Should I seperate my aggresive fish from the others?

[Bob Vento]

I was wondering if I should separate my aggressive fish from the others? A couple of my fish have grown faster than the others and seem to be a bit aggressive towards the smaller ones.

Any suggestions and comments?

Regards,

Bob

[TCLynx]

do you have a way to separate them?

[Matty]

Nothing you can really do most/all types of cichlids Have a dominant male with a few sub dominant males under them (usually bigger in size), in some cases they kill or ween out the the weak or smaller fish! To them there is not enough females to go around for the rulers of the tank.... Good luck I've had the most success by adding in obstacles

[Bob Vento]

I added in some extra hiding places/obstacles as Matty suggested and for the most part they all seem to be doing fine except when it comes to feeding time. That is when the dominant fish seem to hog the food.

I do try and observe everyone getting some and I guess the smaller fish clean up the crumbs.

I have noticed that they love meal worms and go crazy for them.

I have not had much luck growing duckweed and wonder if I am doing something wrong cuz I usually have no problem growing weeds in my yard. I have the duckweed in water where it gets some indirect sunlight. I was under the impression that duckweed is very invasive and grows like crazy?

Regards,
Bob

Matty said:

Nothing you can really do most/all types of cichlids Have a dominant male with a few sub dominant males under them (usually bigger in size), in some cases they kill or ween out the the weak or smaller fish! To them there is not enough females to go around for the rulers of the tank.... Good luck I've had the most success by adding in obstacles

[TCLynx]

Definition of a weed- A plant growing where you don't want it (a rose is a weed in a cornfield.)

       So as soon as you want duckweed to grow, it is no longer a weed and suddenly becomes harder to grow.  Kinda a Murphy's law for gardening I guess.  When I specifically try to grow duckweed, I'm usually not successful but when I allow some into somewhere that I'm not really trying to grow it, It usually does better.

LOL, Duckweed will even grow on a wet patch of tower and on capillary matting where I'm trying to start seeds.

Duckweed needs nutrients (it seems to prefer it's nitrogen as ammonia but is probably not that picky.)  Duckweed needs relatively still water but it still needs well aerated water.  When I've tried to simply culture it in a still pool or bucket, no luck.  When I have it in a big shallow tank with a few small air stones, it seems to do far better.

[Bob Vento]

Ahh ok I will add a little ammonia into the water and add a air stone and see if that gets it going.

Do you think I should add some to my fish tank where all of those conditions are present?

TCLynx said:

Definition of a weed- A plant growing where you don't want it (a rose is a weed in a cornfield.)

       So as soon as you want duckweed to grow, it is no longer a weed and suddenly becomes harder to grow.  Kinda a Murphy's law for gardening I guess.  When I specifically try to grow duckweed, I'm usually not successful but when I allow some into somewhere that I'm not really trying to grow it, It usually does better.

LOL, Duckweed will even grow on a wet patch of tower and on capillary matting where I'm trying to start seeds.

Duckweed needs nutrients (it seems to prefer it's nitrogen as ammonia but is probably not that picky.)  Duckweed needs relatively still water but it still needs well aerated water.  When I've tried to simply culture it in a still pool or bucket, no luck.  When I have it in a big shallow tank with a few small air stones, it seems to do far better.

[Bob Vento]

I meant add DUCK WEED to my fish tank not ammonia. 

Bob Vento said:

Ahh ok I will add a little ammonia into the water and add a air stone and see if that gets it going.

Do you think I should add some to my fish tank where all of those conditions are present?

TCLynx said:

Definition of a weed- A plant growing where you don't want it (a rose is a weed in a cornfield.)

       So as soon as you want duckweed to grow, it is no longer a weed and suddenly becomes harder to grow.  Kinda a Murphy's law for gardening I guess.  When I specifically try to grow duckweed, I'm usually not successful but when I allow some into somewhere that I'm not really trying to grow it, It usually does better.

LOL, Duckweed will even grow on a wet patch of tower and on capillary matting where I'm trying to start seeds.

Duckweed needs nutrients (it seems to prefer it's nitrogen as ammonia but is probably not that picky.)  Duckweed needs relatively still water but it still needs well aerated water.  When I've tried to simply culture it in a still pool or bucket, no luck.  When I have it in a big shallow tank with a few small air stones, it seems to do far better.

[TCLynx]

Well, the fish might just eat the duckweed, but then that is what you are trying to grow it for I guess.

I thought you meant add some ammonia to the duckweed system with an air stone and was about to caution about adding fish into it.

[Bob Vento]

Nope the duck weed is in a separate container that I was going to dose with a little ammonia and add an air stone.

I generally stick my hand into the container and what ever clings to my hand ends up in the fish tank. What should I do if a dose the container? Will the ammonia residue on the duck weed be an issue for my fish?

Bob

TCLynx said:

Well, the fish might just eat the duckweed, but then that is what you are trying to grow it for I guess.

I thought you meant add some ammonia to the duckweed system with an air stone and was about to caution about adding fish into it.

[TCLynx]

Don't dose it very strongly since that would kill the duckweed.  Just a dribble so that it won't be a danger for your fish.  And actually duckweed needs more than just ammonia so perhaps you should just scoop out a bit of system water for the duckweed and then top up the system.