FishProfiles.com Message Forums

Is there any way to make a fish not so mean? I had a jaguar, a red devil, two convicts, leporinus, and a 7 inch talapia buttrkoferi in the same tank...i got rid of the jag and the 8 inch red devil, and now the talapia who was so nice and sometimes pushed around before has become crazy, he has been beating up my leporinus that he grew up with, I put in a red terror to try and balance thing out and he killed him in less than three days, then tonight i put in a sun cat or golden catfish and hes trying to go in the cave where hes at and kill him, is there anything i could try before i have to trade him in?

the only real way to attempt to cure aggression is by giving the aggressor more space. how big is the tank they're in now? a buttikoferi will need somewhere around a 125 to attempt keeping with tankmates because they are usually a hyper aggressive species.

Even in very peaceful species there always seems to be a pecking order. If a No1 is removed another one seems to resume its place.

Have a look in [link=My Profile]http://
www.fishprofiles.com/interactive/forums/profile.asp?userid=6741" style="COLOR: #00FF00[/link] for my tank info

[link=Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tanks]http://photobucket.com/albums/b209/keithgh/Betta%20desktop%20tank/" style="COLOR: #00FF00[/link]

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Yea ive noticed that there is a pecking order, i wonder if i could put in a fish that i know would dominate like a dovii and maybe bring things to order, i have them in a large tank though, around 120 or so.

anything you put in now (especially another large cichlid) will most likely be killed. the butti has already established the tank as his and it seems he wants the whole tank. if the butti decides he doesn't want another fish around he will quickly dispose of it. the only thing you might try is finding a mate, but that will be difficult since yours is already past maturity (at least it sounds like he is).

one other trick you could try,is isolating him for a while,(if you have a spare tank or a qt tank).i had a male convict that went crazy so i put him in a smaller qt tank for a few weeks,and it worked he was much more calmer and still to this day as far as i know(a friend has him now) he is still in with all them fish and behaving himself.

Way back when I was introducing rainbow sharks to a tank holding 5 tiger barbs and a krib, I was advised to turn out the light, rearrange all the caves then turn on the lights. This kind of resets the fish as they decide their territories. Another way is the isolation and re-introduction technique as stated above. Take the most aggressive fish out, then later reintroduce him to the tank.
When adding new fish usually the least aggressive go in first and the most aggressive go in last. With cichlids it's hard to tell who's going to be more aggressive as they are all somewhat to very much aggressive. My krib took a dislike to the ottos I added yesterday. They've sorted it out now I hope, but I was prepared to take her out and set her straight!

"If you're afraid you'll make a mistake, you won't make anything."
-Family Circus