# texas being very territorial/aggressive with tankmates



## cichlid_kid96 (Nov 22, 2010)

my texas is being aggressive towards his other tankmates he only seems to become so aggressuve when i put other texas cichlids in the tank he was being quite aggressive and then my female died and he stopped and i accidentaly went out and got a carpintis (meant to get cyanoguttatus texas) and didnt notice till i got home and well he is being aggressive again any suggestions? the first day i intoduced the carpintis he was kinda of showing off for her and now it just seems hes being aggressive. i kinda wanted to take the carpintis back and try to find a larger female (cyanoguttatus) not another carpintis do u think if i got a larger female she will kinda put him in his place and calm him down

Thanx in advance
Devin


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## Chubbs the Jellybean (Jun 16, 2009)

Conspecific aggression is almost always higher in cichlid species...

Take out the carpintis? If you want to breed, then maybe you should get a batch of females for him to choose from... then when he chooses one take the others back.


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## Jaws (Oct 30, 2003)

What size tank are we talking here? How old/size of fish? Texan's are pretty tough customers and aggressive as mentioned above.

I would think a 55g min for short term success with a divider. Otherwise these fish get too large.

Solitude will calm him down.

Normally you need to buy a bunch of juvies to get a good pair bond. Not sure how much luck your going to have just throwing random mates in an already claimed territory.

Good luck.


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## cichlid_kid96 (Nov 22, 2010)

it is a 110 gallon. i had started out with 4 texas cichlids about 2in and my two biggest ones died about 2 months ago and my smallest one died like a week ago now the only texas i have is the 4-5in one he has seem to calm down but all my fish seem to stay higher up in the tank then usual though but from what i can see hes not being too aggressive anymore im gonna try to get like 3-4 new texas and see if one of them pair up or get along well and take the others back or one in my 55 gallon. but it seems as more of the fish are coming back down to the bottom it seems like he goes after the gt. the weird thing is he never goes after my severum anymore like he used to but thats a good thing lol. i do plan on taking the carpintis back to the lfs. does anyone know where u can get larger fish at though because if i do get some more texas cichlid females id like for them to be able to hold its own like one a little bit bigger than the male does that sound like a good idea. *** never seen any in my lfs that are bigger than my male just a few that were about the same size


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## RyanR (Apr 29, 2008)

You may need to grow out some other fish before purring them in with the Texas.

Do you have plenty of decor in the tank?

Unfortunately, some Texas cichlids just won't play nice.

-Ryan


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## Jaws (Oct 30, 2003)

If you have your heart set on breeding texas cichlids I'd start over with all new fish of the same size, like 5 to 6 of them. Seems like the easier way at this point. Once a dominant cichlid claims a tank for its territory its normally difficult to establish new tankmates.

Good luck, they are nice fish with great personality!


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## cichlid_kid96 (Nov 22, 2010)

if it comes down to it i just wont breed the texas but i was really looking forward to having fry. noone has laid eggs since *** moved them to the 110 it seems like their personalities have changed since *** moved them. thats why i sold my breeding pair of cons and jewels they never wanted to lay eggs after the move but the fish have only been in the 110 for about 1-2 months


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## oldcatfish (May 27, 2009)

You will likely have the same problem whether you try to add a "true Texas" cichlid, or a carpintis....they are a closely related species.


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## cichlid_kid96 (Nov 22, 2010)

yes i understand that but he wasnt that mean when i had all 4 but that might have been because he was younger and possibly not trying to pick a mate/territory but he does seem to have calmed down a bit maybe he was just acting weird since i introduced a new fish because when i fed him and when i turned on the lights he was with the other fish acting fine he does seem to chase the gt a lil bit though hopefully i wont have to move the gt


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