# GBR Overly Aggressive?



## Mr. Puffer (Mar 26, 2007)

Well my pair of rams are in their new 55g home and doing well... The small bite wound on the female healed completely already and she looks great.

The problem I am having with my male though is he is being overly aggressive! He claimed a very nice slate cave in the left hand corner of my tank as his own and guards it day and night. He doesn't bother the cories as they do their thing shoaling around the tank in and out of his cave. But when my other GBR gets close to his side he chases her away furiously until she is backed into the right hand corner of the tank.

He is so mean to her that she gets stressed and loses color for a few seconds after being chased into the corner. Does anyone know why he is showing this behavior towards the other GBR? The guy at the LFS sexed them for me as their so young it was hard for me to tell. As far as I know the female is a female and not another male. She shows the blue shimmer through the black spot on her side, has a more rounded tail, and doesn't have the elongated 2nd spike on her dorsal like the male. She hasn't developed full colors as of yet so I do not see any pink in her belly.

Their both roughly 4 months old being just barely 1" big right now. The male shows almost complete colors, and is very vibrant for his young age. The female shows some good coloring, but still has yet to mature into her full colors yet. I have a very good picture of the male as he likes to strut his colors all over the place, and stops for long enough to get a good snap off. The female on the other hand I cannot seem to get a good picture of as she is always hiding, or following my cories around.

Anyone know whats up with the male? Will he eventually grow to like the female? Or should I just head back and get another male and a new female and just have 2 pairs?

Thanks in advance for any input!


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

hows the rest of your decor? Are there 6-8 other good ram hiding places? I do think 2 pair of rams could coexist in a 55, but you'd need a lot of "stuff" in the tank. I would put in more plants and caves and see how they do. The male might invite her in when he decides the cave is presentable, but she needs to have her own home too.


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## Mr. Puffer (Mar 26, 2007)

I have plenty of other decor to break site... Some fake :-x amazon swords in the back with some other fake :-x taller plants spread throughout for spots to break sight. And I have some pieces of driftwood soaking currently that will be in there quite soon.

There are a total of 3 rock and slate caves throughout the 55... their all fairly large in size because I plan to house a Centipede knife when it shows up. I have a whole box of rock and slate that I am planning to build more caves throughout the tank. I already bought some small clay pots to use as well if they do not take a liking to my rock/slate caves I build.

I would really like to plant the tank, but I don't know if the rams will take the shock of being put into the hospital tank for a day while I add flourite to the substrate. And then bounce them back into the 55 once I have that taken care of.... I could add some low light moss and ferns, but I want a fully planted look with a large variety of plants.

But anywho... as of right now there are plenty of spots for the female to break line of sight. And there are a select number of hiding spots, along with some slate pieces buried in the sand for them to do their thing if they so choose to some day down the line. If these two finally pair up I plan to add a pair of Bolivians, or even some Kribs if I can aquascape the tank properly so the kribs don't bug the rams during breeding time.


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## Mr. Puffer (Mar 26, 2007)

Well now I am a bit concerned with his aggressiveness. Now he has claimed over 50% of the tank as his territory, and if ANY other fish ventures into his area he attacks them chasing them away. He stands guard in the middle of then tank almost 100% of the time. And has even resorted to attacking my poor little shoals of cory cats.

If my panda's or juliis get anywhere near him, even in a group of 5 or more, he outright attacks them and chases them clear into the other corner. And if they flee in the wrong direction towards his slate cave, well they just get herded back accross the tank.

I personally have never seen any fish nip at or chase Corydoras like this before. I even kept a 6" Fahaka puffer in with 20 Pandas for over a year!!! Is there any reason for this behavior? I love the little ram, but if he is going to terrorize my innocent little cories I will have to isolate him in my hospital tank until I can get a 20-30gallon for him to move to.

Anyone have any input on this? I aquascaped the tank and added more places for the other fish to break line of sight, and some more slate caves for hiding spots.

Thanks in advance for any input!


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

There could be eggs or fry in the cave or you could just have an aggressive individual. I wouldn't suggest more than 2 pairs of cichlids total in that tank, and only one if you have an aggressive fish.


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## Mr. Puffer (Mar 26, 2007)

Well since I have the day off I have been watching him for decent periods of time. He seems to only be very aggressive during feeding times. But a good hour after feeding them this morning he seemed to settle down. Still chasing the female away, but leaving the cories to do their thing.

The Female is allowed to cruise freely with the cories, but when she strays away by herself he herds her back to her corner. I'll just continue watching him over the next week if things calm down more perhaps i'll introduce a pair of Bolivians, or another pair of GBRs. I would love to have a nice pair of Kribs in there, but I don't know if thats going to be possible... Perhaps some Keyholes?

I'm fairly new to keeping "community" cichlids. I have had breeding pairs of Jewels before, but they were kept alone. Perhaps this is all just normal behavior, but I thought it to be a little overly aggressive for a peaceful dwarf cichlid? ;-)

Thanks for the replies Emc!


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