# Red Head Synspilum Cichlid Agression



## jwolf004 (Apr 22, 2020)

Hi guys,

New to the forum - glad to be a part of the community.

I have some new found trouble with my fish. I have a 125 gallon home to a Red Head, Chocolate, Silver Dollars, and a Rafael Cat. The Chocolate is full grown about 12" and the Red Head has gotten to be about 6-7" and there was peace for a while. I witnessed a pretty nasty battle between the Red Head and the Chocolate and the Red Head won. He seems to be the king of the tank now where the Chocolate once was and the Chocolate is cowering in the corner of the tank almost for the full day. There used to be rare mouthing at each other before but I wonder if this is the normal? I was hoping they would get along for the long run. I have large pieces of drift wood and long plants to break up sight lines. Is there any advice to calm down the Red Head? Or are these fish incompatible of being tank mates? The Silver Dollars do not really act as dithers - they are usually ignored by all.

Thank you!!!

-Jared


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## jwolf004 (Apr 22, 2020)

To make a long story short - I returned the Red Head Cichlid back to the store to re-home him. Agresstion was getting worse and all fish were in jeopardy. Any ideas for another tank mate down the road? I feel I have some more room for more than just 1 chocolate cichlid. Feedback is appreciated!

Thanks.


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## BC in SK (Aug 11, 2012)

jwolf004 said:


> Any ideas for another tank mate down the road? I feel I have some more room for more than just 1 chocolate cichlid.


IMO, just two cichlids is unlikely to work out well. The dominant fish will seek to eliminate it's sole competition in order to claim the whole tank. In general,the more aggressive the cichlid is, the larger numbers you will need and even for more mellow species like a chocolate cichlid, your still likely to need a lot more then just 2 cichlids to have a functioning community. A really big tank might give you the option to stock a little lighter, but in a 125 gal. your choice is likely going to be either just one cichlid ....or many!
A 125 gal. isn't all that big of a tank for a chocolate cichlid. You may want to keep it with only the non-cichlids. If it were my tank, I would probably consider a group of angelfish and/or festivums, but there are probably a number of smaller SA cichlids that could co-exist with a chocolate cichlid in a 125 gal. IME, even a lot of very aggressive cichlids will often ignore angelfish as they are not seen as much of a threat. Get them at a small size, and a large enough group (like 6 or so) and I think it likely a Chocalate cichlid wouldn't bully them or focus too much attention on them. Then again, introducing new fish into an established tank can sometimes be tricky, though IME it's seldom a problem if the new fish are introduced at small size because being in a different weight class makes them essentially a non-threat.


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