exactly on point lake malawi cichlids and other cichlids are tend to be very agressive and territorial its hard to buy new fishes and add them in the tank you always have to keep and eye on them .
Love the vid. But I don't think you need 6ft tank. Be great. But I have a 4ft 182l tank with about 20-25 cichlids all mixed. The mbuna's will still chase other fish sometimes. But line of sight is massive. Them just being able to break it tends to dissipate it most of the time. I also find changing the layout can help as well as they no longer have that spot to fight over. Love that tank.
Great video. I also love African cichlids but I got rid of my entire mbuna tank. They started off good but then I started having shredded fish in the tank when I got home. The last straw was when I lost my yellow lab, my favorite mbuna. I still enjoy the hobby but I have South American cichlids now.
Noooo, that is terrible! 😭 I had similar with my discus, once I lost my favourite that was the last straw. I'm glad you are enjoying some South American fish now though 😊
The aggression is a tough thing. Good points on how bullying can slowly kill a fish. It is part of the deal when you keep this type of fish. I enjoy your channel!
75 gallon Waterbox 100.3 Reef tank here with a mix of Cichlids....about 15+ mature fish. Normal playful little chases here and there but they all get along fine and doing great. My key is to add all fish at once and yes you need to overstock the tank and have excellent filtration (sump with powerful flow). If you add fish along the way it's a big risk but can work if you completely change the aqua scape so as to remove any territorial tendencies. I've been keeping fish for almost 50-years and can not manage huge tanks any longer, so I make it work with a more manageable size.......love my 75 Gallon Waterbox.
Thanks for posting this. I have had good luck too with removing the aggressor from the tank and letting the fish being bullied stay. This gives him a chance to heal in the main tank and takes the aggressor away from his “territory” that he thinks he owns and needs to defend. Just thought I’d share.
Brian that has actually worked for me as well. I removed the aggressor and kept him in a separate thank for a month or so. Change the rock locations in the tank before adding him back.
Good video. And yes you are right. For those who want this to work but can't afford a tank over 90g, I suggest you ditch the mbuna. It worked for me. All the best...
I've kept african cichlids many times for years. There is nothing u can do aggression is inevitable, I tore down my african tank. A fish tank should b relaxing. I have angelfish and large schools of tetras in my 125 its so relaxing to observe
Tank clean, nice fishes, and especially good pieces of advise! You can also change the decoration times to times, moving blocks will disturb territories and motive fishes to adapt. You could give a try to some more vertical higher islands to see the impact. When feeding, give a try in the water stream to spread the food and give more chance to all fish to get access to it. You moved? With both your tanks.. shouldn't be a tee party.. video of that?
Thank you Charles, and thank you for the tips! And yes, I moved about a month ago 🤣 You must have missed the vid! I uploaded one a few weeks back of the move. I'm in a townhouse that is almost identical
Another trick I've found is to put new fish in at night with very minimal light on the tank. Seems that the original fish don't notice the new ones & also come the next day the originals think the newbies have been in the tank all along. Just my thoughts & I've had no problems so far doing this.
I would love a tank like yours, it’s so beautiful …but I don’t want the aggression, or the upkeep on such a large tank. I have settled for albino cribs .. and may add a few larger tetras to help with the shyness. I really enjoy your informative videos…keep it up.…👍🏽
Great vid Kaity. It's not just African Cichlids who can be nasty, but a whole range of fish including semi aggressive species. Solutions like you say involve having the correct number in the tank and also the correct male, female ratio and amount of space. Do the cichlids ever go for your bristlenose plecos?
That does make sense to add more than one fish to the aquarium glad I subscribed your an amazing aquatic I learned so much thanks for sharing find this as always very informative 😊
I'm curious about the food you use. Since the diets of Mbuna are different than your haps, are you able to avoid issues like Malawi bloat etc? Love your videos. Thanks
I have a 55 gallon with only mbuna,and my biggest issue is aggression as well... I recently had to remove my maingano because it was beating up my johanne pretty bad and they look very similar... It just started a week ago,which was surprising since they both had been in the tank together for 6 months...A few months back I had to remove a Rusty cichlid because it was a female and the aggression was bad.. What really seems to help for my tank ,is moving around the rocks and leveling out the sand every water change... They spend more time digging under the rocks than chasing each other around
That's some really good tips! Thank you for sharing 😊 I totally agree that moving rocks and sand can help too. It's funny how sometimes just one day a flick can switch and one of them becomes super aggressive
Tank looks great, I Jr african cichlids for about 4 yrs. Tank looks amazing, one other thing I did to keep the aggressive behavior in control was lower the temp to about 72-74 degrees.
Love your tanks! And the bird, haha. One thing I wondered, seeing all these open top tanks: do you never have problems with fish jumping out? And there's no excessive evaporation due to so much water being exposed? 🙃 (I don't know about the climate where you live -- evaporation might be less of an issue if you don't need to heat your tanks as much as most people do.) ✌
Thank you!! 😄 I have netted lids from NVS Aquariums on my tank, they sit flush with the glass so they're not too obvious. The fish definitely would jump if I didn't have them though! As for evaporation it's a bit annoying in Summer, I lose about an inch of water a week
@@Kaityscichlids The lids are certainly not obvious; nice find! 😀When I get a big acrylic tank someday (they're not cheap over here, ugh) I'll be looking to get a similar setup. :)
What I have found helps when adding new fish is to do it if possible when doing a water change, shut off the lights and slightly move some decorations around. It tricks them into thinking they have just moved to another part of the river rather than a new fish entering their territory. I had a Texas cichlid that was getting badly beaten up by the others, I moved him into a community tank where he healed up nicely. But then he began to eat all the community fish. After putting him into my South American cichlid tank, he ruled as the boss, even bossing around a huge Oscar. I do like that you made this video while having a bird literally on you without even mentioning it. That was funny to me.
That is a great tip!! It definitely helps turning the lights off and moving things around. Crazy how they get picked on then end up bullying others... It's just like some humans though haha. I have accepted my fate that this little bird is glued to me from now on lol
With aggression I've been in the hobby for over twenty years I have a tank with peacocks and haps I've found over the years is the best way to keep them is only have a sand or aragonite substrate nothing else no rocks nothing to me that's the way to go love your vids Kate
Your tank looks amazing but the one thing that really stresses me out is watching fish being bullied and picked on, I know it's only natural for certain cichlids to be aggressive but I just don't like it hence I have a tank full of clown loach and mascara barbs, and only 2 red head tapajos geophagus 💕
Great incite ! I have had the unfortunate experience of a bonafide cichlid to cichlid killer . Who pretty much wiped out my tank but i understand now that I wasn’t educated enough on the amount of space needed and how much to feed them to keep them content .
*Hello, I'm your 713th Thumbs up. I Love your gorgeous crystal clear tank & pretty fish. Sweet....bird!!! I Love Birds.... Great share!!! 😊😊😊* Sharon in SC
Great Video and right on point... Very beautiful fish also... I'm new here & i see some unfamiliar fish yet gorgeous... What are the gold/yellowish fish the tails look like it's blue? I think you have 2 or 3 of them
I have now used Absolute Colour food (from Tech Den) for the 14 days and yes it did work. My Cichlids really went for it and coloured up. I will now use it weekly as directed.
Hi Kaity, Love your videos. I have a question. With such a big tank do you have humidity problems in your home? I am interested in getting the same tank that you have. Should I get a lid? Will that help? Also is your electricity bill high with your tank?
Hello! Thank you so much 😊 I haven't had any humidity problems with the tanks. I do have lids but they are netted ones so they don't really help with evaporation, but the evaporation is not too bad. It's about 1inch in a week of evaporation in Summer time. I'm not sure exactly how much electricity it costs to run the tanks but my electricity bill is nothing crazy, it's pretty average
Aggression will dicipate with the more fush u add.or add dither fish.i used a school of 8 moori dolphins at about 2 inches.they block out other fish and causes a distraction with multiple fish moving at once.
Hi Kaity, both your tanks are looking great and you are too! Your cichlids are so beautiful. From my saltwater keeping experience, my understanding is to not have rocks or substrate in a QT because any parasites can attach themselves to porous surfaces. I use PVC pipes and joins or any other plastic object for fish to shelter or swim through as they are smooth surfaces which any parasites will not be able to attach onto and multiply from there. I’m assuming the same theory would apply to freshwater cichlids.
I am very jealous of the colors on your fish, sure wish I could get mine to look that good, maybe I’m buying from the wrong places?, I have to order mine online so I don’t get a chance to pick them out personally because I live out in the boondocks. Sure wish I could get that type of COLOR food here in the USA. Fish can be like people sometimes you just get a psycho fish and the easiest thing to do is get rid of it, but just like you have done most of the time you can get around aggression in one way or another.
Hi kaity, I don't know how much you know about plants cos I don't seem to have any success at all. Even the supposedly easy plants like java fern and anubias plants they all seem to die. Could it be when I'm cleaning the tank I'm doing too much at one time and wiping all the beneficial bacteria which the plants feed off? Hope everything is ok 👍
Hi Alexander! I'm no expert on plants, but the most common reasons for plants dying are too much or too little light/nutrients, or getting eaten by the fish. Java fern and Anubias are normally pretty hardy but if there is too much light it can fry them, or if you don't have any nutrients/fertiliser in the water column for them to feed off. So like you said, if you are doing huge water changes and not dosing any type of fertiliser this could be part of the problem. I hope that helps :) Maybe someone else who knows more about plants could chime in too
Hi Kaity unfortunately aggression is just part of the species, I’ve tried all the tricks of the trade to keep aggression abide but it’s still their every now and then. A couple of things I have found that sort of works is very Little Rock’s and ornaments which gives them nothing to fight over, also temp plays a part to, so keeping temp down as low as 25-26. One thing I have found works really well is the feeding, I used to feed only once a day, and thought it’s really a long time 24hrs before they eat again, especially when you consider they graze in the wild, so I find it’s best to feed a couple of times a day, use the same amount that you would give in one feed and split it up into smaller amounts throughout the day
Thank you so much for the tips Paul! I think someone else mentioned less rocks and ornaments helped them too. It's good hearing other peoples experiences, it definitely gives me some food for thought, no pun intended haha. I totally agree about the eating small portions more frequently though. Mine go psycho if I don't feed them
You missed out a point of having a tank hero or boss. It will usually break fights and won't let one fish cross the line. Usually venustus males can fit this role.
@@Kaityscichlids Only if we are lucky. I had one such male few years ago. Your venus looks great as do most other fish. I guess colour food is enhancing the colour. Even when i purchase the fish from the store or farm, the colour is highly enhanced. Eventually after a week. The colour gets flushed out.. Only to find out that lot of cichlids are females. :D
@@vinodhd10 Yes it definitely makes a HUGE difference!! That happens here too, the juveniles always look sooo colourful but it's just from the colour food
Can't agree you more, as a african cichlid farm, we experienced this EVERY SINGLE DAY!!! Especially for the Mbuna, but still we can't be able to resist their beauty🤣
Hey kaity.. i have kept around 50 mbunas. I have 125 gallons tank and have a lot of rocks with proper spaces to hide. But i see that a lot of my mbunas get hurt by hitting on the rocks when chased. Is there any solution to this?
Oh no! Poor guys :( I don't have a solution to that, I haven't had that issure. The only thing I can think of is trying to rearrange the rocks in a way it is easier for them to dart in-between them without scraping
Yeah I agree African cichlids It was very aggressive I tryed everything it just didn't work for me wy i dot know lol I had to give aggressive one away lol now my aquarium is so stressful free now great video katliy ur aquarium do look awesome 👍👍
@@Kaityscichlids you welcome yeah it was great video me too hate when I have a Bully in my aquarium too makes the other fish color down sometimes lol I hate bullys
I tried a 90 gallon all male peacock tank and it was chaos from the start I was able to Rehome the fish to other aquarists in my area before any casualties but the stress of managing their agression and seperating specific individuals was too much for me since then ive stuck with peaceful SA chchlid species 👍
I would not mix mbuna and peas. Peas and haps are very okay. I would not add females of any strain as well. Mbuna + rocks = very aggressive, bully mbunas. This is base on my xp.
Great video. I bought about 15 cichlids a few years back. Unbeknownst to me, there was one female in the group. My male Dragon Blood, the most aggressive peacock IMO, killed the other 13 males and bred with the female repeatedly. I now have a tank full of Dragon Blood and OB juveniles. The Dragon Blood won't let any other males survive. I have since put them in a 110 gal trough pond in my back yard in AZ. Check out the shorts on my page :)😁
Hi Derek! Your KH is good and the GH is on the higher end I believe but neither of those should be burning their fins. From my experience if it's fin rot you'll normally see a black or white outline where the fin looks torn, whereas with aggression it'll more so be tattered, and you might see other signs of aggression like the fish staying near the top of the water and/or hiding from the aggressor
@@Kaityscichlids Thanks Kaity love your tank are you on facebook? i would like to show you my tank ive just started keeping African ciclids there beautiful i love them.
If one fish os attacking another specifically its probably caise they think its a competitor for breeding.do a water change and re arrange the rocks in tank.idwally you would be able to separate tham but not usually
Your tanks are lovely, I haven't kept fish for ten years plus, it makes me want to start up the hobby again. One thing I have noticed lately, there is some brilliant equipment for tanks these days, especially the lights.
I always heard one way to combat aggression is to do a.big water change and change the layout of the tank. Also to, add the new fish then as well. It would reset everything.
So, we all speak of design, light, filter, watervalues, but the aggression or the fishes is always a more bigger problem. Sometime they hop out of water, die and nobody know why. I had a mix of Tropheus duboisi, Yellows ( albinos) and Labidochromus hongi red top. Sometime one of them die and I don,'t know why. Normally they are small to medium lovely together and a lot of stones inside. The only thing is, they are breeding tough. Now I think: if one fish is separated it is near horror.
I much prefer Peaceful Fish, like Neon Tetra's, Cardinal Tetra's, Glowlight Tetra's and Fish more like them.! Probably because I am Peaceful myself.! But Keeping an Aquarium is Difficult enough, without having the Problem of having to keep an Eye on Aggressive, Bullying Fish most of the time.! 🐠🐡🦈
If you want to address aggression then you have to separate the females out. Doesn't matter if you color them up pretty, they will still have pheromones/hormones that get released and makes the males go crazy. You also have some notorious mbunas in there like the bumblebee. Just put the mbunas in their own tank and get some peace of mind.
@@Kaityscichlids either way, best to separate the fems as their hormones/pheromones might be the cause. Unless of course you want to be hybridising them then you'll just have to live with it.
I haven't! I happy to run it on the cooler side anyway though around 25-26 degrees so I suppose that has probably helped without me knowing. And yes Laila always wants to be the star hahaha
I had a sunshine who was an absolute di*$k tried everything puting him in a net and floating him in the tank to completely separating in a tank to himself for a few months and reintroduced all the fish a newer 125gallon setup and he was still the same. He was trying to breed 24/7 little horndog and I had to get rid of him. Unfortunately their is a lot of rehoming/euthanizing to get a good community. I’ve had African cichlids for 2 years now and have had hundreds of fry all to end up with about a dozen fish to current today from aggression. Ordering fish is expensive and my big box stores like petco and petsmart only have little dinkers and most end up being female. Usually also only have 3 available each time as well. To have a tank like this you would be better off spending hundreds on confirmed adult males online unfortunately.
You can only calm down aggression, you won't stop it all together, don't over stock the tank, and make sure the tank has enough rocks because they are extremely territorial fish. Usually, the bullied fish hasn't staked out a territory, which can be sometimes down to a lack of real estate.
I disagree I find it better to overstock my tank, it seems to actually keep the aggression down, after a while most of the fish learn their place in the tank and then I don’t see that much trouble only the occasional.
As I said, so long as there are enough rocks and nooks and crannies, the fish will be fine. I don't think it's fair for the fish to have to battle it out, when all that's needed is enough places for the fish to live in peace, there's no need to stress them any further.
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exactly on point
lake malawi cichlids and other cichlids are tend to be very agressive and territorial its hard to buy new fishes and add them in the tank you always have to keep and eye on them .
Very very true!! Thank you 😊
Your tank is to me the next best thing to a reef tank and that is a compliment,the clearness of your water is awesome, lovely tank, lovely fish
Thank you so much Andy 😊
Love the vid. But I don't think you need 6ft tank. Be great. But I have a 4ft 182l tank with about 20-25 cichlids all mixed. The mbuna's will still chase other fish sometimes. But line of sight is massive. Them just being able to break it tends to dissipate it most of the time. I also find changing the layout can help as well as they no longer have that spot to fight over. Love that tank.
Yeah I constantly move my rocks around to 😂
Thank you for the insights! That is good to know it is possible
Hi Kaity.
I had to get rid of all my female fish to stop the aggression. Now I have no problem. I love your fish.
Hi Johann! Thank you 😊 That's good to know that removing the female helped. They love to fight over the ladies 🤣
Great video. I also love African cichlids but I got rid of my entire mbuna tank. They started off good but then I started having shredded fish in the tank when I got home. The last straw was when I lost my yellow lab, my favorite mbuna. I still enjoy the hobby but I have South American cichlids now.
Noooo, that is terrible! 😭 I had similar with my discus, once I lost my favourite that was the last straw. I'm glad you are enjoying some South American fish now though 😊
The aggression is a tough thing. Good points on how bullying can slowly kill a fish. It is part of the deal when you keep this type of fish. I enjoy your channel!
Thank you so much Brian 😊
75 gallon Waterbox 100.3 Reef tank here with a mix of Cichlids....about 15+ mature fish. Normal playful little chases here and there but they all get along fine and doing great. My key is to add all fish at once and yes you need to overstock the tank and have excellent filtration (sump with powerful flow).
If you add fish along the way it's a big risk but can work if you completely change the aqua scape so as to remove any territorial tendencies. I've been keeping fish for almost 50-years and can not manage huge tanks any longer, so I make it work with a more manageable size.......love my 75 Gallon Waterbox.
Thank you so much for taking the time to share! That's so good to hear it can be managed in a tank that size
Also keep the temperature in the lower end of they're comfort zone helps reduce aggression
Thanks for posting this. I have had good luck too with removing the aggressor from the tank and letting the fish being bullied stay. This gives him a chance to heal in the main tank and takes the aggressor away from his “territory” that he thinks he owns and needs to defend. Just thought I’d share.
That's good to know, thank you! I might try this next if there are issues again
Brian that has actually worked for me as well. I removed the aggressor and kept him in a separate thank for a month or so. Change the rock locations in the tank before adding him back.
Awesome video kaity , i love African cichlids but they are a challenge to keep .....😃😃
Thank you so much 😊
Good video. And yes you are right. For those who want this to work but can't afford a tank over 90g, I suggest you ditch the mbuna. It worked for me. All the best...
Thank you Fred 😊
I've kept african cichlids many times for years. There is nothing u can do aggression is inevitable, I tore down my african tank. A fish tank should b relaxing. I have angelfish and large schools of tetras in my 125 its so relaxing to observe
The worst part is I always find they look peaceful when you are looking at them, it's when you walk away that they attack! 🤣
I habe the same nix un my other tanks. But angelfishs not always are angels. When they grow up they can be like devils to the smaller angels.
Tank clean, nice fishes, and especially good pieces of advise! You can also change the decoration times to times, moving blocks will disturb territories and motive fishes to adapt. You could give a try to some more vertical higher islands to see the impact. When feeding, give a try in the water stream to spread the food and give more chance to all fish to get access to it.
You moved? With both your tanks.. shouldn't be a tee party.. video of that?
Thank you Charles, and thank you for the tips! And yes, I moved about a month ago 🤣 You must have missed the vid! I uploaded one a few weeks back of the move. I'm in a townhouse that is almost identical
th-cam.com/video/qGVvefR47Qk/w-d-xo.html
Another trick I've found is to put new fish in at night with very minimal light on the tank. Seems that the original fish don't notice the new ones & also come the next day the originals think the newbies have been in the tank all along. Just my thoughts & I've had no problems so far doing this.
Ahh yes, that is a great tip!! Thank you Glenn 😊
I would love a tank like yours, it’s so beautiful …but I don’t want the aggression, or the upkeep on such a large tank. I have settled for albino cribs .. and may add a few larger tetras to help with the shyness. I really enjoy your informative videos…keep it up.…👍🏽
Thank you so much 😊 Yes it's a shame they have to be so aggressive!
Great vid Kaity. It's not just African Cichlids who can be nasty, but a whole range of fish including semi aggressive species. Solutions like you say involve having the correct number in the tank and also the correct male, female ratio and amount of space. Do the cichlids ever go for your bristlenose plecos?
Thank you Dominic 😊 Very very true! And no, they don't actually! They have zero interest in the bristlenose plecos
Great content Kaity. Your tanks are looking great. ~Tim
Thank you so much Tim 😊
You have a wonderful collection and a great eye for esthetics
Thank you so much!
That does make sense to add more than one fish to the aquarium glad I subscribed your an amazing aquatic I learned so much thanks for sharing find this as always very informative 😊
Thank you so much 😊🙏🙏🙏
@@Kaityscichlids you’re very welcome doll
I'm curious about the food you use. Since the diets of Mbuna are different than your haps, are you able to avoid issues like Malawi bloat etc? Love your videos. Thanks
Thank you! I feed them a low protein pellet and some algae based pellets and they have all done well on that 😊
I have a 55 gallon with only mbuna,and my biggest issue is aggression as well... I recently had to remove my maingano because it was beating up my johanne pretty bad and they look very similar... It just started a week ago,which was surprising since they both had been in the tank together for 6 months...A few months back I had to remove a Rusty cichlid because it was a female and the aggression was bad.. What really seems to help for my tank ,is moving around the rocks and leveling out the sand every water change... They spend more time digging under the rocks than chasing each other around
That's some really good tips! Thank you for sharing 😊 I totally agree that moving rocks and sand can help too. It's funny how sometimes just one day a flick can switch and one of them becomes super aggressive
Tank looks great, I Jr african cichlids for about 4 yrs. Tank looks amazing, one other thing I did to keep the aggressive behavior in control was lower the temp to about 72-74 degrees.
That's good to know, thank you!! I didn't know that temp was something that helped
Yes that's true kaite,sometimes overcrowded tank adds the problem
Great insights on managing cichlid aggression. I had an lutino cockatiel that liked to sit on my head and chew on my hair...when I had hair. :)
Thank you 😊 And so funny! 🤣
Love your tanks! And the bird, haha. One thing I wondered, seeing all these open top tanks: do you never have problems with fish jumping out? And there's no excessive evaporation due to so much water being exposed? 🙃 (I don't know about the climate where you live -- evaporation might be less of an issue if you don't need to heat your tanks as much as most people do.) ✌
Thank you!! 😄 I have netted lids from NVS Aquariums on my tank, they sit flush with the glass so they're not too obvious. The fish definitely would jump if I didn't have them though! As for evaporation it's a bit annoying in Summer, I lose about an inch of water a week
@@Kaityscichlids The lids are certainly not obvious; nice find! 😀When I get a big acrylic tank someday (they're not cheap over here, ugh) I'll be looking to get a similar setup. :)
you might get develop mould issues from the evaporation inside your home during the winter months
What I have found helps when adding new fish is to do it if possible when doing a water change, shut off the lights and slightly move some decorations around. It tricks them into thinking they have just moved to another part of the river rather than a new fish entering their territory.
I had a Texas cichlid that was getting badly beaten up by the others, I moved him into a community tank where he healed up nicely. But then he began to eat all the community fish. After putting him into my South American cichlid tank, he ruled as the boss, even bossing around a huge Oscar.
I do like that you made this video while having a bird literally on you without even mentioning it. That was funny to me.
That is a great tip!! It definitely helps turning the lights off and moving things around. Crazy how they get picked on then end up bullying others... It's just like some humans though haha. I have accepted my fate that this little bird is glued to me from now on lol
Such a cool looking tank
Thank you!!
With aggression I've been in the hobby for over twenty years I have a tank with peacocks and haps I've found over the years is the best way to keep them is only have a sand or aragonite substrate nothing else no rocks nothing to me that's the way to go love your vids Kate
Thank you so much 😊 And thank you for sharing your wisdom as always!
That tank is effing gorgeous
Thank you 😊
Your tank looks amazing but the one thing that really stresses me out is watching fish being bullied and picked on, I know it's only natural for certain cichlids to be aggressive but I just don't like it hence I have a tank full of clown loach and mascara barbs, and only 2 red head tapajos geophagus 💕
I totally agree! I hate seeing aggression. They are good I would say 90% of the time but then sometimes one just gets a bit crazy 🤣
Great incite ! I have had the unfortunate experience of a bonafide cichlid to cichlid killer . Who pretty much wiped out my tank but i understand now that I wasn’t educated enough on the amount of space needed and how much to feed them to keep them content .
Oh no!! That's such a shame 😩 Yes that's all part of the process, we all make mistakes then learn from them
Great video, keep grinding and supplying great content
Thank you so much 😊🙌
Very awesome video great 👍 job beautiful tank amazing cichlids
Thank you so much 😊
Your welcome anytime my friend
*Hello, I'm your 713th Thumbs up. I Love your gorgeous crystal clear tank & pretty fish. Sweet....bird!!! I Love Birds.... Great share!!! 😊😊😊* Sharon in SC
Thank you so much Sharon!! That is so lovely to hear 😊
Great Video and right on point...
Very beautiful fish also...
I'm new here & i see some unfamiliar fish yet gorgeous...
What are the gold/yellowish fish the tails look like it's blue?
I think you have 2 or 3 of them
Thank you so much 😊 They would be my sulphur crested peacocks, I think they are hybrids with some type of hap though
@@Kaityscichlids Thank you
Very beautiful fish
Do you know where i can get some in America 🇺🇸 🤔
I have now used Absolute Colour food (from Tech Den) for the 14 days and yes it did work. My Cichlids really went for it and coloured up. I will now use it weekly as directed.
That's great to hear 😊
Nice tank set up! What kinda lights are those?
Thank you 😊 They are Freshwater AI Primes
Hi Kaity, Love your videos. I have a question. With such a big tank do you have humidity problems in your home? I am interested in getting the same tank that you have. Should I get a lid? Will that help? Also is your electricity bill high with your tank?
Hello! Thank you so much 😊 I haven't had any humidity problems with the tanks. I do have lids but they are netted ones so they don't really help with evaporation, but the evaporation is not too bad. It's about 1inch in a week of evaporation in Summer time. I'm not sure exactly how much electricity it costs to run the tanks but my electricity bill is nothing crazy, it's pretty average
@@Kaityscichlids Thanks for all your help ! Keep the videos coming!
I have been having cichlids for 10 plus years. I gave up keeping mbuna and peacocks. Now I have only haps and a peaceful tank.
I love haps!
Beautiful tank!
Thank you so much Alec 😊
Aggression will dicipate with the more fush u add.or add dither fish.i used a school of 8 moori dolphins at about 2 inches.they block out other fish and causes a distraction with multiple fish moving at once.
Great video kaity! Haha laila along for the ride 🤣
Thank you 😄🦜💕
Hi Kaity, both your tanks are looking great and you are too! Your cichlids are so beautiful. From my saltwater keeping experience, my understanding is to not have rocks or substrate in a QT because any parasites can attach themselves to porous surfaces. I use PVC pipes and joins or any other plastic object for fish to shelter or swim through as they are smooth surfaces which any parasites will not be able to attach onto and multiply from there. I’m assuming the same theory would apply to freshwater cichlids.
Hi Paul, thank you so much! And thank you for the tip with the quarantine, that makes a lot of sense
Thanks for sharing your experience and it is really helpful 👍👍👍
Thank you so much 😊
Very well informed video. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you 😄
100% Agree, nice video!
Thank you 😊
I am very jealous of the colors on your fish, sure wish I could get mine to look that good, maybe I’m buying from the wrong places?, I have to order mine online so I don’t get a chance to pick them out personally because I live out in the boondocks.
Sure wish I could get that type of COLOR food here in the USA.
Fish can be like people sometimes you just get a psycho fish and the easiest thing to do is get rid of it, but just like you have done most of the time you can get around aggression in one way or another.
I use Absolute Colour but I think White Crane is another one you can try to help them to colour up
Hi kaity, I don't know how much you know about plants cos I don't seem to have any success at all. Even the supposedly easy plants like java fern and anubias plants they all seem to die. Could it be when I'm cleaning the tank I'm doing too much at one time and wiping all the beneficial bacteria which the plants feed off? Hope everything is ok 👍
Hi Alexander! I'm no expert on plants, but the most common reasons for plants dying are too much or too little light/nutrients, or getting eaten by the fish. Java fern and Anubias are normally pretty hardy but if there is too much light it can fry them, or if you don't have any nutrients/fertiliser in the water column for them to feed off. So like you said, if you are doing huge water changes and not dosing any type of fertiliser this could be part of the problem. I hope that helps :) Maybe someone else who knows more about plants could chime in too
@@Kaityscichlids ok thanks for your reply kaity. 👍
Hi Kaity unfortunately aggression is just part of the species, I’ve tried all the tricks of the trade to keep aggression abide but it’s still their every now and then. A couple of things I have found that sort of works is very Little Rock’s and ornaments which gives them nothing to fight over, also temp plays a part to, so keeping temp down as low as 25-26.
One thing I have found works really well is the feeding, I used to feed only once a day, and thought it’s really a long time 24hrs before they eat again, especially when you consider they graze in the wild, so I find it’s best to feed a couple of times a day, use the same amount that you would give in one feed and split it up into smaller amounts throughout the day
Thank you so much for the tips Paul! I think someone else mentioned less rocks and ornaments helped them too. It's good hearing other peoples experiences, it definitely gives me some food for thought, no pun intended haha. I totally agree about the eating small portions more frequently though. Mine go psycho if I don't feed them
You missed out a point of having a tank hero or boss. It will usually break fights and won't let one fish cross the line. Usually venustus males can fit this role.
I haven't heard of this concept before! That's very interesting. I wish my venustus would step up lol
@@Kaityscichlids Only if we are lucky. I had one such male few years ago. Your venus looks great as do most other fish. I guess colour food is enhancing the colour. Even when i purchase the fish from the store or farm, the colour is highly enhanced. Eventually after a week. The colour gets flushed out.. Only to find out that lot of cichlids are females. :D
@@vinodhd10 Yes it definitely makes a HUGE difference!! That happens here too, the juveniles always look sooo colourful but it's just from the colour food
That was all very helpful thank you so much and I love your accent🥰
Thank you so much 😊
The bird on your head 😂. So cute
Hehe little Laila 🐦
@@Kaityscichlids I thought I was seeing things 🤣🤣.
Can't agree you more, as a african cichlid farm, we experienced this EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!
Especially for the Mbuna, but still we can't be able to resist their beauty🤣
Hahaha, yes, it is the way of the African Cichlid!! 🤣
Hey kaity.. i have kept around 50 mbunas. I have 125 gallons tank and have a lot of rocks with proper spaces to hide. But i see that a lot of my mbunas get hurt by hitting on the rocks when chased. Is there any solution to this?
Oh no! Poor guys :( I don't have a solution to that, I haven't had that issure. The only thing I can think of is trying to rearrange the rocks in a way it is easier for them to dart in-between them without scraping
Thanks for the great tip on the cichlids ❤❤🤟🤟⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Job we’ll done
Thank you 😊🙌
@@Kaityscichlids anytime 🫶🌺🌸🤟👊❤️💥👍💪
Yeah I agree African cichlids It was very aggressive I tryed everything it just didn't work for me wy i dot know lol I had to give aggressive one away lol now my aquarium is so stressful free now great video katliy ur aquarium do look awesome 👍👍
Thank you so much Big Roy 😊
@@Kaityscichlids you welcome yeah it was great video me too hate when I have a Bully in my aquarium too makes the other fish color down sometimes lol I hate bullys
Hi Kaity, what was that colouring food you used called please?
I tried a 90 gallon all male peacock tank and it was chaos from the start I was able to Rehome the fish to other aquarists in my area before any casualties but the stress of managing their agression and seperating specific individuals was too much for me since then ive stuck with peaceful SA chchlid species 👍
I have 40 breeder, how many Chichlid do you suggest and types?
Welke verlichting gebruik je voor deze tank ? Link aub .. thx
thanks for posting your informations.
Thank you 😊
Are cichlids ok with no tank background? I really like the look of no background
Yes they don't mind at all! 😊
I would not mix mbuna and peas. Peas and haps are very okay. I would not add females of any strain as well.
Mbuna + rocks = very aggressive, bully mbunas.
This is base on my xp.
Surprisingly my mbunas have been little angels! My peacocks are the problematic ones
such fine tank!😀
Thank you 😊
Wow this tank is almost as beautiful as you
Excellent info
Thank you 😊
My Dragon Blood has a mean streak to him as well. Coincidence?
Interesting... I think we are onto something here haha
Great video. I bought about 15 cichlids a few years back. Unbeknownst to me, there was one female in the group. My male Dragon Blood, the most aggressive peacock IMO, killed the other 13 males and bred with the female repeatedly. I now have a tank full of Dragon Blood and OB juveniles. The Dragon Blood won't let any other males survive. I have since put them in a 110 gal trough pond in my back yard in AZ. Check out the shorts on my page :)😁
Wow, that is crazy!! My dragon blood is also the peacock cichlid that was breeding in my tank initially
Thanks Kaity I have some the same not sure if its fighting or fin rot can salt burn fins my kh is 15 gh 16 is is okay thanks.
Hi Derek! Your KH is good and the GH is on the higher end I believe but neither of those should be burning their fins. From my experience if it's fin rot you'll normally see a black or white outline where the fin looks torn, whereas with aggression it'll more so be tattered, and you might see other signs of aggression like the fish staying near the top of the water and/or hiding from the aggressor
@@Kaityscichlids Thanks Kaity love your tank are you on facebook? i would like to show you my tank ive just started keeping African ciclids there beautiful i love them.
Put a big mirror in the tank when adding new fish or when you struggle with aggression...
cool insight!
💪
Thank you 😊
Yeah. I would never have chiclid tank cause of this. They look great tho.
I like heavily planted, peaceful community tanks x
It's such a shame they can't learn to behave 🤣
If one fish os attacking another specifically its probably caise they think its a competitor for breeding.do a water change and re arrange the rocks in tank.idwally you would be able to separate tham but not usually
Your tanks are lovely, I haven't kept fish for ten years plus, it makes me want to start up the hobby again.
One thing I have noticed lately, there is some brilliant equipment for tanks these days,
especially the lights.
Thank you so much 😊 It's great it's a hobby that people often keep coming back to
What’s the color food you’re talking about?
It's called "Absolute Colour"
Me watching intently hoping the birdie would not fall in, distraction 😂😱.
Hahaha, she is pretty good at holding on! 🤣
Just found your videos! Love the content!
Thank you so much 😄😄
Nothing is safe from bullying it would seem. Learned much from your video. Thank you.
That's so great to hear, thank you :)
How many peackocks can I keep in a 35 gallon tank?( maybe 10??)
In a tank that size I would be more inclined to go with shell dwellers, and you could probably have a small colony of 10 of those
@@Kaityscichlids is there no way I can keep even a few peackocks?
slow down the Lights ! Other Stones and a big one in the middle of that Tank.
have you ever made your own fish food?
I haven't, no! I have bought food that was made by someone though, it was a beef heart mix for discus
I always heard one way to combat aggression is to do a.big water change and change the layout of the tank. Also to, add the new fish then as well. It would reset everything.
I think that would definitely help!
So, we all speak of design, light, filter, watervalues, but the aggression or the fishes is always a more bigger problem. Sometime they hop out of water, die and nobody know why. I had a mix of Tropheus duboisi, Yellows ( albinos) and Labidochromus hongi red top. Sometime one of them die and I don,'t know why. Normally they are small to medium lovely together and a lot of stones inside. The only thing is, they are breeding tough. Now I think: if one fish is separated it is near horror.
So very true! Aggression is a big reason for why the jump, and they can get so nasty when they are breeding :(
What is thr black and white stripe fish in the other tank?❤️
They are leporonius! 😊
@@Kaityscichlids how big do they get? I think they're pretty cool
The agression is one of the best things....
I much prefer Peaceful Fish, like Neon Tetra's, Cardinal Tetra's, Glowlight Tetra's and Fish more like them.! Probably because I am Peaceful myself.! But Keeping an Aquarium is Difficult enough, without having the Problem of having to keep an Eye on Aggressive, Bullying Fish most of the time.! 🐠🐡🦈
I agree, it definitely adds to the stress!
Sweetie your voice is amazing I'd love to just sit down and talk with you all day 🥰
If you want to address aggression then you have to separate the females out. Doesn't matter if you color them up pretty, they will still have pheromones/hormones that get released and makes the males go crazy. You also have some notorious mbunas in there like the bumblebee. Just put the mbunas in their own tank and get some peace of mind.
My mbunas are the good ones! It's my peacock cichlids that go cray cray towards each other
@@Kaityscichlids either way, best to separate the fems as their hormones/pheromones might be the cause. Unless of course you want to be hybridising them then you'll just have to live with it.
Cool
have you tried lowering the temp for aggression ? Think your parrot wants to be the star again lol
I haven't! I happy to run it on the cooler side anyway though around 25-26 degrees so I suppose that has probably helped without me knowing. And yes Laila always wants to be the star hahaha
Cichlids can be mean little shits 😡 Great video Kaity !!!
They sure can 🤣 Thank you Tommy 😊
Saya suka cichlid 👍✌️
That’s a pimp aquarium
Thank you :D
Or dont put just a big rock out crop iniddle of tank like this person does .have a few blidspot holes and open hiding spots
I had a sunshine who was an absolute di*$k tried everything puting him in a net and floating him in the tank to completely separating in a tank to himself for a few months and reintroduced all the fish a newer 125gallon setup and he was still the same. He was trying to breed 24/7 little horndog and I had to get rid of him. Unfortunately their is a lot of rehoming/euthanizing to get a good community. I’ve had African cichlids for 2 years now and have had hundreds of fry all to end up with about a dozen fish to current today from aggression. Ordering fish is expensive and my big box stores like petco and petsmart only have little dinkers and most end up being female. Usually also only have 3 available each time as well. To have a tank like this you would be better off spending hundreds on confirmed adult males online unfortunately.
Hi sweety i watch your video
Im here in philippines
Thank you for watching!!
Arkadaşlar çok güzel olmuş ellerine 5
You can only calm down aggression, you won't stop it all together,
don't over stock the tank, and make sure the tank has enough rocks because
they are extremely territorial fish. Usually, the bullied fish hasn't staked out a territory,
which can be sometimes down to a lack of real estate.
I disagree I find it better to overstock my tank, it seems to actually keep the aggression down, after a while most of the fish learn their place in the tank and then I don’t see that much trouble only the occasional.
As I said, so long as there are enough rocks and nooks and crannies, the fish will be fine.
I don't think it's fair for the fish to have to battle it out, when all that's needed is enough places for
the fish to live in peace, there's no need to stress them any further.
👍
IMO it's straight forward to remove the agressor fish
May be the former owner of the pink cichlid get rid of a high agressive african cichlid. Just guessing...
The pink one was the one being picked on by my blue fish. He seems relatively peaceful so far
@@Kaityscichlids ahh... now I understand. Thank you 👍🏻