Jbones Posted October 23, 2007 Report Share Posted October 23, 2007 Hey all, I'm a newbie here at AA. I have a 55 gal aquarium and my choice of fish are african cichlids. I have 8 of them but not sure of all species quite yet but am in the process of identifying them all. So far I know I have 1-midnight blue, 1-taiwan reef, 1-electric yellow, 1-red shoulder, 1-dolphin, and three im not sure what they are. All peacocks though. One of them leads me to believe that it is a female due to no fancy color, also it is a "loner". It stays at the top corner behind my filter intake.... I've heard this is a bad thing because she has been "pushed away" from the rest of the group... Does anyone know of a good treatment for her to be accepted in the group? I guess i should also say that before i had 8 fish i started out with 4 and she was one of them. She was not accepted by the other three males (that I started out with) and someone told me to add more fish and she may be accepted by them. So I added 4 more males and she was swimming around and seemed to be interacting but still swims to her spot at the top of the tank where she stays for hours. hmmmm....?? what to do, what to do.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slough Shark Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 :welcome: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrick Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 :welcome: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackMumba Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 She was not accepted by the other three males (that I started out with) and someone told me to add more fish and she may be accepted by them. So I added 4 more males hmmmm....?? what to do, what to do.... I am in no way a cichlid expert, but I know that if you have a female with 4 or more males, it could be that they are stressing her out with trying to mate. Adding more males would make it worse... I would try to even out the female male ratio.... try breeding pairs rather then a mix of breeds... there will be some territory issues, but then again it won't be just on the lone female of the group... even out aggression/breeding. Or if your not interested in breeding, then remove her find her a good home, and get another male. I hope this helps your dilemma and Welcome to the forum... :thumbs: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Chicklets Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 :welcome: Welcome ro the forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qattarra Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 :welcome: to AA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharuq1 Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 1-taiwan reef :drool: oh and welcome to A-A! :thumbs: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jbones Posted October 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 She was not accepted by the other three males (that I started out with) and someone told me to add more fish and she may be accepted by them. So I added 4 more males hmmmm....?? what to do, what to do.... I am in no way a cichlid expert, but I know that if you have a female with 4 or more males, it could be that they are stressing her out with trying to mate. Adding more males would make it worse... I would try to even out the female male ratio.... try breeding pairs rather then a mix of breeds... there will be some territory issues, but then again it won't be just on the lone female of the group... even out aggression/breeding. Or if your not interested in breeding, then remove her find her a good home, and get another male. I hope this helps your dilemma and Welcome to the forum... :thumbs: Okay i will try that. Thanks for the input BlackMumba. Do you think I should add more than just one male?? I've been told that if i am going to add more fish i should at least add 3 or more at a time. I don't want to overcroud my tank because they will grow. i am happy with the set up i have now with large pieces of slate in which i have created a sort of maze type structure in which they have many hiding spots. I have been watching them everyday and there seems to be no dominance struggles or fighting. They all seem to get along with each other except the female. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackMumba Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 Do you think I should add more than just one male?? NO you're just replacing the female i am assuming with a male. Adding more fish could pontentially over crowd it, as each breed of peacock has a max size growth either 4" to 8" or more depends on the cichlid. I've been told that if i am going to add more fish i should at least add 3 or more at a time. This is true for territory, but you mention slate is in the tank, that you don't want to disrupt, you can move a few items, when introducing this new fish, this way all the fish lost their existing territory sure they will spar a bit to retain a new spot in the new look tank, they do and will figure out where they are positioned shortly afterwards. Like you said you don't want to overcrowd your tank, because they will grow. I have been watching them everyday and there seems to be no dominance struggles or fighting. They all seem to get along with each other except the female. You also could just introduce the new Male in the tank without doing anything to see the reaction, they will figure it all out...if agression starts just move a few items as mentioned above and observe... I hope this helps!! :thumbs: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toirtis Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 :welcome: to the board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharuq1 Posted October 27, 2007 Report Share Posted October 27, 2007 Welcome to the forums! You have some very pretty fish on your list :thumbs: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishy Posted October 28, 2007 Report Share Posted October 28, 2007 :welcome: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terrie Lee Posted October 28, 2007 Report Share Posted October 28, 2007 Welcome to the boards! There is a lot of really knowledgeable people here to answer any of your questions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayfong Posted November 1, 2007 Report Share Posted November 1, 2007 :welcome: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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