Cichlid Aggression Question

[Cliff]

I think I might be close to having a problem in my tank. My male severum and male acara are starting to try to figure out who’s going to be the alpha fish. The acara has claimed the left half of the tank and the severum has claimed the right. They don’t seem to care if any of their other tank mates are in there turf, they only seem to get offended by one another in their turf. Right now there are only staring down each other. By that I mean they will swim up to each other, face each other, and try to stare the other one down. They will do this for about 5 to 15 minutes at a time staying about 2 to 4 inches apart. Occasionally, one will swim in closer and the other one will back down by about the same distance.

When it’s feeding time they seem to forget they have decided to be rivals, and they all eat like there’s nothing going on.

I’m concerned that at some point they could start nipping, or getting even more aggressive towards each other.

Would re arranging the tank be enough to break up the behavior or is there something else I could try to keep the peace ?

[KatzeSlaugen]

this may be weird but one of the times that they're going at it play some classical music in the room near the tank. i have actually put ear-buds in a plastic bag in my tank (forgot where i read doing that changes behavior) and played relaxing music and all the fish calmed down. its really quite impressive. also try building things so that their line of sight is obstructed. in my 75 my two male zebras use go at it really bad about once every two weeks. i basically built a peninsula in the middle of the tank and theyve been completely peaceful.

[toddnbecka]

They should actually have enough space to maintain their separate territories w/out any real aggression, but if it does escalate a sight break would help. Even a thick clump of artificial plants would probably work.

[Cliff]

Thanks guys.

I don't think I can bring myself to put my Ipod earpcs in the tank.

Toddnbecka, come to think of it, my apple snail has eaten about 1/2 of my plants with me replacing them. I think the removal of these plants might have had something to do wit the resent behavior changes. I'll get a few more plants this weekend and see what happens

Thanks guys