Fishing Out The Troublemaker

So a while ago, I bought a jacobfreibergi cichlid to put in my 125 gallon tank as....well an experiment of sorts.
Since my tank is so big, I can get away with putting together fish that don't usually belong together because there's enough space for everyone to basically get along. 

So I decided to try putting on a cichlid just to see how he would do.
And I'd bought a baby one that was being picked on by the others in his tank.
In hopes that he'd grow up to play nice with the others.

*exhales*

But as expected but hoped against.
As he got bigger...he got more aggressive.

Nipping at fishes fins.
And possibly killing other smaller fish though I don't know that for sure.
My smaller fish just vanished. 

In any case. 
My cichlid was becoming more and more aggressive. 
Particularly to my red tailed shark that I had in the tank as well.
As he would chase that fish all over.

But problem though...
Was that the cichlid is smart.
And learned quickly to hide underneath my decorations when I got near with a net so that I wouldn't be able to catch him unless I decided to take my tank apart. 

Which I was already thinking I would need to do anyways to get him out.
Because if I wanted to get any more fish, especially smaller ones...he would need to get out.

But I didn't really have a place to put him if I was able to catch him.
As I couldn't put him in the isolation tank I'd set up because I didn't want him harming the fish in there.
And all my other tanks already had fish in them.

Until Thursday Night.
When I noticed that in my 2.5 gallon betta tank....Magnus, my betta I'd had for around two years or so....had suddenly died. 

Y_Y Which was depressing but he'd lived a pretty good long life. 

And it opened up the opportunity to keep that tank empty for a little while until I could find the time to remove the big decorations from my big tank to catch the cichlid and then go put him in that betta tank. 

However,
Last night, while I was up at Daddoo's...he ended up giving me four of his fish. A silver dollar and three goldfish to bring by home with me as he's taking down a couple of his tanks and didn't want those fish any more. 
And I currently had the space to be able to put them in my big tank.

But as soon as the new fish were in the tank...there the cichlid was, nipping at them and chasing them around. Gah. 

I got home late enough -like around midnight- that I couldn't do anything about it then.
I only hoped that with turning off the fish lights it would keep my new fish safe until I could get home from work today to get mr. cichlid out. 

Which is exactly what I did.
I came home and pulled out the three large decorations I had in my tank so my cichlid couldn't hide underneath them.

And after about ten minutes of trying to catch him, as he was quick and kept hiding behind the plants that were still in the tank,

I CAUGHT HIM!
HA!

So I scooped him out of the tank and rushed him upstairs to my betta tank where I plopped him into it for a good long time out. 

He's been pouting ever since.

Which has me concerned. As there's room enough for him to swim around a little bit.

But at a good four inches long already I know that the tank is too small to keep him in for too long. 

Which leaves me with two options.
Buy him a slightly larger tank and move him into it.
Or else fish him out and bring him back to work so that he can try his chances elsewhere with a different fish owner. 

Right now I'm leaning towards just bringing him back to work.
As I don't really want to set up a tank specifically just for him.
Especially since I don't have the space to set up like...the actual tank size this cichlid would need.
And I'd want to give him a good chance at a new home.

However, I may have to wait a few days first.
As I don't want to place him in with the other peacock cichlids and have him get beat up. 
So I may have to wait until there's a bunch of new ones added in...or we sell out of the ones we have....

But yah.

So good news is that I got the cichlid out of the tank so my fish are safe and I can now more seriously look into getting new fish. -Though I'll probably wait until after Christmas to do so. 

And hopefully I find a good home for mr. cichlid.

Like his coloration got so pretty.
but yah....he's not a good fit for my tank if he's going to be picking on all the other fish. 

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi