# Trouble in my American Cichlid tank



## bigdev (Jan 13, 2015)

Hey guys, new to the forums and having a little bit of trouble in my 75 gallon tank. Currently housed in it are 3 Electric Blue Acaras, a male and female Electric Blue Jack Dempsey, and an oddball, an African Brichardi. Also residing in the tank are 3 cory cats and a bristlenose pleco. Everybody seemed to get along very well at first but recently both my male and female EBJD have some tearing in their fins, and upon further inspection everybody in the tank excluding the largest Acara and the Brichardi have some fin damage. The large acara terrorizes the other two regularly. Everybody is still very small, maybe 2-3 inches at the most, and I am uncertain of the sexes on the Acara.

Why is there so much aggression? They have lots of places to hide and claim as their own territory, but the large Acara will go out of his way to chase my Jacks and the smaller Acaras. Is the Brichardi freaking everyone out? Do I just need to pull him and a large acara?

Heres some pictures, as you can see the male EBJD is just barely the smallest fish in the tank. His long fins also paint a target on him from the Brichardi who is prettty merciless towards him. Any ideas guys?



http://imgur.com/all


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## CjCichlid (Sep 14, 2005)

Welcome to the forum!

Sounds like your cichlids are being cichlids. Territorial aggression is to be expected and part of keeping them, especially when keeping multiples of the same species.

You have quite the odd bunch there with CA, SA, and African species, not to mention multiples of the same species and of opposing genders. Are you wanting pairs? If so, I'd suggest picking a pair and building around that. You will most likely not be able to keep much else with a breeding pair of EBJD's in a 75gal.


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## bigdev (Jan 13, 2015)

I like the two EBJDs the most and would like to keep them. Should I cut down to one acara and remove the brichardi to make that happen? I didn't necessarily realize South American Cichlids and Central American were incompatible, do you recommend I completely pull the Acaras? What can I keep with the EBJDs happily?


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## CjCichlid (Sep 14, 2005)

It's not that they are necessarily incompatible, it's just in that size tank not much else is going to be able to coexist peacefully with a pair of EBJD's, especially if/when they spawn. I would personally recommend you remove everyone but the pair of EBJD's if that's what you want to focus your tank around. If you were to keep only a lone Acara in with the pair, it would most likely have it pretty rough as it would be the only fish for the pair to target their aggression towards. I would instead look into adding a good sized school of dither type fish to help round out the tank.

Also, how certain are you that you indeed have a male and female?


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## bigdev (Jan 13, 2015)

I guess I'm not totally sure that I do have a male and a female. They are very friendly towards each other and swim side by side. The one that I guess is female frequently wallops the male with her tail (playfully?). The female is larger and has a very established "house" in the tank, and doesn't really like the male to come inside, but that's about it. I have pictures here if they would help you confirm.



http://imgur.com/all


I removed the brichardi and the tanks is much more peaceful. The larger Acara still chases the other two but leaves my Dempseys alone, which pleases me.

Thank you very much for your help.


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## CjCichlid (Sep 14, 2005)

I'm not very familiar with EBJD's, however I would guess you do indeed have a male and female solely based off of the huge difference between their dorsal fins. The males is much more elongated.


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## bigdev (Jan 13, 2015)

Cool thanks man that's kind of the assumption I was going off of as well.


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