multi shelldweller questions

[jjhabe]

I have a 29 gallon tank set up with neolamprologus multi. I have six, and one is getting pushed to the top of the tank. he's not getting hurt or beat up, but they are shelldwellers, and no one will let him around the shells. What should I do?

 

[James40]

i personaly think it is a less dominant male, i would take it out of the tank

 

[jjhabe]

That's kind of what I thought. Do I need to rush this, or can it wait a couple of days?

 

[Orion]

You can either remove him, or try to make some line of sight breakers from the rest of the fish so that the shunned fish may claim a little spot for it's own. You should be able to do this in a 29 gallon. If you leave him too long like that then he may well die of stress.

Who is pushing that fish to the top? Is it the other multies, or some other tankmate? What else in in the tank with him?

 

[jjhabe]

It's the other multies. There are three danios in there, too, but they don't bother the multies at all (altho they stress the heck out of me!). I'm going to take them back today. What would happen if I moved the whole tank around, giving him a little private place? I bought six, and five are male! The others seem to get along, but I gotta get some more females before she gets attacked!

 

[jjhabe]

I got rid of the danios, added some more shells, and changed the tank around a little. We'll see what happens. It looks like there are two hanging around the top instead of one.

 

[Orion]

Over all that's not a great situation with so many males in such a small tank. They may be a small fish, but they have huge personalities.

I would actualy try to trade in most of the males for females. That should solve a lot of the problem.

Switching up the tank is good for a temporary fix. But eventualy the sub-males are going to be stressed from all the chasing from the alpha male, and the alpha male will be stressed from chasing all the subs around.