Mini Fight Club

My wife picked up an aquarium from a friend a little while back. We are new to this and need a bit of advice!

It is a 30 gallon tank that came with a pair of African Cichlids. An all orange one, about 10 years old and a younger blue and black striped one who is about 3 months old.

Long story short, we got a Red-tailed Black shark about a week ago to add to the tank but he is getting messed up by the smaller Cichlid.

The larger orange one doesn't really care to much about the little guy, but the smaller blue and black striped Cichlids a straight up bully!

It's crazy; the big cihclid chases the medium cichlid and the medium cichlid chases the red tailed around.

I'm going to pick up a 55 gallon tank tomorrow and want to know a couple of things.

Should I move all 3 fish to this larger tank and add more hiding spots? I assume it's a space issue and he doesn't have enough room

Should I just move the red tail to the larger tank by himself? I feel like this is counter intuitive.

Should I move the Cichlids to the larger tank and leave the red tailed in the 30 gallon till he is a bit bigger and can stand his ground better?

What other options do I have?

 

Being they are African cichlids I think you need more of them. They are aggressive and if you have a lot it spreads out the aggression. I don’t think the red tail belongs with them. He would be better with American cichlids.

 

hello, how long have you had the Cichlids for? were they fine before you added the shark? if so then you should move both Cichlids into the 55 gallon and keep the shark in the 30 gallon. you can even add some smaller fish to the 33 gallon I suggest any platys or mollys because they are very hardy fish. for your 55 gallon you can add some more smaller Cichlids.Red-tailed Black sharks can be very
aggressive to a lot of other freshwater sharks so stay clear of those.

best of luck!!

 

hello, how long have you had the Cichlids for? were they fine before you added the shark? if so then you should move both Cichlids into the 55 gallon and keep the shark in the 30 gallon. you can even add some smaller fish to the 33 gallon I suggest any platys or mollys because they are very hardy fish. for your 55 gallon you can add some more smaller Cichlids.Red-tailed Black sharks can be very
aggressive to a lot of other freshwater sharks so stay clear of those.

best of luck!!

We have only had the aquarium for about 2 weeks. The person we received the fish from had the larger fish about 10 years. He said he got the smaller cichlid about 3 months ago. He also bought 2 at that time but 1 didn't survive. Unknown why that was the case.
We added the red tailed last week.

 

Being they are African cichlids I think you need more of them. They are aggressive and if you have a lot it spreads out the aggression. I don’t think the red tail belongs with them. He would be better with American cichlids.

Would American Cichlids be just as territorial and aggressive to the RTS?

 

No I don’t think so. Red tails can get aggressive too. With the right fish it should be fine. Angelfish,geophagus,severum,convicts,blue acaras and rams would all work.

 

ok then you should move both Cichlids in to the 55 gallons make sure to include soft ceramic rocks, small slate rocks, large decorative river stones, and any other such rocks. make sure that the rocks are pretty smoth. if they are sharp then they can easily get cut that goes for any kind of fish. pls when your done I would love to see your tank

thanks

 

The first rule of fight club is: Don't talk about fight club.

The trouble with cichlids is that if you aren't trying to eat them, you are food...

You may need to move the red tail out till he matures and gets some size on him and can handle himself... Then he won't be food...