# electric blue johanni cichlid aggression help!



## jahweedum (Sep 14, 2012)

So I got this guy first--not knowing they are seemingly so much more aggressive. I have four cichlids and one pleco in a 29 gallon---none of them are more than 1.5-2". A Dubosi, Moorii, Peacock, and the Johanni. Will the Johanni settle down eventually or is he just gonna take over the tank? The other three obviously keep out of its way and keep to small sections of the tank---they are much more active and will roam the entire tank when I take the Johanni out. Any suggestions or advice? Or should I just take the Johanni out and put him in his own tank? Thanks!


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

1. You'll need a much bigger tank to keep these fish. Think 4' 75 gallon aquarium +.
2. A peacock, moori and Tropheus are not good tankmates for aggressive mbuna such as your johanni.
3. I doubt that is a pure johanni, or maingano.

So, you are going to need a bigger tank to keep this type of cichlid, and you'll need to think about which fish you want to keep long-term. If it is peacocks and Haps like the moori, even a 75 gallon is a bit small. Or, you can get rid of all of these fish, and obtain fish appropriate for a 29 gallon tank. No worries, many of us started with a 29 gallon and quickly realized we needed to upgrade, certainly I did.


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## jahweedum (Sep 14, 2012)

Thanks! I appreciate the info! So I do know I will have to get a bigger tank if I want to keep these guys---I also have already worked out an exchange program with my local shop if I want as well. I haven't decided for sure what I am going to do as most of this I did on a whim. Another question though now that I'm thinking about it.

As far as the peacock, moori and duboisi go (these are the three I'm keeping in there now as I moved the johanni) do they need the space because of their aggressiveness or just in general for excercise and good health? And I know they will get more aggressive as they get older (at least I think) any idea as too how long they can remain in the 29 roughly?


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## jahweedum (Sep 14, 2012)

And here's the tank I have set up. Too much stuff in it? I have two 40 gallon out of tank filters and two air pumps running as well. And yes I'm a newb so please feel free to point out anything stupid I've done or any advice you think I should know. Appreciate it!


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I would not keep them in a 29G beyond the 3-week quarantine period, or if they are very small, possibly while they grow out to about 1.5".

If the moorii is a tropheus, I don't think the peacock will be happy with them either.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

The moori is likely Cyrtocara.


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

jahweedum said:


> So I got this guy first--not knowing they are seemingly so much more aggressive. I have four cichlids and one pleco in a 29 gallon---none of them are more than 1.5-2". A Dubosi, Moorii, Peacock, and the Johanni. Will the Johanni settle down eventually or is he just gonna take over the tank? The other three obviously keep out of its way and keep to small sections of the tank---they are much more active and will roam the entire tank when I take the Johanni out. Any suggestions or advice? Or should I just take the Johanni out and put him in his own tank? Thanks!


As others have shared...the 29G is going to be too small for the fish you currently have. I started with a 39G with about 25 fish in it and now have 10 tanks :lol: but really not many of my original fish remain (I have rehomed or given them to the LFS). If you look at my signature, you'll see a video of my maingano's today and if you would like to see how much space one maingano can take up...you will notice that in my 75G tank ONE fish owns half the tank..then another male owns about 1/3rd of the remaining tank and the rest of the fish (about 15 of them) live in the remaining 1/3rd or 1/4 of the tank. A couple of my mainganos are from my original stock of 25 (I did keep 3 electric blue johanni/maingano's but they are not as nice as the new stock of maingano's I ordered through an on-line purchase and you will be able to identify them in the video as they have some "bleeding" in their stripes).

I've debated about whether I should do anything as far as aggression but everyone seems pretty happy overall. Holding females hide out in the tall fake plants, babies abound in the rockwork (I have babies from 3 different spawns surviving now..not many but a few from each of those). And I have the dominant male who literally owns the tank but he's beautiful and I've left a few extra males for him to mess with which keeps him from killing off the females. Things may change as these fish mature more and then I'll have to adapt to those situations but for now I'm happy/they are happy :fish:

I recommend you decide what size setup you would like to have and then look at the cookie cutter recommendations for stocking or in reverse of that...decide what type of cichlids you really like and plan for them accordingly. If you are limited to your 29G possibly one of the tanganyika group would work as I see people talking about having them in smaller tanks. Either way, have fun with it and remember that the next batch of fish is only another tank away (but really I think I'm done for now with adding tanks) :wink:


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