aggressiveness

[CMC]

I have what I believe is a yellow lab and other african cichlid that is a pale cobalt blue. I'm not sure exactly what kind it is, but anyway I put both of them in a 55-gallon tank with caves, rocks, plants etc. The blue one started pecking and chasing the yellow one constantly so I had to split them up with a tank divider. There are plenty of caves for the yellow one to hide but the blue would find it and start chasing it around the tank.

Does anyone know if it would help with the aggressiveness if I put another 2 african cichlids in there? I believe I read somewhere that having only 2 in a tank isn't a good idea. Any african cichlid expects out there?

 

[thecichlidaddict]

You certainly need more fish to distribute aggression. I'd start off by getting more of what you already have, they're quite social and in my opinion are nicest when kept in groups of one male and a few females.

 

[CMC]

Thanks for replying. The two I currently have now have grown since I bought them. They're about 3" long. I'm having a hard time finding the same kind that are the same size as mine. I checked the lfs that carry them and they are all smaller and I'm afraid it wouldn't be a good idea to add smaller ones to the tank. I'll keep looking though.

Also I'm not sure how to tell the difference between the males and females.

 

[thecichlidaddict]

You will not have a problem adding smaller ones, as long as you add a few at a time. One newcomer may get beat on, but a few newcomers will make aggression toward any one fish unlikely. I have added fish as small as 1" to tank that housed the same fish of up to 4" without a problem.

Don't worry about gender for now, you can remove extra males at a later point when you can recognise them.