South American Cichlid aggression

cichlidfan45

Hi i have a 55 gallon tank with 2 convict 4in, 1 green terror 4in, 1 Jack Dempsey 4in, and 1 Common Pleco 2in. My convicts rule the tank and are good buddys it looks like, they are both males along with all my other cichlids, I do not have a really severe aggression problem in the tank just that my green terror is pretty beat up not his fins but he has missing scales and the other fish are more agressive towards him and he does not stand his ground he used to until he got beat on by my one or both of my convicts, the green terror is not very stressed and i dont have another tank so that isnt an option for me. For those of you have owned these fish and have had this problem please give me some advice? I only have two small structures in the tank so that might be the problem but im not sure? I need experiences anything that might help me?

kitten_penang

you could always add more hiding places but i can't lie to you those chilids will always be territorial it's in their nature so your little friend will always be bullied if they catch sight of him/her

cichlidfan45

Would more hiding places help any? thank you for the advice

kitten_penang

will help lessen the attack but not the stress.. your bullied fish has to keep hiding and thats not heathy

Spooki

Sometimes removing all the fish and decorations can help. Rearrange the decor and then slowly add the fish back in order from most subordinate to most dominant. You'd have to put your fish in aerated clean buckets since you don't have another tank.

It may help only for a short time though since the fish will inevitably work out their pecking order again.

beachcire

I would look at possibly re-homing some of those fish. The Common Pleco will get too large for your 55 and the bio-load of all the fish combined would be extremely hard to maintain.

cichlidfan45

you think just 2 convicts? and idt the pleco will outgrow the tank how big do they get

1077

Convicts at four inches will not get but around another one inch long, the Common Pleco can achieve 22 inches perhaps a little longer.
The Dempsey and Green Terror can grow between 8 and ten inches and will each become more territorial as they grow larger. It is doubtful that they will co-exist and were it me, I would be looking for larger tank, or new home for either the Dempsey,or the Green Terror.
The convicts are nearly adult size now ,and are nasty mean fish by nature and doubly so during spawning should there be a male/female.

kitten_penang

looks like all you can do to help it is only to let him suffer less for the time being. better look into re homing it's a long term solution