Anyway to stop one fish from hogging all the food?

[jptsr1]

Unfortunately I've tried that once. The other fish don't make it over to the other side before he does.

But that does give me an idea... Next feeding time, I think I'll be waiting with a net and try to scoop him up. I can keep him in the net while I feed the other fish.

you run the risk of stressing him if you net him every time you feed. i still say give it some more time. as a matter of fact you might even reduce your feedings. your other fish are not going to let him eat everything for long while they starve. they will eventually get the picture and get more aggressive at feeding time. if he were driving them off from the food that would be one thing, but if he is just quicker on the gun they will catch up when they get hungry enough.

J.

 

[mee-mee]

Or just put the Demasoni in the 20...so you don't have to get rid of them...you can get away with 2-4 cichlids in a 20 (depending on how big they grow)...but try and keep the bb's in the 30 since there are 3 of them...and put the 2 demis in the 20...but the one that eats alot more than the others you might have to consider and give it up to a local ma and pa LFS...since I dont think petsmart takes cichlids that are any bigger than 2 inches...how long do you think your bb's and demis are....

 

[fgump]

The largest bb is around 3 ½ inches, and I've only had him a month! The other two bb's are just over 2. The largest demasoni is just under 2, and the smaller one is is just a little smaller than that.

Those are just best estimates, it's really hard to measure them. They are usually either moving around, or hiding somewhere.

And about moving the demasoni to a 20, that's a thought. But I'm really doubting the 30 will be large enough for 3 bb's... there's a LOT of aggression between them already, and they are still babies.

 

[mee-mee]

Do you have one male bb equal to two female bb...or if they are all male, that explains the constant aggression....it is highly recommended for only 1 male bb to 2-3 females per tank set up...can you tell if they are male or female...is it possible to get pix of the bb's....and if you do have 3 or 2 males then you should get rid of 2 or 1 bb and get 2 female...and that could help on cutting down on the aggression...

 

[JohnInFlorida]

A whole bunch of good suggestions here ... but it seems all are impossible in your present circumstances OR you have already tried and they've failed !

I have only one suggestion and I offer it ONLY as a last resort ... it requires a fillet knife and a cutting board ! Bon appetit !

I guarantee it will solve the piggy problem.

Keep Smilin'
John

​

 

[mee-mee]

Now why didnt I think of that...wouldnt be big enough for even half a sandwich...:eek3: ...Johnny you are funny...

 

[mee-mee]

But joking aside...you should try and rectify the problem as soon as possible...keep us posted and try to get some pix if you don't know if you have all male bb's....

 

[fgump]

No need to use a fillet knife, all but the largest are small enough I could swallow them whole. Sprinkle a little Cajun dust on them first...


As for the sex of the bb's, I'm 95% sure the largest is male. He already has a couple of the egg spots in this anal fin. The next largest bb I'd guess is male by its coloration (it is the darkest of them all, including the bigger one). It hasn't developed any egg spots yet, so I'm not positive. The smallest I'm not sure of. Definitely lighter in color than the middle one. But both of the smaller two I don't think are big enough for the egg spots to have started to develop yet.

Here are a couple of pictures. They aren't very good, I'll try for some better ones tomorrow. The fish aren't being cooperative at the moment, and both my batteries just died.

Here's a pic of the smallest bb (with the larger demasoni):

Here's the middle sized bb:

Here's a bad pic of the largest bb. He didn't want to come out for the camera, he was busy sleeping off dinner:

 

[fgump]

Man, I need to clean the glass. It's not noticeable from where I'm sitting. But it's pretty obvious from the pics.

 

[MbunaFishKeeper]

hey do you ever have trouble with your demasonis fighting with each other because ive been told that they will kill each other unless there is 10+ in the tank?

thanks
howard