# Aggressive Agassizii.?



## lt1fj40 (Jul 21, 2009)

Do I have an overly aggressive agassizii? I just introduced a new agassizzii yesterday morning and every since then he swims around and chases every ram, Unidentified Apisto, cacatuoides and out of their caves (Rams more then the others...the others dont care about their caves as much). The agassizzi is the biggest out of all cichlids in the tank.

Just to give you a background on my tank it is a 80 gallon with a big stack of rocks creating like 20 or so caves..the rock pile is about 3.5 feet across and about 18~20 inches tall.

Fish list includes:
1 agassizzii
2 Rams (blue and bolivian)
2 cacatuoides
2 unidentified apisto's
6 gold tetra's
6 tiger barbs
6 Black Phantom Tetra's
6 rummy nose Tetra's
6 Serpae Tetra's
3 Denison Barb's
2 Gold Algae Eater's
5 vampire crabs

I am not sure but I think since the new agassizii has been put in the Bolivian Ram has lost some color, do you think he is stressed? The Rams are about 1" and the agassizii is about 1.5~2".

The only thing i can think of is why he doesn't just pick his own cave is because the fish can swim behind the rocks and all the cave kinda interconnect.

Could it just be because they are setting order in the tank and he is bigger and stuff should calm down?

Oh on second note...how many rams can I have..Man I love those guys!!

Thanks!
Rob.


----------



## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

That sounds like a beautiful tankâ€¦

I kept a 125 gal as an Apisto colony with two pairs of Rams for over a yearâ€¦ Iâ€™m really thinking about converting the same tank back into such a stocklistâ€¦

Itâ€™s common for the new fish to bully existing fish if/when it can. Once everyone gives respect to the new fish it often calms down and settles in as â€œKing of the Tankâ€


----------



## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

G'day *lt1fj40*,

They may be dwarf cichlids, but some still posses a fair amount of agro in them. At the moment my agassizii and curviceps are sharing the 29 gallon tank as I paint the back and bottom of the curviceps tank and varnish the stand.

My male agassizzi keeps trying to assert his dominance over the curviceps with mixed results. He will pick on the slightly smaller female curviceps, and she will stand her ground for a bit then flee towards the male curviceps. When it comes to male curviceps the male agassizii is all bluff and no bite. The agassizii male puffs himself up and extends all his fins and turns sideways torwards the male curviceps, but will "casually" leave as soon as the male curviceps turns towards him.

I have found even with dwarf cichlids, that you have to carefully choose tank mates. Some make for good community fish and some don't. I can keep curviceps with any cichlid which won't eat them or stress them out. My dorsigera on the other hand are mean little sob's that kill anything they can.

With your tank, well I'd consider doing either one of two setups. Option one would be 2 or 3 pairs of Bolivian rams with a trio of cacatuoidies. Option two would be two pairs of German Blue rams with a harem of dicrossus filamentosus or trio of Apistogramma macmasteri.

Finally tank setup. Rock piles are most commonly seen in certain African cichlid tank setups as these formations sort of resemble the areas within the African rift lakes where the cichlids are found. Most dwarf SA cichlids favour planted tanks interspersed with pieces of driftwood, and sometimes lots of dead leaves such as oak leaves or indian almond leaves.

Oh and i'm really not sure if crabs are a good idea with dwarf cichlids.


----------



## hollyfish2000 (Aug 23, 2007)

Your stocking strikes me as odd . . . the usual rule of thumb is pairs of blue rams, trios of apistos (1M-2F) and groups of Bolivians. You don't have any of these combinations. It shouldn't be that hard to ID your unknown apistos, either . . .


----------



## lt1fj40 (Jul 21, 2009)

We did have a pair of blue rams but one died a few days after putting in the tank.

The cacatuoides were a pair as well as I see now I should have gotten one more female but I think I need to get a different fish store as they look at me strange when I want a male or female...the fish store told me the bolivians are fine by themselves...

I think the agassizii has to go as I woke up to a dead cacatuoide and blue ram, I am not sure if it was him but the agassizii still runs everyone out of every cave and I think the two got too stressed.

I will shop around to make sure i get the right fish i need to get my pairs right.

I was concerned with the crabs as well but these guys are really small and they dont seem to care about the fish and the fish them.....They are not nearly aggressive as red claws or fiddlers...I guess time will tell.

Thoughts?


----------



## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

Apistos are commonly kept in trios... but I've kept pairs before long term and had no problems...

Blue Rams are pairing fish and I would discourage keeping a 'trio'... but there is no harm in keeping a single...


----------



## lt1fj40 (Jul 21, 2009)

I only have a single now..  Just one bolivian


----------



## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

Bolivians do much better in groups, but can survive on there own.


----------



## dwarf cichlids in Az (Dec 23, 2008)

ANY ONE THATKEEPS APISTOS IS ALL RIGHT IN MY BOOK =D>


----------



## M0oN (Dec 8, 2003)

Don't mix blue ram with bolivians - the blue's are a might bit more aggressive in my experience and keep the bolivian's stressed on a consistent basis.

I would add 2 or 3 more bolivian's to the tank to help the existing one bolster up. You can also put more decor in the tank for line of sight breaks, and move decor around after the apisto gets settled in.

Male agasizzi are aggro, there's no way around it - some are worse than others, but in most cases it's just a matter of time before they settle in.


----------



## lt1fj40 (Jul 21, 2009)

Well I have good news and bad news..

Good news is the agassizzii is not bullying anyone anymore..bad news is he has POP EYE and bad..he was hiding for two days and I didnt see him up close at all until the other day and when I did his eyes were popping out and really cloudy!

I have started him on melafix and hoping he will be ok..but he looks terrible.


----------



## M0oN (Dec 8, 2003)

Generally popeye is from sub-par water conditions combined with a scratch, I wouldn't worry about it too much - MelaFix is a good preventative for secondary bacterial infections while it heals. Salt will also help it heal up faster too.


----------



## hollyfish2000 (Aug 23, 2007)

Apistos can be very sensitive to water conditions (as are blue rams IME), so I'd see the pop-eye as a giant wake-up call and increase my water changes. . . What are your nitrates?


----------



## lt1fj40 (Jul 21, 2009)

Actually the water is perfect, zero ammonia, nitrites and my nitrates are 10 ppm. I do 50% water changes ever week religiously!

Not sure where he got it he is fairly new so maybe he had a parasite from the beginning and it is coming out now because he is stressed?


----------



## M0oN (Dec 8, 2003)

Probably from all that fighting he's doing - might have scraped up against somthing.


----------

