Electric Blue Acara aggression

[Oli]

Hi guys, currently have 2 EBA’s in a 55 gallon and to sum things up, one of them is starting to be a monumental jerk…

I am unsure of sexes but I can say for sure that there is a dominant one and I’m not sure if it’s going to be a problem. Sometimes they will swim happily together and seem to almost play. Other times “he” will relentlessly chase the other, causing it to hide away within the driftwood and plants staying very still to stay hidden. The little jerk has also began chasing my adult Pearl gourami, despite being half the size. I am treating for Ich so currently have the temperature very high, perhaps this is causing his hyperactivity?

I will also mention that the “weaker” one seems to have a much less vibrant colour, I can only assume due to stress, or perhaps it is some sort of runt, leading me to wander if I should have to get rid of one, should I keep the “bigger, stronger” crazy one or the small shy discoloured one which may not survive.

Anyway I hope all this makes sense and i will include some pictures of the two. They appear to be quite different shapes, so maybe they are a male and female behaving normally. I’m sure someone will be more knowledgable than myself!

1st pic - the chase
2nd pic - the jerk
3rd pic - the victim

 

[Oli]

Any help?

 

[foxgirl158]

Sorry, not sure on the aggression. I’ll @ a couple of people who might be able to help.
On the other hand, I’m sure the mods will be by soon to remind you that this is a family friendly website, so I would suggest you change your choice of words in your first post before they get here

@Byron @Colin_T @Slaphppy7 @WhistlingBadger

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I've never kept acara so not much help from me. Obviously I would advise removing the victim if possible. Hope you can get them sorted out!

 

[GaryE]

It all sounds depressingly normal to me. Acaras are territorial fish, and odds are you have 2 males. In nature (if electric blues were natural fish...) the dominated fish swims away. In a tank, it's trapped. The alpha reads this as him not getting the message and staying in sight to maintain his challenge. The dominated fish turns down its colour to try to survive, and you end up with a dead acara or 2 tanks.
Possibility 2 is the dominated one is a female not ready or able to breed, and the male wants to run her off so a more suitable partner can swim by. Either way, he wants that tank.

Raising the heat can be a trigger for spawning behaviour, and aggression in the tank leaves the dominated individual really open to Ich. Stress weakens immune responses and responses to parasites like Ich.

Welcome to the world of keeping mid sized Cichlids...

 

[Oli]

Apologise for the language and thanks for the response! The tank is in the process of returning to normal temperature gradually as they have been visually ich free for a week. I also plan to make this a very heavily planted tank, I will monitor the situation! Thanks

 

[Oli]

Woke up today to him still chasing everyone and noticed a big chunk gone from my Pearl gouramis tail! Do we think it’s best to get rid of this guy?

 

[Oli]

He’s gone back to the store, was just far to aggressive with everyone. The store replaced him with a Severum free of charge which I’m not too knowledgable about but supposedly very peaceful. Hopefully this will allow the washed out EBA to thrive in peace now he’s gone

 

[Byron]

Some thoughts to keep in mind going forward.

Cichlids and gourami should never be maintained in the same tank. Both are territorial (males, sometimes females can be too) and this plays out differently for different species and sometimes individual fish, but a male cichlid (any species) is going to "expect" a territory that is his. Same for gourami.

@GaryE advice in post #5 is spot on.