The Daily Cichlid

Pictured left is a rejected female Leleupi or Lemon Cichlid she didn't grow as fast as her other tank mates and now they are trying to bully her to death via starvation and stress. 

Does the picture on the left look familiar? 

When dealing with Cichlid aggression you must first consider the amount of territory you have provided, Cichlids can grow pretty big and live in environments that are considered some of the largest freshwater sources in the world. If you buy 10-15 fry and provide them with a tiny tank 20 - 30 gallon and have no intention of upgrading when they grow up then you might want to consider keeping only a few of the smaller breeds and sell the rest. 

If you have a large aquarium and territory/ space isn't the problem think about the kind of territory you've provided. Have you provided enough rock piles for the rock dwelling species? Have you provided enough open water for the open swimming species? Are there enough escape routes for fish who are being picked on by the dominant, and larger fish? Do you have females that the male fish are competing for?

If you have trouble introducing new fish to your aquarium try and remove all claimed territories (rock piles or decor), acclimate the new fish to your water, your old fish will have no territory to protect therefore the new and old fish have equal chance to claim territory once the rock piles are set up again. When putting the rocks back in, shift them around a bit. Don't put them in exactly the same place.  

I've done all these things and yet there is still territorial aggression!

Good observation may be required because something has to be causing the excess aggression. Most Cichlids do not tolerate their own species or similar looking species in the same tank. The similar looking or same species will be viewed as competition for food, females and territory. For example 2 Lemon cichlids will not tolerate each other unless they are a breeding pair or if there is ample space. You are finding a dead fish floating every week but they don't seem unhealthy or stricken with disease and your water is perfect you might want to sit by your tank a while to see if this is caused by one particular fish. If it is one clear aggressive species it may be necessary to remove him or her from the tank, or if you don't have another tank consider selling the rogue aggressive fish for the greater good because eventually he or she will be the only fish in the tank. 

If you bought 2 or more of the same species but they are considered to be peaceful try observing their habits. If you see a pair that consistently hangs out together and defends one another the aggression could be coming from a potential breeding pair that you didn't know you had and again the solution is to house them separately to see if they breed or sell one of them or both if you have no intention of breeding them. 

If you buy your fish from a reputable aquarium and you ask for all male fish they will slip you a female or one male and two females because usually the fish are too young to determine their sex. Many Cichlids also are mono-morphs meaning that their sex is extremely hard to determine until they either pair up or grow into adults because they look the same with only slightly different size or colour variations. 

Are you feeding them enough? Most species of animals on the planet only try to kill one another to gain territory because there is ample food and or resources in said territory (Humans are no different). There is a fragile balance to maintain when feeding fish in general because if you over feed once a day you can pollute the water. If you under feed once a day you may miss certain fish because they wont get a chance to get their fill. When my Cichlids became overly aggressive I solved the problem by doing two things, I changed their territory up, and I started feeding them on a regular basis 2-3 times a day (smaller feedings). 

Feeding:

I used to feed my fish one big meal based on the 2 min rule - feed them as much as they can consume in 2 mins. Now I feed them as much as they can consume in 30-45 seconds 2 - 3 times a day which ends up getting every body fed and less food gets wasted. 

In the wild fish are opportunistic grazers meaning they will eat what ever swims by or whatever cool treat they happen to find during their travels. In the aquarium they eat what you provide and when it is gone they have nothing for the rest of the day and therefore might think that their tank mates have depleted the tank of its food source and consider them a threat. If you feed smaller amounts at 2-3 different intervals during the day they will understand that because there is less time in between meals there will be more food in their territory in a short while and will be less likely to consider their tank mates as a threat to the food supply. Also adding a varied diet of brine shrimp, different types of worms and even algae or veggie wafers as often as possible along with a staple food diet of high quality flakes or pellets will not only help with their overall health and digestion it will help keep aggression down because at some point everyone in the tank will have an opportunity to get their favorite foods. 

Males competing for female courtship:

If you notice males chasing around females or notice your females are holding (bulging jaws) you may be dealing with potential breeding aggression. If females are introduced to the aquarium the males will colour up and attack each other until a dominant male is determined. This will continue until the females are removed or until you provide 3 females to every dominant male. The down side is your tank will be over crowded in no time because the babies that survive will eventually grow to larger sizes. When breeding cichlids it is best to separate the females into their own tank and provide them a male when you decide it is the right time to create a stock of fry that you can sell or use to populate your tank further.

If All Else Fails:

If you have checked off all of the methods I've described and you are still dealing with high aggression and fish death from stress etc, I would carefully examine your fish for disease. Disease can cause fish to feel like crap and not want to put up with anything. 

If your fish look drab in colour and have tattered or torn/ ripped fins it may be fin rot and there are several cures on the market such as kanamycin antibiotics. Be careful with antibiotics concerning dosage and length of time. It is always best to dose your fish with antibiotics in a separate tank because the medicine will often kill all of your beneficial bacteria as well thus creating a new nitrogen cycle after the medication has been removed which can be more harmful to fish than the initial disease and could result in many more fish dying if you are unaware. It is always good to have extra oxygenation especially when it comes to Cichlids but more so when using antibiotics. Antibiotics create a foam or film on the surface of the water which causes the gas exchange required to renew oxygen that the fish use up to become practically nil. You can correct this buy either leaving 2-4 inches of water out of the aquarium allowing the filter water to create more surface agitation or by using a heavy duty air pump. 

If your fish have Malawi Bloat it is usually caused by poor water quality, low quality food too high in protein and fats, and stress, this opens them up to common internal parasites. The best foods are ones that come with a good variety of protein and vegetable matter along with beneficial vitamins. Here is some advice on treatment. The first and most common medication for bloat is Metronidazole (Emtryl or Flagyl), and the second is Clout. The treatment should be preceded by a 30% water change (in an effort to improve water conditions) and increased aeration, followed up with a 50% water change. It is also a good idea to remove any biological filters you may be using, even though these drugs claim they don't harm nitrifying bacteria they almost always kill all or most of the bacteria. Proceed to dose the tank as directed, if at all possible it is best to use a sponge filter and hospital tank whenever you have to treat your fish for disease but not everyone can be rockafellers with 2 tanks so you can try the dip method or medicate the main tank directly. Be prepared to go through a new nitrogen cycle with a fully stocked tank if you medicate your display tank. The easiest way to treat your fish for bloat is to feed them medicated food laced with metro+ (metronidazole) for a two week course while they are still active and eating. know the signs as well because the earlier you catch the disease the better. If you see bloated bellies and stringy poo your fish most certainly have a internal parasite. Early signs are hiding, lack of coloration, stringy poo. The Hexamita parasite is the most common cause of bloat. Medicated food in conjunction with large water changes, filter cleaning and substrate vacuuming will not kill your beneficial your beneficial bacteria as the fish will absorb most of the medication through digestion and the remaining medication in their poop can be vacuumed out during a water change. 

My fish are covered in white spots! 

You have Ich which is easy to cure with NOX-ICH, you must turn off the main lights during treatment which lasts a few days and remove activated carbon from the filtration system. It is also a good policy to turn the heat up to 84-86 degrees F and add aquarium salt to the main tank after the fish have been removed and placed in a hospital tank if you have one during the 3-6 day treatment because ich can only survive in the main tank if there are fish for it to live on. NOX-ICH, PARAGAURD, AND SIMILAR PRODUCTS WILL KILL YOUR BENEFICIAL BACTERIA. 

Ich can be cured naturally as well although it may take longer with the addition of salt, heat and daily water changes. If you heat your tank to 83-86 degrees F it will speed up the life cycle of the parasite and the salt will kill it in the free floating microbial stage (The stage we can't see). You run the risk of killing your fish if you don't gradually increase the temp and if you over dose too much with salt. General rule with heat and salt treatment is that you dose the tank with 1 and a half table spoons of salt per 5 gallons. Generally it is a good practice to keep anti fungal and antibiotic medication on hand if you start to notice secondary infections because ICH will literally take chunks out of your fish.

Ich can be prevented very easily by following 3 simple rules: 1. use freshwater aquarium salt to restore electrolytes and buffer hardness. 2. keep your aquarium at 80-82 degrees F which is where it should be for most Cichlids. 3. Ich doesn't come from just having water, substrate and decorations. Ich is a parasite that can only be introduced from already infected fish or contaminated water and plants. So always buy fish and plants from reputable sources, never mix foreign water into your tank and whenever possible quarantine every new fish for up to 2 weeks. If you follow these preventative measures and do encounter a sick fish take it back and demand your money back. If they refuse because they don't know what your tank conditions are tell them exactly what you've learned here. If they still refuse, try to cure the fish yourself if you have a hospital tank and never shop there again because chances are they know they are selling diseased fish but they just don't care. Chances are they would just kill it instead of cure it as well. Fish can be tough little buggers and if the disease is caught early enough chances are it can be cured and live a full and healthy life.