Bullied Fish -what to do?

[msmtinct]

Will try again. They move fast...

So now that the bullied Cichlid is healed should he take up permanent residence in the smaller tank or should he go back to the 55 gallon tank where the mean fellow Cichlid is?

 

[msmtinct]

I "adopted" 6 Cichlids that were left at the LFS. About 18 months in I noticed one of the fish was acting odd and I figured out it was being bullied by another Cichlid. I moved it from the 55 gallon tank to a smaller 20 gallon tank and treated it with Melafix. The skin has healed but I was wondering if I should leave it in the smaller tank as I fear the bullying will start again if I put it back in the 55 gallon. Both tanks are heavily planted and have lots of hiding spots. Other fish in there include Playts.

 

[Sgooosh]

I "adopted" 6 Cichlids that were left at the LFS. About 18 months in I noticed one of the fish was acting odd and I figured out it was being bullied by another Cichlid. I moved it from the 55 gallon tank to a smaller 20 gallon tank and treated it with Melafix. The skin has healed but I was wondering if I should leave it in the smaller tank as I fear the bullying will start again if I put it back in the 55 gallon. Both tanks are heavily planted and have lots of hiding spots. Other fish in there include Playts.

hi, what type of fish are in the big tank and the small tank?
there are a vast variety of chichlids and some are mean lil buggers

 

[msmtinct]

In both tanks I have Platys. I also have Cory Catfish in the 20 gallon as well. I could try to post pics of the Cichlids but they hide a lot and move quickly.

 

[Colin_T]

Pictures always help

If they were fighting before, it will be worse if you put the fish back in now. So leave it where it is and do not mix them.

 

[Essjay]

I have merged two threads which are on the same topic.

 

[msmtinct]

Pictures always help

If they were fighting before, it will be worse if you put the fish back in now. So leave it where it is and do not mix them.

Here are some photos

 

[Colin_T]

African Rift Lake cichlids, Mbuna from Lake Malawi. Some of the most aggressive fish found in aquariums.

The electric yellow cichlid (Labidochromis caeruleus) is pretty peaceful but many Rift Lake cichlids are plain nasty.

Keep them separate from now on.

 

[msmtinct]

W

African Rift Lake cichlids, Mbuna from Lake Malawi. Some of the most aggressive fish found in aquariums.

The electric yellow cichlid (Labidochromis caeruleus) is pretty peaceful but many Rift Lake cichlids are plain nasty.

Keep them separate from now on

 

[msmtinct]

W

What about the smaller blue striped one?

 

[Colin_T]

The black fish with the horizontal blue stripes looks like a maingano and is pretty peaceful too.

The fish I have concerns about are the ones in the top row of pictures (pale blue with vertical stripes and the pinky coloured fish. The light blue fish could be a lombardii and the pinkish one could be a zebra cichlid, both are highly territorial. Clear pictures of those 2 fish might let us provide a more positive identification.

 

[msmtinct]

I will try for better photos. Those are actually 2 orange ones and one has a black crest top fin. It's weird but they were fine for 14 months and only started beating the other one up about a month or so ago.

 

[Colin_T]

They probably became sexually mature and wanted to breed, then bashed the one they didn't want near them. It happens all the time with Rift Lake cichlids.

 

[vanalisa]

They probably became sexually mature and wanted to breed, then bashed the one they didn't want near them. It happens all the time with Rift Lake cichlids.

Ouch.

 

[msmtinct]

They probably became sexually mature and wanted to breed, then bashed the one they didn't want near them. It happens all the time with Rift Lake cichlids.

Relocated another fish that was being picked on and then the orange one started beating up yet another blue cichlid so we put put a divider in the tank so they could be in the same tank but separated. Now they fight through the barrier.