5 Tips - For Keeping the MEANEST MOST AGGRESSIVE African Cichlids [Nimbochromis] TOGETHER!

[@theblindfishkeeper]

Those are amazing tips. I agree with everyone of them. Nimba Cromis are definitely one of my favorite of the Malawi haps. And, thank you so much for checking out the stream last night! I had a blast, and really do appreciate the support. Looking forward to aqua Sheila!🐠🦯

[@cichlid_kings]

Definitely some show stoppers and on my fish to pick up bucket list later down the road 😎

[@frankstanks2657]

what's up Ben!! Glad to see you're still at it!!

[@BenOchart]

I’m hard to kill 🤣🤣🤣 Thanks for stopping by👍🏻

[@WhiskyInThe6]

Great video. Thanks for tips.

[@dennisruedel]

Hey Ben, beautiful fishing great video. It would really be nice if you could get yourself a Linn’. A big one with that elephant nose is just amazing to watch and they’re not very violent at all. Nice job with the video and I will see you for Cichlids and coffee on Saturday morning.

[@BenOchart]

Love Linni’s. Not easy to find.

[@MrWest9]

You have a lot of smarts on this I've been into the fish for 21 years and you pretty much dead on about everything you talking about big thumbs up man I'm going to follow it now I did subscribe so keep it coming ain't nothing like good fish advice 👍

[@BenOchart]

Thank you Sam!

[@daveylarson2060]

Great video Ben !!!! Thanks !!

[@BenOchart]

Thanks 😀👍🏻

[@Duclosxrp]

Great tips. Thanks

[@BenOchart]

You’re welcome

[@markbaumgardt2868]

I had all five of the species never had a problem maybe it was the luck of the draw love the vids 👍

[@bonnieeden228]

Great advice Ben. I heard you need to keep a large herd of certain aggressive cichlids to keep them more docile. I only have calm fish so far. Mostly bettas and rummy nose tetras. Corys and honey gouramis. They are definitely not aggressive. But the cichlids are interesting. Thank you for sharing.

[@vaughanoneill8]

Hey Ben, took your advice on removing my tank psycho (blueberry OB Fryeri). Would chase the entire tank, and force them all to the far end, so he had 75% of the tank. Wish I had done it 4 months ago when I first got him, but kept giving him more chances. Was not worth the stress. Tank is far calmer now thankfully, and has even brought some colour back out on some of the fish. From now on I will take the direct approach, and rehome immediately as this is 100% the right approach as you suggest.

[@BenOchart]

Took me years to figure that out (and a lot of unnecessary stress). Thanks for that feedback😀😀😀👍🏻

[@ΒΑΣΙΛΗΣΔΗΜΟΥ-υ4β]

Hello Ben from Greece. Excellent video. Here in Greece is very difficult to find pure Livingstonii and is allmost impossible to find Fuscotaeniatus. Only Venustus. At this moment i have 2 male Venustus, 1 male Livingstonii and after 7 years of searching 2 male Fuscotaeniatus in my tank. I have no problem of agression. To be honest never had a problem with Nimbochromis the last 30 years. With Aulonocaras and Mbunas yes. Now i keep them in an all male tank with 1 Rostratus, 1 Milomo, 1 Fryeri, 1 Moori, 3 Lithobates, 1 Taeniolatus, 1 Borleyi, 2 Aristochromis, 1 Compressiceps, 2 Blue Aulonocaras (hybrids i think), 1 Rhoadesi, 1 Frontosa and 1 Furcifer. The most of them are 8 to 15 cm. Only Venustus, Livingstonii and Rostratus are 19 to 26 cm. My tank is 500 lt with internal and external filtration and i am doing 50% water change every week. Once a week i don't feed them and i have the lights on for 4 hours a day. No agression at all. Do you agree with this set up?

[@BenOchart]

Sounds like it’s working so yes, I think your set up is great!

[@ΒΑΣΙΛΗΣΔΗΜΟΥ-υ4β]

@@BenOchart Thank you. I allways enjoy your videos and tips. At some point i will send you some photos of this tank and of my other 500 lt tank with the Americans.

[@Bwood22]

Tip #2 is spot on. I found this out by accident. I used to feed sparingly to keep the tank clean. These guys were always aggressive. One day I decided to follow the directions on the food and I fed them as much as they would eat within 1-2 minutes....lol....it was a lot. But they were so chill after that. But fasting them for a day is also a good idea too.

[@BenOchart]

One person called it “Hangry, don’t let your fish get hangry!” 🤣

[@mikejejenich7116]

Hey ben. When you do water change Do you use. Digital water proof thermometer 🌡 ? I was thinking of ordering one on amazon. To mske sure im matching water temp….. when re filling the tank. During water change. 💦

[@BenOchart]

Yes. I use a Taylor digital. Gives an instant reading. I carry them here: www.amazon.com/shop/benochart

[@mikemcguinness1662]

Ben - a little off topic, but do you have any experience in treating mouth rot? Can you recommend a course of action or a product available for treatment at a local pet store? I am dealing with this condition in my tank for the first time and it is very destructive. Thanks.

[@BenOchart]

I would hit it with a “gram negative” antibiotic ASAP. I once had what started as mouth rot and it evolved into columnaris. Lost half my stock before Fritz Maracyn Plus stopped it. Get other opinions, like at the Aquarium Co-Op or at the Ben O’Cichlid Facebook group. Good luck.

[@Cichlid_4_ever]

To me fish are like kids they don’t always get along with everyone and when you find the click it works. I’ve tried the raising from fry even then I still had to pull out the bullies

[@BenOchart]

True

[@brettcoyle2399]

Hey Ben where’s a couple good fish stores in or around Nashville that has OBS peacocks and haps wanna make a road trip lol??

[@BenOchart]

Check out the Aquatic Critter and (45 minutes out) Franklin Pet Shop

[@todddiedrich9106]

I was given 14 fish all different sizes all but 2 cichlids 2 of them are albino one more orange and one similar to my huge dragons blood they never even looked at each other witch I though this might not be good but we’ll see what happens but 2 of my original fish started fighting for like 2 days it’s been 4 weeks now aggression down in tank during the day but I think you’re right about night time aggression with peacocks

[@HalfManHalfCichlid]

Video reminded me of a visit to Segrest farms in Florida, a large breeder and wholesaler of tropical fish. Every African Cichlid tank had shredded plastic floating in the aquarium so the fish could find refuge from aggression and helped them eliminate "beat up" africans in their shipments to retail outlets. They simply ran large plastic trash bags through a paper shredder and moved the shredded plastic to the aquariums. May be an option if someone does not have a separate aquarium to isolate the aggressive fish. Did not look too bad either. A consideration when you have a black background?

[@TheGrimm1300]

I got my four venustus from a pet store and grew them out and turns out I had two males and two female and I’ve never had issues with them even with my eyebitters and jewels

[@BenOchart]

You are very lucky 😀👍🏻

[@dgrant591]

I have a male venustus that I raised from fry in with a bunch of peacocks. He is huge and could slaughter every fish in the tank and I have never seen one aggressive behavior from him. I got super lucky. He hides from the jerk OB sometimes right there with all the other peacocks.

[@BenOchart]

A gentle giant. My favorite kind of Venustus 😀👍🏻

[@willemsmith6760]

Hi Ben, have you ever had just one fish being bullied by all the other fish? I’ve currently got one peacock which just gets chased into the corner by every other fish in the tank!

[@1200kristy]

I've had a cichlid like that where the whole tank decided he/she wasn't going to be part of their group. My assumption was that there must have been a disability with that fish and it was the weaker link. So the pack decided to kill that one off. Luckily I saw what they were doing and removed that one cichlid. After removing that fish I noticed he/she was actually blind in one eye. So I put it in my other tank which actually houses 5 big fantail goldfish and 8 corydoras. Since adding that cichlid to that tank he/she has been thriving and doing so well. They all actually get along great. They are a weird combination but it works. I did have to put a heater in my goldfish tank for the cichlid but it doesn't seem to harm my goldfish. Never thought that combination would do well together but they are. Anyway sorry for rambling. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that one cichliday have a problem your unaware of and being that they are aggressive fish they will kill off the weaker fish. Your best bet is to remove it from that tank and put it in another one. Best of luck for the poor little guy

[@willemsmith6760]

@@1200kristy thanks for the help! Never seen this type of behaviour before where they all unilaterally hate the one fish! I’m actually doing a water change tonight so will probably remove him and put him into my community tank which has platies, pleco and corys! 👍🏻

[@BenOchart]

I’ve seen this. Like the fish sense weakness and they gang up on him. Pulling him like you did is the only way they will survive, especially with one eye.

[@mcaquatics3143]

I have nimba chromis as well, they can be aggressive but not anywhere near as aggressive as my dovi or my tri-mac. But they are far more colorful than my bigger fish.

[@elementsoflife000]

What size tank is behind you?

[@BenOchart]

210 gallons, 6’ across

[@elizabethwagner2190]

I'm curious to know how long you think it will take for my 2 new livingstoni and 2 red empress to start showing color and or sex? They are the last 4 fish introduced about 3 weeks ago. About 1-1/2" long. How fast they grow? Wondering when I might have to set up a separate tank if they get too aggressive.

[@BenOchart]

Both of those can take a while. At around 4”, in 9 months, you should have a good idea. Watch for a pointed dorsal and anal fin. If they are rounded it’s probably a female.

[@elizabethwagner2190]

@@BenOchart I could only find 1 so far today. Unless it was 2 playing which twin is the one you're looking for.

[@frankiefingerz8047]

Yes these r def the most aggressive haps