Hyper aggressive males

[gturmindright]

Is removal the only option? He hasnt killed anybody yet but he keeps them all in the top half of the tank.

[...]

You try putting him in a large net or a breeder box in the tank for a week to let the dominance order shift, then reintroduce and watch if he continues the same behaviour. Some males do just need to be removed but I would try that first.
Unless he has killed other males I would tend not to label him hyper-aggressive.
How big is the tank/group? How do you have your decor positioned?

[gturmindright]

It's two males and 14 females in a 75 gallon. I've tried a bare bottom and I've tried it with three large Texas holey rocks. One on each end and one in the middle. He insist that he owns all three of them.

[riftwater]

Give him 1/3 of the tank and one rock pile and egg crate off the rest for a few weeks, see what happens after that.

[...]

Or 1 pile at one end and the rest open water. Dividing the tank like John suggested is a good open before moving to the net or breeder box as that is the ultimate sin bin experience lol

[235g tank]

Make that water ice cold lol.

[mikevxr]

Must admit my only experience of super aggressive males are usually when one of my females is about to spawn, and generally I reduce time lights are on for a couple of days and harmony returns. I’ve not had a hyper aggressive male permanently not even when I had a group of 12 male and 1 female Bemba in a tank a few years ago. Sounds like I’ve been lucky.

[Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7]

If he is literally beating up on other fish remove him.

If he trying to spawn with a female and then goes back to a peaceful state afterwards, letting the rest of fish swim freely then let him do his thing.

If he is just dominating the entire tank without spawning remove him to a net for as long as you'd like to see if the other male produces well and is peaceful overall.

No one likes a tank of fish that aren't allowed to swim freely on account of one bully. lol

[gturmindright]

Yeah, he's just being an a hole. He pretty much eats all of the food that touches the bottom because he won't let anyone on the bottom level. Nobody has any damage though. He's just posturing. They are stubborn and keep going where he doesn't want them to though but he spends most of his time singling out one fish and chasing him across the tank, then singling out another fish and repeating.

[Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7]

Yeah, he sounds like a great candidate for "breeder net time out"!!! LOL For a while too. Let the other male get bigger and stronger and then put him in his place when you allow him back in.