Want to keep a small cichlid species with a big personality? Look no further than Telmatochromis temporalis.
Small cichlid, big personality
aggression
Aggression and isolation
Have a situation like the one pictured above? If you keep nearly any species of cichlid long enough, you’ll eventually experience this.
Some care, some don’t
Sigh. Because I like to keep up with what is going on in various fish keeping communities, I subscribe to several Facebook (FB) cichlid groups. That’s the good news. The bad news is following these communities exposes me to fish keepers that, frankly, probably shouldn’t be keeping fish.
Water temperature and aggression
Cichlids and aggressive behavior are synonymous. While not entirely accurate for all species, many cichlids do exhibit aggressive behavior more so than many of your average tropical freshwater fish in the hobby.
Neolamprologus pulcher submission signals
Do you keep Neolamprologus pulcher, AKA the daffodil cichlid? If you keep multiples and mixed sexes of this fish together, do you pay close attention to their behavior? Ever notice a head down or a head up posture when one fish is in close proximity to another fish? If so, you are possibly witnessing social hierarchy behavioral displays. Specifically, you’re noticing submissive and dominance behavior. But which one is which?
Appearance affects aggression
There are lots of variables that affect a cichlid’s aggression. Did you know that physical body colors is one of them? Some recent research using Pearl cichlids (Geophagus brasiliensis) as a model investigated how body coloring might affect territorial aggression levels.
Tanks in the fish room
Yesterday during water changes, it occurred to me that I’ve talked about the tanks in my fishroom but I’m not sure that I’ve ever shown them. I am fortunate to have enough space in my home for a designated fish room. This isn’t where my show tanks reside, but where my “work” tanks reside. By “work” I mean the tanks where I keep fish under special circumstances e.g., sick or injured, segregation for breeding or aggression issues, or even quarantine for new fish.
Quarantine chaos!
Even the best made plans can go awry! Revisiting my recent fish order and the subsequent quarantine plan I implemented, a little problem developed. Thankfully, the problem wasn’t a health issue but rather a behavioral one.
Sightlines, chemicals, and aggression
Because most cichlids exhibit aggression during breeding and territorial defense, a common solution to reduce such aggression in closed systems is the introduction of sightline barriers. This can come in the form of plants, rocks, wood, decorations, or even sand piles. The basic principle is that blocking the regular view of one cichlid from another will reduce aggression between the two. However, relying solely on sightline reduction to mitigate aggression in cichlids is often futile. Why?
Hey, find your own spot!
Territory disputes? With both species only and community tanks, this can be a potential problem. It can be mitigated by overcrowding, i.e., having so many fish that no single fish can claim a territory. Even if your tank isn’t overcrowded, you can still sometimes ease such disputes if you move things around in the tank frequently (e.g., rocks, caves, decorations).