5 star general not eating...

First I reccomend you tell us, what size the tank is all of the other inhabitants, water parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, pH, water temp) please give us number not just "they are fine or good", and how long you've had the fish.

For those of you who don't know but may want to help with this post, the 5 star general is Hemichromis elongatus also called the Banded Jewel cichlid, Hemichromis is the genus of which all of the Jewels from western africa come from. Gets to a size of about 15cm.

dlau21 said:

29 gallon tank, had the general for 1.5 weeks, along with a firemouth, blue electric, and a jack dempsey. PH level at 7.5, temp at 79-81...there u go...any suggestions instead of criticism?

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I hope you are prepared to upgrade as all of the above fish will outgrow a 29, assuming they are juvies. Do you have a test kit, where you can test for ammonia, nitirItes, nitrAtes,ect.? Those would be helpful. IMO when you introduce a fish into a new tank it take a while to get used to, but a week and a half seems a little long.

That tank is not suitable for those fish, none of them, even one is small enough to fit in the tank. Jacks get nasty, blue dempseys are on the docile side, the firemouths won't be able to stand up to the JD for long, and the Hemichromis is gonna be nasty as well. You will need a tank at least 125gal for those fish as a minimum.

You still have not provided us with Ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate readings, of the size of the fish.

However, in short, your hemichromis is not eating because he is gettin the crap kicked out of him, especially in a tank that small. He may be eating when you aren't watching as I'm sure he hides in areas where food does settle and is getting something to eat.

Call me mean and what not, but either get a large aquarium, AT LEAST a 75gal FOR NOW, or take the fish back to where you got them.