# Controlling aggression in a 50 gallon



## Jillian83 (Jan 14, 2011)

Hello all,

I have a 50 gallon with 2x Mbamba, 3x Flameback, 1 Calvus, and 2x Eureka Peacocks. This stocking arrangement has been in place for about a year, and for the most part, the tank inhabitants aren't too aggressive.... except for the male Flameback. This fish is a nightmare. He literally seems to be able to think of nothing but harassing and chasing every other fish in the tank, regardless of where they are. He doesn't really seem to have one set territory, instead opting to spend all his time swimming around the tank in search of his next attack victim. The only fish he avoids is the Calvus, because he learned early on that defensive Calvus = shredded lips.The two female Flamebacks are the worst off of the bunch, with one being so frayed and beaten that I'm worried she might die soon if the male's aggression isn't curbed. I'm beginning to think that overstocking may be my only option, as I'm loathe to get rid of my centerpiece fish. What could be put in there that will help spread out this one fish's hatred for all of fishdom, while not adding to the problem? I've heard Acei's might work, but I thought I'd seek advice before running down to the fish store. I'm also considering adding at least one more female Flameback. Thanks for the help!


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## mbuna17 (Aug 1, 2011)

What are the dimensions of the 50? I would get at least 4 or 5 more females for the male.


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## Jillian83 (Jan 14, 2011)

The tank is 48" long and a little over a foot wide.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Are you sure it's a flameback? I hear they are fairly peaceful, but also one of the most mis-identified Victorians. Maybe post a pic in the Victorian forum for ID verification? Your fish is behaving more like a Pundamilia. :thumb:

Malawi and Vics do not pair and even trios and quads can be a problem. In a 55G you have room for 3 species stocked 1m:4f and I would definitely do that. I'd also remove the calvus...he cannot be happy. I had mine in with haps and peacocks for a while (much less aggressive than mbamba for example) and he hated it. He was much happier before an after in his Tang community.


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## Jillian83 (Jan 14, 2011)

It would be impossible for me to catch a picture of the male, since I don't have a proper camera, just the one on my phone. Regardlless, there's no question he's a Flameback. He's so identical to the Flameback pictures on this site's Flameback profile that you'd think someone snuck into my apartment and took pictures of him.  There's really no other species I've seen that has more than a passing resemblance to him.

As for the Calvus, he's more aggressive than the two Mbambas (whom I suspect are both female), and isn't afraid of anything in the tank. I have been meaning to get another Calvus to accompany him however, since his mate died a few months ago when I moved them from a smaller tank. I find it so weird that the Flameback is the meanest and the Mbambas are the nicest. You'd think it would be completely opposite! :-?


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## Jillian83 (Jan 14, 2011)

So I'll be adding 2 more female Flamebacks and another Calvus, is there anything else that would calm the aggression? Would a group of Aceis or Cyps help?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

You already have three species, so adding a species will hurt instead of help. Adding the calvus will not help. What you need is 1m:4f of the mbamba, flameback and peacock.

Well not sure the mbamba and peacock will work, but 1m:4f will be your best chance. :thumb:


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## darthpichi (Jan 13, 2012)

Funny...Last night I noticed that my Electric Yellow and Acei were in heated battle. I have had them both for about a year with no problem. I just got a new light that is much brighter than what has been in there and they have been getting after it ever since. The Yellow is the more aggresive though. I turned out the light and am going to leave it like that for a day or so and see what happens. The reason why its funny is because I figured I would get on the forum to see if I could get some info and this is the first topic I saw...ironic!! Let me know if what I am doing is a good option or if there is something else I could do. Thanks


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## reflections (Jan 6, 2012)

When in doubt add some Mbuna. They can, and will be able to handle it.

Blessings,

Nancy


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## brinkles (Jan 30, 2011)

*darthpichi*
they'll calm down anytime the lights are off. I leave them off for a day whenever I introduce new fish, and I leave them off the whole time if I'm out of town.


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## mgreen44 (Dec 27, 2011)

I tried the acie in my peacock tank and had to move it to the mbuna tank. I have a calvus in there and he is no problem but was told if I had 2 male calvus they might fight. The females may be the cause of your problems. All male seems to be the way to go at least for me. Good luck


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## darthpichi (Jan 13, 2012)

Thats what I thought...I will turn the lights back on tonight and see how things are doing. With any luck it won't be the Thunderdome arena any longer...two fish enter, one fish leaves!! :lol:


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## Jillian83 (Jan 14, 2011)

Quick update: I've added 2 more female Flamebacks to make a full 1m/4f ratio (well, one's in the breeder tank right now, so there's technically only 3 females atm), and am working on getting a hold of one male and 2 female mbambas to bring that group to the desired 1/4. However, the aggression in the tank has doubled in the past 2 weeks. One of the peacocks decided he wants to be a domineering jerk too, and has taken over half the tank and is obsessively hunting the other peacock. The male Flameback's zeal for beating up everyone seems to have gone up a notch, and he seems to particularly like attacking the non-dominant peacock. Between the peacock and the Flameback, every fish in my tank shows stressed colors and are hiding in terror. I have no doubt the sub peacock will be dead within a week if something is not done. Is there any option at all to save him without having to remove one of the peacocks? I hate giving up any of my fish, but watching the Flameback and dominant peacock team up on this poor guy at all hours of the day and night is just heartbreaking. One will chase the sub to the other end of the tank, where the other fish will attack him and chase him back to the side he came from, leading to him being attacked by the first fish all over again, and so on and so on. Oddly enough, the 2 peacocks got along great until I had to rearrange the rockwork to remove the pregnant Flameback two weeks ago. I thought changing things around made fish less violent, not more? If there's no other way, I will remove the dominant peacock asap and send him to a new home. There's only room for one jerk in my tank, and that's the Flameback's job.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Changing the rocks/aquascaping around can go either way...I had World War III with my demasoni once when I did the same. Sorry the peacocks are not working with the flameback. I would have expected the problem to be the mbamba, but not surprised it's happening.


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## Dawg2012 (May 10, 2012)

We had one "jerk-face-moron" (as my GF calls him) zebra who was a major ass in our tank. We pulled him out to a little 5g for a month to let him cool his heels.

While he was away, two others claimed dominance - one claiming half the tank and allowing no other fish, while the other got the other half and all the other tank mates.

Having tired of that, we put 'jerk-face-moron' (JFM) back in. It took him a while - but he claimed one half of the tank back. He allows his rival to exist in relative peace, which he wouldn't do before.

In the mean time, we removed all the females (we think), and introduced another male of equal size. He got picked on straight away, so we removed the 2nd dom (the one claiming half the tank to himself), and rearranged the rocks and hiding places.

While the new JFM isn't happy in his time-out tank, the other fish are happy now that they have the entire tank to inhabit. In all the fray, they seem to have forgotten about the newcomer, which was part of the plan.

I plan to add a few more equal sized males of different colors/species, change up the decor each time, and leave the lights low. Hopefully the all male approach will work. If any fish gets to insane, he'll spend some time by himself. We'll see how that goes.


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