Electric Yellows

well I have 2 x 2" Elec yellows, one being the dominant one has ganged up with the loach fish and the green terror chased the other to a little hidey hole in the tank. if it comes out to feed or just to generally swim they all chase it back to the hole .. i noticed this around 4 days ago and didnt think much of it .. the bullied fish looks like its not having much fun ..
do You think its some bizarre breeding thing ?? The electric yellows 1fem-1male ..the weird thing is the others (loach and terror) are in on the game too..

 

I don't know if it is as much a breeding thing but an act of aggression being displayed by the dominant fish! Have you tried to rearrange your tank to make the dominant fish not as cozy?

 

Fully changed the tank around still some ganging up on the poor female yellow ..im thinking of going to the lfs for some more fish to take some pressure on the 3.

 

well the poor female (electric yellow ) has no tail fin , so ive got a little tank down in the corner of the tank with her in it ..the other fish come over and try to get at the fish ...pretty funny .. :

Should I treat the water with any medications or will the tail fin grow okay naturally??

 

Well the tail has nearly grown back its only been a few days

 

Glad to hear the tail is growing back again. What might have happened is that fish was a little stressed and the others sense this and then go about terrorising it to the point of it dying of stress. Good thing you took it out of harms way. Medication will ensure no fungal or bacterial disease sets in which will also end up knocking the fish off.
If you can add some more fish it will most definitely help the situation. I believe in over populating an mbuna tank so as to minimise the aggression. Works well for me and my 30 odd tanks.

 

Good idea - I would get more tankmates. With most malawi cichlids, you should go for a 1M/3F ratio. More fish means the subdominants can share the beatings handed out by the dominant. Also some males will pursue the females relentlessly (although I haven't heard this about Electric Yellows...).

Also do you have plenty of rockwork to hide in?