# Rams and Kribs fighting?



## PeterE (Feb 9, 2010)

Hi everybody, 
I have a strange problem. In my 24 gallon tank, I have a pair of Bolivian rams, and one female krib, and five serpae tetras, two bamboo shrimp and an ancistrus. The problem is that something is beating up my male Bolivian ram, the biggest fish in the tank, and doing it when I'm not looking! I suspect the krib, but why just the one fish? I thought kribs were generally peaceful. The tank is heavily planted, so they all have their own secure territories, and none of cichlids are full grown. The krib is about an inch and a half, and the Bolivian ram male is about two inches. If you have any opinions on what's going on here, I would love to hear them.


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## ddavila06 (Jan 31, 2009)

strange, i house both kinds in much larger numbers in my 75...maybe your tank is too little for different tipes of dwarf cichlids? are you sure is not the other ram?? those guys can be a good pain in the butt with each other, lol. take care


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## PeterE (Feb 9, 2010)

Argh, it WAS the krib! I witnessed another attack. My ram is now relocated to my six gallon biotope (now heated for a while), and hopefully he will recover. I think my krib was chewing on my ram all day, and now he looks like he went through a shredder. I think he will be okay now, though.


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## Six (May 29, 2006)

Kribs are peaceful. That is just too small of a tank for two species of "peaceful" cichlid. Not enough space for them to set up their own territory. 

I'd put the other ram in the 6g tank too or move the krib into it and the rams into the other. She isn't going to let up on the other ram.


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## PeterE (Feb 9, 2010)

I wondered about that. Something that I thought was funny was that I had had both fish in the same tank for months, but for some reason only now the krib was set off. Possibly it was the female ram.


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## Cvurb (May 23, 2010)

Hmmm, most people suggest never to mix New and Old world ciclhids for this reason. The fight and show off differently, so normally one will get dominated...


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

Kribs are 'peaceful' only when comparing them to other Cichlids. They can get quite aggressive as they mature and start defending a territory. A 24 gallon tank is just not enough room for 2 species that are quite as territorial as most Cichlids.


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## PeterE (Feb 9, 2010)

Thanks for the help, everybody. I didn't know they were so territorial! I am a total cichlid noob, though. Again, thanks.


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