African Cichlid Health

Question
Hi Ron,

I have four African Cichlid fish, two red, one albino and one tiger one.  One of my red cichlid looks like he has like a pimple (that's the only way to describe it) on the front of his lip.  Can you tell me what this could possibly be and a solution.  Also should I seperate my fish? They seem to be fighting a aweful lot lately.  I have the albino cichlid in a 35 gallon tank because he's the smallest, and the other three in a 55 gallon tank.  Do I need a bigger tank for the other three?  They have gotten pretty big!  I wasn't expecting that.

Answer
Hi Antoinette,
 The bump on its lip is probably just the result of lip-fighting and is perfectly normal.  Cichlids fight a lot. As a general rule, as long as they are fighting face to face you don't have to worry.  That means that both combattants are roughly equal and healthy.  You have a problem if one of the fish is always chasing the other and that other fish is always trying to get away or hide.   Then you need to do something or the more aggressive fish will possibly injure or even kill the other fish it keeps chasing.  

 Your tanks sound like they are a reasonable size.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
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