# Firemouth cichlid aggression with other firemouth



## NeoViking (Aug 17, 2012)

I was given a female firemouth cichlid some months ago to go in my 180ltr tank (not sure what that is in gallons) and so far she's been fine, I've had no problems at all with her and she gets along with her other tank mates being 2 angel fish, 2 glass catfish, a bristlenose plec and 2 kribs.

Anyway I thought I'd get her a friend today so I bought a male of the same size... and she absolutely hates him! -_-
I watched them for the first hour and at first she wasn't bothered by him so I thought they were fine, but I come back an hour later and she's beat the crap out of him! poor guy's got ripped fins and bites everywhere!
I saw her go for him myself so I know it was the female who did it.

I've put him in a spare 15ltr tank just for now to keep them apart which I know is WAY too small to keep him in but it's either that or my female beats him up.
I'd like to get him out of that little tank as soon as possible though, I feel guilty as hell having him in there.

I just wanted to know, is there any chance they'll learn to live with each other? is there anything I can try out? or is he better off going back to the store in the morning? (stores are shut as I write this)
I don't want my female to kill him and I don't want him staying in that little spare tank for any longer than he has to.
I feel bad for him


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## Tazman (Jan 15, 2012)

Keep them separate, they will not get along if she has already beaten him up though. It will only lead to a dead fish if you try anything.

The issue I see here is the fact the fish is beaten up may mean your store will NOT take it back possibly. 

180l is about 45g which is bordering on the small side to add anything else to the tank. The angles are very borderline as well for a tank that size.


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## NeoViking (Aug 17, 2012)

I certainly don't want a dead fish, I'll have a look around for a suitable sized tank to keep him in until he's healed up if the shop can't tank him, then maybe re-home him when he's better.
The sooner I can get him out that cruddy little kids tank and into something suitable the better, I feel really bad  I totally hadn't expected this.


I do also agree my tank's fully stocked, I wasn't going to add anything else, he was going to be the last fish added to go with the female... only that didn't work as planned but I'm not going to be replacing him with anything, I am on the borderline and don't want to go over the top.


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