# Green Terror Aggression



## fishyfishyfish (May 8, 2008)

I recently introduced 4 giant danios in an effort to calm down my gt pair's aggression towards each other, but this morning they were eating 1 of the dano's.

So ill take out the danio's asap b4 they nail any more.

I'm now considering splitting the gt pair as the male constantly chases the female - Ill be keeping the better looking larger male.

QUESTION: will this have any detremental effect to either fish as they were bought as a breeding pair?

QUESTION: will one male GT be ok on it's own in a tank?? (i.e. will it get miserable & stressed)

Thanks


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

Leaving the male should be fine, central and south american cichlids don't mate for life ... so it won't be like an old dog dying after it's owner does.


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## fishyfishyfish (May 8, 2008)

My gt breeding pair are v aggressive towards each other (no s**t i hear you all say)

Is it normal behaviour for them to chase each other? They snap at each other but never actually bite each other???

The male is generally the worst but quite regularly the much smaller female will come out of her cave and just attack him for no apparent reason?

Is this usual for breeding cichlids or could one or the other be getting stressed? (i've noticed the female's colouring seems to go bland when being chased)

Should i split them up???


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## fishyfishyfish (May 8, 2008)

dwarfpike said:


> Leaving the male should be fine, central and south american cichlids don't mate for life ... so it won't be like an old dog dying after it's owner does.


Will it be ok on it's own - or rather will i be ok???

I had the same situation with previous Jaguar Cichlid which couldn't abide anything else in its tank but as soon as i removed all other fish it started taking it's aggression out on my fingers when i cleaned the tank?


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

What size tank is this?

You bought them as a breeding pair?

The fish will be okay on it's own, but if it's really a pair, I'd rather keep them together. It sounds like they might not have enough space??? Or you possibly have two of the same sex?

How large are they?


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## fishyfishyfish (May 8, 2008)

cichlidaholic said:


> What size tank is this?
> 
> You bought them as a breeding pair?
> 
> ...


I think they are male & female - heres pics maybe you can shed some light, plus they are in a 40 gallon tank???


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

Sounds like the female isn't ready to breed again yet, and of course the male, like all of us, is ready to go. You might want to divide them, a 40 gallon doesn't have enough of a footprint for her to avoid his attention. I think most keep their breeding GT's in a minimum 90 gallon, and even then sometimes they still have to be divided.

Remember you are trying to get too fish that normally would rather kill each other for most of the year in a very small space. Most cichlids don't mate perminately, the term 'monogamous' only means for one egg laying and fry raising session.


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## fishyfishyfish (May 8, 2008)

dwarfpike said:


> Sounds like the female isn't ready to breed again yet, and of course the male, like all of us, is ready to go. You might want to divide them, a 40 gallon doesn't have enough of a footprint for her to avoid his attention. I think most keep their breeding GT's in a minimum 90 gallon, and even then sometimes they still have to be divided.
> 
> Remember you are trying to get too fish that normally would rather kill each other for most of the year in a very small space. Most cichlids don't mate perminately, the term 'monogamous' only means for one egg laying and fry raising session.


Fair enuff ill take the female back to victoria, it's far too stressful watching them batter each other all evening, ill keep the male on it's own with maybe a shoal of minnows for foo.... er  i mean dither fish :thumb:


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

G'day *fishyfishyfish*,

Mate, a 40 gallon tank is really too small for a single adult GT. Even if the adult is a smaller femaler. AS *dwarfpike* said in his previous post, most people keep a single pair in a 90 gallon tank. And still they often have to be divided.

I have always maintaned that any fish that has an adult size of 8 inches or over, really should be kept in a 6 foot tank.

Hey *dwarfpike*,



> Most cichlids don't mate perminantley, the term 'monogamous' only means for one egg laying and fry raising session.


What's your experience with dwarf acaras? I believe both my laetacara species could possibly be monogamous for life. It's rare to see either of the pairs seperated, and I've never seen any signs of aggression between either pair.

When I had two curviceps pairs in my 6 footer, each pair would defend thier spawning site and surrounding territory whether they were breeding or not. They always swam around the tank in pairs. Only time one individual left it's partner, was when it was chasing fish away from eggs or fry.


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

My experience with the dwarf acaras has been similiar to yours, but I never kept them at high densities in larger tanks either. But it would be hard to tell with two pairs, there weren't free ripe females floating about. I imagine if there were in a large enough tank, once the fry were past the defending stage, a male would choose a ripe and ready to mate female over the female that just laid the eggs and wasn't able/ready to go again.

We men are such dogs. :lol:


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

:lol:

I really want to respond to that post with several quips but will refrain from doing so.

But you do have a point about stocking levels in our tanks. If I ever do go another 6 footer, I'm going to do a Rio Tapajos themed dwarf community tank with geo red heads, curviceps, agassizii and maculatus. So I might see how males go with multiple females as I'll possibly look at doing a 1:3 male to female stocking ratio with each species.


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## DN3|47 (Aug 25, 2008)

yes when you have such a beautifool fish, you also need respect that they need a very big space.
I do not have very much money but i have male and female in a 125 g aquarium.


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

DN3|47 said:


> yes when you have such a beautifool fish, you also need to respect that they need a very big space.


That is an excellent quote... you should make it your signature...


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