That must be really disheartening, I feel for ya. I wouldn't want to try any more demasonis either, but like you said, a few will probably be down to one. Maybe you can trade them in?
cichlids keep getting bloat
- Thread starter rockhoe14er
- Start date
Why trade away nice group of 7 when one only have to provide better environment. People may be giving up too easily in this forum, imo.
Dont know how you aquascaped your tank but dont recall such worries/mishaps as I kept 1,2,3,4,5,6, etc, etc of any mbunas including demasoni as I aquascaped the AC tank similar to that of reef, if not morerocks than reef, with all the nooks and crannies b/n the rocks for them to hide and roam about.. Such aquascapes will eventually minimize stress brought upon them by other larger/more aggressive or even among themselves. Perhaps it may reduce the chances of bloating if not caused by food/improper feeding/unideal water conditions.
Pic of entire tank possible?
Dont know how you aquascaped your tank but dont recall such worries/mishaps as I kept 1,2,3,4,5,6, etc, etc of any mbunas including demasoni as I aquascaped the AC tank similar to that of reef, if not morerocks than reef, with all the nooks and crannies b/n the rocks for them to hide and roam about.. Such aquascapes will eventually minimize stress brought upon them by other larger/more aggressive or even among themselves. Perhaps it may reduce the chances of bloating if not caused by food/improper feeding/unideal water conditions.
Pic of entire tank possible?
That was my suggestion, I don't know what Rockhoe plans to do. I've wanted to keep demasoni, but everything I read warned about their aggressiveness and against keeping too few. I'm not sure that a group of 7 is ideal, but perhaps it could work.
According the Chicago Cichlid Association - "Your best chance for success is to provide a species tank and keep a lot of them. Decorate *sparsely* to avoid territory-related aggression tank. If possible, keep a limited number of males."
Unfortunately, I dont have the whole literature/newsletter from Chicago Cichlid Association so cant comment and dont want to initiate debate b/n associations/clubs either, but it is our belief that when tank is "sparsely" decorated, it increase the odds of territory-related aggression since such "sparsely piled rocks" can be easily taken over by one individual and not enough nooks & crannies for others to run/hide.
But if rocks are piled/aquascaped from end to end & bottom to top, no one fish can take over one area since it is continuous. With all the nooks and crannies created b/n rocks, it will be more like a Merry-Go-Round, chasing one another w/o destroying each other which is natural behavior.
These were/are common aspect of Mbuna keeping among AC keepers going back to 80's.
Have used coral rocks (not the ones commonly found in lfs), boulders, Lace rocks (so so) but never slate/tuffa/larva rocks for AC. Mbunas dont need caves, artificially created with slates. What they need is more nooks and crannies naturally formed when coral rocks are stacked up similar to that of reef set up.
Ive kept/raised/spawn wild pairs as well as captive bred juvies. Quantity and size of tank varied as per my objective but very rarely changed the aquascaping idea mentioned above on Mbunas which yielded higher sucess rate, not just on their longevity but also on saving captive born juvies..
Hope this helped a bit!
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Everything i have read about demasoni's is that they should be kept in colony's of greater than 12. I've talked to a lot of people on this form and others that say similar things. I believe part of the problem is temperament. I have some demasoni's that are nice and a couple that are pretty mean. I want to keep them. I don't think i'm going to restore their numbers because they are too difficult to track down and expensive. So we will see what happens. I really would like to breed them but that may not be possible at this time.
Not bad of a rock work but still could use more rocks to a point no back glass is seen, imo. But again just an opinion from one who used to breed demasoni, even when I did not want them to breed. Is this the tank demasonis are kept? Either my eyes are going bad or are they just hiding?
Perhaps a sales pitch/marketing strageties as never heard such among our local AC hobbyists/local comm AC breeders/importers..
Good Luck with the rest.
yeah right now i have 7 demasoni's 9 yellow labs and 3 albino socolofi's. So it might be slightly understocked. Bloat took a lot out of my demasoni population. They were all pretty new to me I only had them about 3 weeks. Part of me thinks i might have gotten a bad batch.
That's exactly what I have read and heard from others too. Sorry about your losses!!!
Most fish are ~2 to 2-1/2" long? How aggressive/territorial are your socolofis? More than other 2 species?
I always found less death from aggression when bit overstocked and tankful/chokeful of rocks appropriatelt aquascaped.
If I may suggest although maybe bit difficult in 75 G & if both side of the tank are free of obstacle(viewable), try building rock piles in the center of the tank, somewhat like mountain. Let them roam around the mountain as in Merry-go-Round.
It provides areas that are not viewable from the other side of the mountain for fish at all times.. Of course, they all will roam about but still gives more time for submissive fish to react/run and hide. And such design will give close to double the amt of surface area of same rock piles.
Hope all goes well!
I always found less death from aggression when bit overstocked and tankful/chokeful of rocks appropriatelt aquascaped.
If I may suggest although maybe bit difficult in 75 G & if both side of the tank are free of obstacle(viewable), try building rock piles in the center of the tank, somewhat like mountain. Let them roam around the mountain as in Merry-go-Round.
It provides areas that are not viewable from the other side of the mountain for fish at all times.. Of course, they all will roam about but still gives more time for submissive fish to react/run and hide. And such design will give close to double the amt of surface area of same rock piles.
Hope all goes well!
