Andre

excuse me i'am having a problem with a fish i have had for 6 months now its a Zebra Cichlid and just the other day i bought another Cichlid and i put him in the tank and the Zebra Cichlid Attacked it and i had to take the new one out how do i get them to like each other or wat should i do please reply i need help

sirdarksol

Welcome to Fishlore!
Unfortunately, I know little about cichlid psychology and social structure, so I'll have to leave that part to those with more experience with cichlids. I just wanted to say "welcome."

Iluvatar

I dont know much about cichilds but if they are both the same gender I think it causes problems and aggressive or unfriendly behavior. I am sure other people will help you much more here on fishlore. I dont keep cichilds so I dont know much about them.
Welcome to Fishlore

platy ben

the type of cichlid you orginally have is known as a zebra cichlid but its a sub-species of the convict cichlid.
Convict cichlid's are extremely territorial and you would need to have put both the fish in the tank at the same time, do you have any other fish with your zebra cichlid?

Allie

He has an african cichlid. zebra species.

Allie

First of all. Never add just one fish to an african cichlid tank, two or more is better. You should rearrange the tank so the territories have to be found again.
A rule of thumb with african cichlids is....a long tank with lots of rock work is a must and 1 male to 2-4 or more females will keep the aggression down. Also there are 3-4 levels of aggression in Lake Malawi african cichlids. Never mix a mild type with a more aggressive types.
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What size is your tank? Why type of zebra species is it? What other species do you have and how many fish? I can answer questions better if I get this info.

platy ben

oh sorry my bad, but there is a type of convict cichlid which is knwon as the zebra convict , sorry.

Allie

One of the common names not used around here.

Andre

icurrently have a 10g but looking for a 25g tank and its a zebra cichlid

steveangela1

One thing I agree w/ is Allie, you def do not need to just ad one cichlid to a tank at a time, they work better in numbers. Also when you put cichlids in tanks, the first one in is 9 out of 10 times the "king" of the tank. so all the other fish will be below him/her.
Now If you have 10 cichlids in a tank you will have your king, then they have a pecking order down to even the ones who jsut like to watch the others.
I read an amazing research on their ablitiy to reason like 4 year old children. (I guess that explains the rocks getting out of order and the messes they make)

Shawnie

agressive cichlids in a 10 gallon is asking for fights...no way to get away from one another

steveangela1

for african cichlids you have to have at least a 55g tank for them to be happy. On the pic comment that was a ice blue, aka met greyshaki cichlid not a zebra.