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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

malawi tank_fighting

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08 Oct 2013 09:44 - 08 Oct 2013 09:54 #1 by ket (keith byrne)
malawi tank_fighting was created by ket (keith byrne)

Attachment not found






HI all, my tank is set up a few months now. In the last couple of days there is a bit of fighting starting in the tank.
The bully. photo 2

Being bullied . Photo 1
The 2 of them are getting bullied, but mainly the red one.

The have been living in peace sinse I set up the tank.

Recently added around 10 white tailed acei , all around 1 inch.

Tank 240lt .10 x 3 to 4 inch fish and the 10x1 inc acei.

And help would be great.

Thanks
Keith
Attachments:
Last edit: 08 Oct 2013 09:54 by ket (keith byrne). Reason: photos

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08 Oct 2013 10:25 #2 by JohnH (John)
Replied by JohnH (John) on topic malawi tank_fighting
Quite often with almost any Cichlids an environmental change - such as adding extra fish will see an upset to the equilibrium of the tank.
I personally couldn't say for certain that this is the case here, but it's a good place to start, given that the status quo of the tank has altered since the introduction of the newcomers.
There was a sort of rule of dominance before and quite possibly - although the newcomers are only minor in size - this has been enough to 'rock the boat'.
You could try moving the rockwork around - this will throw all established fish's 'pattern' out of kilter and could possibly help settle the unrest.
But, be aware, fighting - whether real or threatened - is part of a Cichlid's job description, and this applies to Malawis as much, if not more so, than with others - this is one of the reasons why the recommendation is to 'overstock' the tank as this then lowers the aggression from and to individual fish.

Perhaps we can get some more opinions?

John
Location:
N. Tipp

We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.


ITFS member.



It's a long way to Tipperary.

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08 Oct 2013 10:35 #3 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
Replied by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley) on topic malawi tank_fighting

Quite often with almost any Cichlids an environmental change - such as adding extra fish will see an upset to the equilibrium of the tank.
I personally couldn't say for certain that this is the case here, but it's a good place to start, given that the status quo of the tank has altered since the introduction of the newcomers.
There was a sort of rule of dominance before and quite possibly - although the newcomers are only minor in size - this has been enough to 'rock the boat'.
You could try moving the rockwork around - this will throw all established fish's 'pattern' out of kilter and could possibly help settle the unrest.
But, be aware, fighting - whether real or threatened - is part of a Cichlid's job description, and this applies to Malawis as much, if not more so, than with others - this is one of the reasons why the recommendation is to 'overstock' the tank as this then lowers the aggression from and to individual fish.

Perhaps we can get some more opinions?

John


I have to agree. I know overstocking sounds counterintuitive but it often works, as long as the filtration is up to it. And I always moved rock work when adding new fish. Territory-wise it puts everyone back to square one again. When you added the new residents, they may have forced the bullied fish to squeeze up against the dominant male's territory more than he liked, so war ensues.

I've seen very small cichlids hold off much larger fish, purely because they got there first, formed a territory and were damned if they were going to let someone take it, no matter how big they were. For some cichlids territory is EVERYthing :evil:
"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."

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08 Oct 2013 10:40 #4 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
Replied by hammie (Neil Hammerton) on topic malawi tank_fighting
Just a thought, (Ive never had Malawi's so sexing would be next to impossible for me) there are no spawning pairs amongst your stock is there?
Usually if there were spawning (prepairing to spawn) pairs their agression would heighten aswell!!

Id say John is right, but never hurts to explore a second option

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08 Oct 2013 10:43 #5 by ket (keith byrne)
Replied by ket (keith byrne) on topic malawi tank_fighting
I did move the rocks around abit when I added the new fish.
I will put them back the way i had them , and hopefully peace will be restored,!!!

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08 Oct 2013 11:05 #6 by paulv (paul vickers)
Replied by paulv (paul vickers) on topic malawi tank_fighting
Id say over the last few months your fish have matured and now ready to breed, ive never kept African cichlids but with south American cichlids once a pair becomes established its very hard to stop the fighting, only way I know is to over stock and regularly change fish about. Your now facing what every other cichlid keeper has faced.best ovf luck with them.

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08 Oct 2013 12:05 #7 by irish-zx10r (James feenan)
Replied by irish-zx10r (James feenan) on topic malawi tank_fighting
put the bully into a holding net for a day or two then let him back into the tank and see how things go. if he goes back at the same thing try the same thing over again after one or two trys he might quiten down. i had one fish very badly bullied and this worked for me.
Something fishie going on here

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08 Oct 2013 12:50 #8 by ket (keith byrne)
Replied by ket (keith byrne) on topic malawi tank_fighting
Getting him in the net is slit easier said then done.. lol
The sight of the net has seemed to relaxed him a bit, he or it must know where its going.

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08 Oct 2013 13:28 #9 by christyg (Chris Geraghty)
Replied by christyg (Chris Geraghty) on topic malawi tank_fighting
Malawis, especially mbuna, by their very nature are a very aggressive species(in their own community). This aggression is normal and is why it's not recommended to keep non Malawis with them. Removing the 'bully' or dominant male can work, but it will only leave a vacancy for a replacement which will be quickly filled. On returning the 'bully', the problem is that he can become the bullied. It is not recommended to add one fish to a Malawi tank at a time as the 'newcomer' will be picked on by all. Overstocking spreads the aggression so no one fish is being picked on. The mbuna community is definitely not a place for the faint-hearted.

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08 Oct 2013 15:14 #10 by irish-zx10r (James feenan)
Replied by irish-zx10r (James feenan) on topic malawi tank_fighting

Getting him in the net is slit easier said then done.. lol
The sight of the net has seemed to relaxed him a bit, he or it must know where its going.


I know ,often spent hours after holding cichlids and putting them into the holding net.
I wouldn't advise putting one new cichlid into a tank but if its one that you all ready had in the tank it's
not as bad i have done this a few times and never had any trouble but thats not to say its right people with more experience might be able to give better advice. Another thing i did if i had just one new cichlid, i add him to the tank the same time as some other holding cichlids hope this makes sence.
Something fishie going on here

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09 Oct 2013 17:48 #11 by ket (keith byrne)
Replied by ket (keith byrne) on topic malawi tank_fighting

put the bully into a holding net for a day or two then let him back into the tank and see how things go. if he goes back at the same thing try the same thing over again after one or two trys he might quiten down. i had one fish very badly bullied and this worked for me.


I have put my rocks back to the way the where,holding net is in the tank, but still no joy in catching him :unsure:
I think with time I have spent trying to catch him, I have become the dominant male in the tank :evil: as he has relaxed a lot ,
and only a slight bit of chasing now.

Hopefully it will stay this way!!!!

Thanks for everybody's reply


Keith

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09 Oct 2013 19:21 #12 by irish-zx10r (James feenan)
Replied by irish-zx10r (James feenan) on topic malawi tank_fighting
When one stops another one will start but hopefully it wont be as bad
you find yourself spending more time looking at the tank
and you might even here them voices in the background saying you pay more attention on them fish
than you do with me. :whistle:

good to here we were of some help any photos of your setup?
Something fishie going on here

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10 Oct 2013 18:08 - 10 Oct 2013 18:12 #13 by ket (keith byrne)
Replied by ket (keith byrne) on topic malawi tank_fighting
I just added a wave maker, helps a lot with moving dirt from between rocks.

Sorry can't add photo keeps saying internal error 500
Last edit: 10 Oct 2013 18:12 by ket (keith byrne).

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