Tank Boss

Pax

New member
As I am new to the hobby I have found myself staring at my mbuna for hours. My morning routine is now a cup of coffee observation of the fish I feel this might be the best part of my day. Any way I now have 14 fish and have noticed some aggression. I had gotten three new fish last week one being larger then the rest a ob red blotch zebra. When there is a fight even if he is on the total opposite side of the tank he zips over and brakes the fight up. Does that mean he is tank boss? But I have not seen any aggression from him.
 

OB Guy

Administrator
Usually the tank boss will claim an area of the aquarium and chase other fish away when they get close. I have about 30 male OB Peacock Cichlids in my 125 gallon aquarium right now. For the most part they all get along well with the exception of one fish. He stays in the right rear corner of the aquarium and if any fish come past the center of the aquarium on to his side he chases them back to the other side. He's not the biggest fish in the aquarium but close. He is the most colorful fish though. He never fights with the other fish he just chases them away. What's strange is he only does this during the day. Usually around 8-9PM with the lights still on he lets all of the fish come on to his side of the aquarium and doesn't pay any attention to them at all. At one point I thought about moving him into another one of my tanks but decided to leave well enough alone. Chances are if I moved him another fish would take control. As long as they're not actually fighting I think they'll be fine.

With your aquarium be fairly new and adding new fish it will take a little time for things to settle in. Keep a eye on them and as long as they're not constantly fighting things should be fine. When buying new fish try to get them close to the same size as what's in your aquarium already. Mixing males with females can be trouble also. Moving your decorations around and making sure there's plenty of hiding spots is also a good thing.

What size is your aquarium? I'm glad you're enjoying your new hobby.
 

Pax

New member
It is only 55 gallon but I have read to over stock and plan on 20 fish all mbuna. Actually there has not been to many fights. This will probably change as they get older and bigger. As I said before I just thought it was kind of funny watching this one bigger fish seems like he's a referee. I have made sure there a lot of hiding places caves and whatnot for them to hide. And whenever I do a water change I changed the decor around.
 

OB Guy

Administrator
I've always had less fighting in aquariums that have a lot of fish in them. The only time I had a issue was years ago with Jack Dempsey's. I had one Jack Dempsey that would attack anything I put in the tank with him.
 

DrWupass

New member
My tank boss is a firecracker tropheus. He keeps the mbunas from stressing all the others.
 

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