Electric Blue Acara Aggression

Recently I've been having issues with aggression between my electric blue Acara cichlids. I have 4 juvenile EBA's that are only 2-3 inches big with 2 delhezI in a 75 gallon right now. Two of the EBA's paired and have always been the rulers of the tank, but I've been noticing a lot of aggression on the other two lately. For the time being I have relocated the ones that are being bullied to another 75 gallon community tank but now those two are fighting in that tank. They both had some pretty decent chunks taking out of them, but they are not where near death. I just can't stand aggression between my fish is all. Are there anyways I can get this aggression to die down? I'd like to put all my acaras back together but I was worried they were taking too much of a beating. Thanks for any suggestions

 

You might dilute the aggression by adding a couple more EBA's. Making sure you select two of the more aggressive ones out of the vendor's display tank.

 

If you don't want aggressive fish, don't buy Cichlids. Aggression is part of their nature, and there's not a thing you can do to stop it.

 

That is probably the best advice ever posted.
So simple, accurate & direct, but for some reason I can't stop laughing.

 

If you don't want aggressive fish, don't buy Cichlids. Aggression is part of their nature, and there's not a thing you can do to stop it.

What's this? Common sense???

Are you sure you're on the correct forum?

 

If you overcrowd a tank with cichlids the aggression gets spread out and is not concentrated to one fish. There will still be aggression though. The only way to eliminate aggressive cichlid behavior is to keep one all by its self. No tank mates at all. .....and even then it may fight with its own reflection in the glass.

 

If you don't want aggressive fish, don't buy Cichlids. Aggression is part of their nature, and there's not a thing you can do to stop it.

Alright, I had heard that they were supposed to be fairly docile and I guess this is docile compared to other cichlids lol. Thanks anyway!

 

Alright, I had heard that they were supposed to be fairly docile and I guess this is docile compared to other cichlids lol. Thanks anyway!

There is truth to your statement.
For instance, someone may say to add a yellow tail aceI with aggressive fish because he will be more docile. It’s a mostly true statement. However, if someone who wishes to have a tank without aggression hears this they assume a tank full of yellow tail acei’s will be docile. Not so true.....
In that grouping there will be one who kills off a few others. It’s relative....get it?

So my typical suggestion to people just starting out is to overcrowd but never get more than one of any type mbuna. Even if patterns are different but mostly the same colors they will lunge at each other. Another suggestion is to do all males. No females to fight over.
Aquascaping can help also. If you have three fish and two caves, you will end up with fighting. If you have 10 fish and 20 caves maybe it will be alright. Sometimes no caves is better. Nothing to fight over......bu tYou lose out on observing typical cichlid behavior.

It’s all fun......until somebody loses an eye. (Literally)