# Does Time Out Actually work?



## Mpimbwefronts2SS (Dec 3, 2003)

Hello all I have 180gal all male hap/peacock tank. All the fish are around 3-5inches and really have not seen any aggression. On saturday I decided I wanted to change the look of the tank around since I'm receiving some new fish on Thursday. The tank looks good and I caught 2 fish that were females to sell back.. I have noticed yesterday and today that my male Dimi. COmpressicep was acting very aggressively towards all my fish. He claimed 50% percent of the tank and if anyone goes over there he chases away violently. This is new bc he hasnt acted like that before and has always been fully colored. On monday I thought it was bc I rearranged the tank and they are reestablishing the pecking order. But while watching it almost looks like hes at first trying to breed with the other males and then chases them away. Im planning tonite to remove him and put him into a breeder net in my 125 front tank. 
How long do you think I should leave him in there and by punishing him for like a wk or so and then adding him back in actually work to curve down his aggression??? I have never had to remove a fish so not to sure what to expect.

THanks Chris


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

From my experience (and none of it is with Haps) time outs sometimes work if you remove and reintroduce the dominant fish but seldom work if you remove and reintroduce a bullied fish.

So removing your _compressiceps _could be worth a try. But don't take it from me...wait for more experienced opinions!

Kevin


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I've never tried it for the dominant fish, but the victim fish cannot successfully return IME.


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## Soap (Sep 19, 2010)

I've tried it with Angelfish and it has worked. Even as simple as netting the fish for 5 minutes managed to work for my angelfish to stop chasing smaller fish. That was way back, i currently hold Malawi species only but thats my note on the subject. Doubt it would work that easily with most other fish i guess this guy just didnt want to be put back in the net


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## fox (Jun 11, 2009)

Hey another Islander :thumb:

We have a mixed Hap / mbuna tank. Not sure what your fish list is but Haps go through mood swings as they mature. Our fossies were the most docile of our Haps and now they are knocking over 20 lb rocks showing off their stuff.

It seems the girls are the root of all evil with these larger fish. Remove them and things quiet down somewhat. The mbuna are active and keep them on their guard so I keep some in there with them. It helps keep them in line.

We have some champs that will not tolerate each other and have the tank divided up three ways between them. We removed the larger one for two days and when we reintroduced him it was all out war that night. I guess time out did not work for us.


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## nlui220 (Feb 2, 2010)

I've been unsuccessful with a 5.5" Taiwan Reef and 5" Lwanda. Both stayed in time-out 1-2 months. I've concluded some guys are just psycho.

However, I have had success with a 3" German Red Jake. I reintroduced him after 2 months after increasing my stocklist and he doesn't bother anyone now. Juvies seem to be more teachable... just like humans.


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## some_rocks (Oct 5, 2010)

i read someone using a fake fish on a skinny stick. every time the dom. fish is chasing the others around chase him around with the fake fish on a stick. apparently the fish learns that he is not boss anymore. I really have no idea if this works or not but it might be worth a try if your first option doesnt work. good luck!


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## cgmark (Aug 18, 2010)

The best solution I have had is to move around the places that the dominant fish is trying to claim , leave the other spots alone. I had a hap that wanted his cave and attacked anything in any other cave near it. So I removed all the caves in that area and relocated them further apart and set the openings up so that one cave opening wasn't directly viewable by another.

Not a problem since then.


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