how long for a tank boss to establish themselves

[DGJ]

Just started Cichlid tank on Friday and everything was vey calm and tranquil for the first few days, today I've noticed the strawberry peacock is now asserting himself and pushing everyone around chasing them.

Will this continue forever or is he just cementing his place as Tank boss and will start to leave people along when he is secure as the boss?

 

[Colin_T]

what else is in the tank?
how big is the tank (length x width x height)?
pictures of the tank so we can see the rockwork?

has the tank been cycled?
if not, monitor the ammonia levels and do a huge water change any day you have a reading above 0ppm, otherwise the fish could die from ammonia poisoning.

 

[DGJ]

It's all cichlids.

yellow lab
blue zebra mbuna
jewel
blue peacock
strawberry peacock
Frontosa
Venustus
Ruby Red
Jacob
2 x OB Peacock
4 Clown Loach
Red Tail Shark

120 x 50x 60 - 60 Gallons

Fully cycled, has been cycling about 2 months, water parameters are all good.

Will take a photo of rockwork shortly but lots of hiding places

 

[DGJ]

Here’s the rockwork in the tank

 

[Colin_T]

It can take anywhere from a few hours to a week or more. The longer it takes, the more likely it will end bad for the other fish.

Which fish is causing the problem, the big orange peacock?

The water looks cloudy and you need more hiding places. You want at least 2 caves for every fish. The clown loaches can hide in or under driftwood or in pvc pipe. The cichlids will also use pvc pipe, which you can cover in a thin layer of silicon and then sprinkle sand on, or let algae grow on it, or cover it in rocks.

Some floating plants would help too. Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta) does well in most tanks and can be planted in the substrate too.

Duckweed is another floating plant and the fish will eat it so that helps with their digestion.

Vallis would probably do well too.

 

[Fishiemang]

They need places to hide, and call their own. However, with that many in that small of a.tank, you're probably going to find that they won't survive long. Even if you change around the tank regular so they don't get too territorial. That many cichlids in a 60 gallon tank is going to slowly work its way down to a handful. I'm sure it can be done, but it is going to be a lot of work.

This kind.of.thing is why I wish pet stores would either advise people that these fish get big, and they should only put 2 or 3 in a tank your size. They look cool when they are small. But soon enough, they will start to die off. The stress of the alpha dogs in the tank is going to do them in. They may injure themselves on them rocks as well. They might startle easily and bounce their eyes and stuff off them.edges and corners. My peacock lost an eye this way. Was startled by the convict, and hit its eye on some decor and now it only has one eye. I only have a jewel cichlid left as well from probably the same.number you have now in my 75 gallon. They chased each other to death.

 

[Avel1896]

Hey
As Clown loach is a south-asian fish, it needs and prefers soft acidic water, so I'm curious to know pH GH KH ?

 

[bigroof]

African cichlid tank is always aggro. I have had my all mbuna tank for nearly 2 years and its still chasing and nipping happening. This is natural. Its no way near as bad as it use to be. In your tank for instance theres a mixture of fish. You got yellow labs who are mbunas and they are rock dwelling fish. You got peacocks that are free swimming fish. Frontosa is a laketanganikan fish. The jewel cichlid is from west africa. They have much softer eater than rift lake fishes like mbunas and peacocks. You also have fish from different parts of the world like the loaches who likes a completely different water conditions to the africans. I would suggest just sticking to one type so aggression can be managed much easily. In my tank i do a scape change every 2 weeks so they cant claim territories. When it comes to the tank boss this can change also.my original tank boss is no longer the boss now. This happens as the fish mature and gain size. Hope this helps.