressive species as having a health or mental adjustment issue that might need addressing for the sake of its overall health. Its a symptom as synonymous with certain conditions just as much as spots or lesions might be for whitespot or aeromonas.
Posted 09-Feb-2008 04:29
steven1982 Hobbyist Posts: 104 Kudos: 74 Votes: 38 Registered: 13-Jan-2008	Thank you for your in put. I would like to stat that I am not talking about 50F I am talking about the lower end of what the fish likes, 72-75F.
Posted 09-Feb-2008 07:24
longhairedgit Fish Guru Lord of the Beasts Posts: 2502 Kudos: 1778 Votes: 29 Registered: 21-Aug-2005	Then youll probably find it makes little as no difference. If the fish functions well within its normal metabolic range, hormones etc will still be very much under production, and the fish temperament roughly the same.
Posted 09-Feb-2008 11:00
Mez Ultimate Fish Guru Asian Hardfeather Enthusiast Posts: 3300 Votes: 162 Registered: 23-Feb-2001	Can i ask where this suggestion was mentioned?
Posted 10-Feb-2008 01:18
steven1982 Hobbyist Posts: 104 Kudos: 74 Votes: 38 Registered: 13-Jan-2008	I saw this on an web site with fish profiles. I do not remember which site however.
Posted 10-Feb-2008 01:41
toxic69 Small Fry Posts: 6 Kudos: 4 Votes: 0 Registered: 23-Feb-2008	actually yes they mostly are less aggressive at lower temps because when the temp is at the high end they go into breeding mode and try to kill any potential competition so to keep the temp at the lower end of there range will stop that, but they will still be aggressive by nature and try and kill each other unless you have a big tank.
Posted 24-Feb-2008 00:09


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