Help!

[keithabi]

I have 2 firemouths that seemed to be the best of friends until yesterday, but now the big one is picking on the smaller one constantly. I've noticed that the small one seems to have bits of fins missing and is staying in the top corner of the tank, every time it leaves the corner the other one attacks, what should i do? Would introducing some new fish help diffuse the situation? I'm dreading finding a dead fish in the morning and it's such a sweet fish too, my favourite actually.

[Rue]

...more fish might help...

...but for the time being...rearrange the tank completely and add more hiding spaces...

[kufan]

What size is the tank, this will be helpful with trying to figure out what is best for the fish.

KU

[Lady Hobbs]

It happens all the time. Cichlids reach a certain age and the sweetness they show towards each other disappears. Could it be they are mating?

[cocoa_pleco]

what size tank? chances are if theyre in a small tank theyre fighting over territory

[keithabi]

its 90cms so not that small. I wondered if maybe they were mating too but it seems so brutal and i feel so helpless!. I have rearranged some of the rocks tho and since then the little one (sasha i call her) has not been in the corner as much and haven't noticed any more attacks.

[cocoa_pleco]

could you tell the gallons please?

[keithabi]

35 gallons

[Drumachine09]

35 gallons



TOO small. Is it just me, or do you have 2 threads with the exact same question?

[keithabi]

Yes i don't know how that happened! Why too small? The tank is 84cms wide, 37 cms deep and 48 cms high, i think thats about 35 gallons. The fish i bought were on the recommendation of pet shop staff. Theres 2 dwarf guaramis, a silver shark, a red tailed black shark and the 2 firemouths ( sorry if i've already given this info.

[cocoa_pleco]

all the other fish are in your tank? the shark gets mondo sized and needs a big tank when it get adult, and the silver shark needs a 55g. 35g is waaayyy to small. The minimun tank for 1 firemouth is a 29g, so for all the fish you have you need a 75g, and when the shark gets big a 125-150g