# Help with agressive fish.



## zhewitt04 (Nov 25, 2014)

I have all peacocks and haps. Mostly peacocks. All males ranging from 2" to 4". I have a ruby red that chase all 17 other fish in my 125. He is probably the 4th largest fish. He bullies everyone. I have removed rocks. Rearranged while he was in a fish trap for 24 hours. Not sure what else to do. Any ideas are appreciated. Please ask for more info if I left any out. Thanks again.


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## james1983 (Dec 23, 2007)

You may have to remove him permanently. I tried pretty much the same thing with a fryeri, after 2 extended timeouts he went to the petstore.


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## 3000GT (Jan 18, 2014)

Sounds like you're removed and re-arranged, but maybe you can add some / more caves if you haven't already. Give the bully some place to call his own. I've also read (but have not tried) to add more current to the tank to give him something to fight against besides the other fish.


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## chopsteeks (Jul 23, 2013)

james1983 said:


> You may have to remove him permanently. I tried pretty much the same thing with a fryeri, after 2 extended timeouts he went to the petstore.


ditto on 2 strikes and your are out of here. I stopped the rearranging option as I never had positive results with this technique.


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## zhewitt04 (Nov 25, 2014)

Thanks for the help. It seems to be a little better since letting him go. I will try the penalty box one more time. I may even put him in another tank for a short amount of time maybe a week. I will try the current as well. I have no power heads in the tank currently maybe add one and see what happens. I also hear man made peacock like the ruby red, ob and eureka are notorious for this. Is this true or a wise tell? Let me know your experiences.


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## james1983 (Dec 23, 2007)

zhewitt04 said:


> Thanks for the help. It seems to be a little better since letting him go. I will try the penalty box one more time. I may even put him in another tank for a short amount of time maybe a week. I will try the current as well. I have no power heads in the tank currently maybe add one and see what happens. I also hear man made peacock like the ruby red, ob and eureka are notorious for this. Is this true or a wise tell? Let me know your experiences.


Its mostly true with stuff like dragons blood and o.b. peacocks, but ruby/german red peacocks have always been more on the calm side for me.


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## jw85 (Dec 24, 2013)

I've not had much luck with reducing aggression myself. I've even re-homed fish for several weeks and re-aquascaped with no luck.

With most haps and peacocks being open water fish, I find my guys have no interest in claiming rocks as their own. My more aggressive ones claim water space... So my Jake claims the upper half of the left foot of my tank, and my Placido pheno claims about an 8 inch cube right in the middle.

My one bit of advice is to know the difference between aggression and normal cichlid behavior. If all the fish are pressed against the glass and behind heaters, its probably aggression. I have several fish that just chase other fish all day. Its just kinda their thing. The key thing I observe though is my bully's show no real interest in harming the other fish.


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## rennsport2011 (Oct 21, 2013)

jw85 said:


> I've not had much luck with reducing aggression myself. I've even re-homed fish for several weeks and re-aquascaped with no luck.
> 
> With most haps and peacocks being open water fish, I find my guys have no interest in claiming rocks as their own. My more aggressive ones claim water space... So my Jake claims the upper half of the left foot of my tank, and my Placido pheno claims about an 8 inch cube right in the middle.
> 
> My one bit of advice is to know the difference between aggression and normal cichlid behavior. If all the fish are pressed against the glass and behind heaters, its probably aggression. I have several fish that just chase other fish all day. Its just kinda their thing. The key thing I observe though is my bully's show no real interest in harming the other fish.


Noting of course that a Jake is a Cave dwelling rock cichlid. :wink:

The point made here though is important. Cichlids will always chase each other, it is only really an issue when fish are hiding, or damaged.


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## zhewitt04 (Nov 25, 2014)

Ok good to know my fear is the color of fish. I am dong a all male tank and I see these beautiful fish on youtube and in this forum but mine are silver due to this guy chasing them...at least that is my thought. All the other fish are on the other side of the tank away from his rock. He chases a lot. More than any other fish does. ( of course this was before last night when things got a little better after he went in the fish trap and I rearranged a little) I am hopeful they are not pressed against the glass when I get home. 
The bigger issue and better question I should ask is how do I get all my males to show color? I can wait if that is all I need to do, but I don't want to spend money on these beautiful rare species and get nothing but a tan and silver fish! I can go get silver dollars for a lot cheaper! 
Thanks for helping a newbie


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

james1983 said:


> You may have to remove him permanently. I tried pretty much the same thing with a fryeri, after 2 extended timeouts he went to the petstore.


Plus one. A different individual might behave differently but that fish sounds like a problem.


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## typie88 (Jan 10, 2015)

I too am having this problem with (I don't know if this is bad) a regular hongi chasing around a super red top hongi. Both proven males about 4 to 5 inches.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

typie88 said:


> I too am having this problem with (I don't know if this is bad) a regular hongi chasing around a super red top hongi. Both proven males about 4 to 5 inches.


This would be expected but if both fish have no damage and good color it's not an indicator that anyone needs to be removed.


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## 3000GT (Jan 18, 2014)

As others have said, you may just need to get rid of the trouble maker. Personally I was days away from getting rid of my albino peacock. he was chasing everyone. he pretty much claimed half the tank and he had his caves (a nice big PetSmart rock outcropping with lots of caves). when he was in his caves, the others relaxed, but when he came out or caught somone on his side he chased them back to the other side of the tank. He would go at it with my Intermedius who's the biggest in the tank. I was resigned to getting rid of him and then I decided to take out the big cave/rock and add a bunch of smaller rocks with more open space as a last ditch effort. I didn't think it would work, but it did. Now that $50 fake rock is in a bag in the garage and he's doing fine. He still has his moments, but that was months ago and overall it's so much better.

Again, that may not be your situation, but just wanted to share an example of rearranging that did work.


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## zhewitt04 (Nov 25, 2014)

A little update. My ruby red is being much better chases but does not claim the whole left side of the tank and actual was swimming in the group last night. We will see if he stays that way.


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## chopsteeks (Jul 23, 2013)

This also works for me....

I have a 75 gallon timeout tank where I place the unruly fish and fish that I am selling. Also, there are 4 Brichardis with ****.

One of my Malawi Eye Biter will go on with his spawning rituals and chase everyone on one side of the tank. Not mean, but causes havoc in the tank when he does this. Another problem fish I have is a juvenile Cyrtocara Blue Dolphin.

I will throw them into this tank, let the Brichardis, Green Texas slap them around a bit for a few days. throw them back into the main tank ....... wala, they are model citizens again......


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## Loume (Dec 27, 2014)

I read about someone putting a thug inside one of those plastic hamster exercise balls and dropping back into the aquarium for a couple days. Claimed to have worked, and said the fish even learn to move the ball about some on the bottom of the tank.


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## animallover4life (Jul 23, 2014)

Yea it's possibl, but the fish could easily get hurt, if stressed, and feeding would be an issue. I think if it comes to it just remove the really aggressive fish


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## Loume (Dec 27, 2014)

I don't really know why they would get hurt, other than maybe hurting their bigger than desireable egos. Fish can very easily go a several days without feed no problem, but if it were a concern they have slots in them where food could be dropped to them.

If I had, or get that problem in the future, I would try it first..

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=ham ... rcise+ball


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## zhewitt04 (Nov 25, 2014)

It's actually a good idea.


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