Electric Yellow Cichlids Dying

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leshrimp

leshrimp

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Jul 6, 2013
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Here's the story my parameters are perfect and one of them recently died. The fish wouldn't eat but other than that there where no visible diseases. Now I am afraid ANOTHER may be dying as he is bullied and he doesn't compete for food so I drop it close to him so he can get it. Now he is just sitting by the filter and against the glass and he doesn't look too hot... What should I do? Is it possible they came with a disease? The other four fish are looking beautiful though...
 
Pittbull

Pittbull

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Tank size and dimensions , amount of fish and species you have, what type of substrate and decor, water perimeters via PH, Hardness, Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate usually done with a liquid test kit you can do this or check with your local pet shop..

What do the fish look like are they pinned up in a corner.. All this information is what is needed to make a guess..
 
myswtsins

myswtsins

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It could be SO many things. Give us some more details like Pittbull said and then we can at least give an educated guess.
 
leshrimp

leshrimp

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Pittbull said:
Tank size and dimensions , amount of fish and species you have, what type of substrate and decor, water perimeters via PH, Hardness, Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate usually done with a liquid test kit you can do this or check with your local pet shop..

What do the fish look like are they pinned up in a corner.. All this information is what is needed to make a guess..
Click to expand...
There where 6 one died and one is now pinned in a corner (like you said) he is very frail and only eats what I put near him. The other four fish are doing great, they are healthy and very active. The substrate is gravel, lots of rocks and hiding spots and the parameters are fine.
 
Pittbull

Pittbull

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Either your tank is too small or you do not have enough fish for Mbuna setup..
 
myswtsins

myswtsins

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By doing some detective work and putting all your posts together I'd say you need more fish AND more territories. Without enough fish the weakest fish just keeps getting bumped off because there is not enough fish to spread the aggression out on and/or the aggressors cannot "lose" the victim in the choas of other fish or gets distracted by another one etc.

Based on this shot of your tank...
leshrimp said:
The tank is a 55 and there are plenty of hiding spots. But the more dominant fish just chase him out of wherever he rests. There are 6 of these guys. Here is a pic of the whole tank.
Click to expand...
You do not have enough hiding spots or territories, at least not for Mbunas. :) Lots of rock work as I showed you in the other thread truly is the best way to go.
 
jpappy789

jpappy789

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Feb 18, 2007
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Adding more decor for territories and "hiding spots" shouldn't hurt and will benefit in the long run. From what I remember your tank was a bit scarce in that regard and you've had aggression issues.

edit: I see I was ninja'd with the pic. What they said^
 
leshrimp

leshrimp

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myswtsins said:
By doing some detective work and putting all your posts together I'd say you need more fish AND more territories. Without enough fish the weakest fish just keeps getting bumped off because there is not enough fish to spread the aggression out on and/or the aggressors cannot "lose" the victim in the choas of other fish or gets distracted by another one etc.

Based on this shot of your tank...


You do not have enough hiding spots or territories, at least not for Mbunas. :) Lots of rock work as I showed you in the other thread truly is the best way to go.
Click to expand...
Yea I have added more hiding spots since that picture, but they don't seem to use them. :(
 
myswtsins

myswtsins

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Some times they use it in ways you don't see or realize though. Just because they are not IN a hole doesn't mean they aren't protecting it for future mating purposes. Sometimes the fish use the area around a single rock, a little cliff or over hang as their territory, they need lots of options. Long term successful Mbuna keeping is usually only accomplished by following the guidelines accept by near all rift lake cichlid fans/keepers (which in a nutshell is overcrowd with non similar looking mbunas, 1m:3f min if doing groups of species, lots of rockwork, overfilter, big water changes). This is because they have fairly predictable behavior, aggressive and unrelenting. Although the yellow labs are near the bottom of the aggression levels seen they still have the same survival instincts, find a home, protect it at all costs and mate.

What is your final stocking going to be for this tank?
 
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