Africans Dumped on Me!!!!

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King Edward

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 2, 2007
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LonDon and Scotland when Duty Calls
God I hate crappy petshops. My neighbours fish all died except his gourami...he wanted some more so went to the fish shop...told 'em all his fish have died and he wants some more...no questions as to why they died, they just asked him how big the gourami was and then sold him two unidentified african cichlids...One yellow and one dark with blue strips....for a bioorb...they are already too big, and when they came home the dark one had nearly killed the yellow one already, when they put it in the biorb it kicked the crap out the gourami. He knocks my door wondering why the 3" Gourami is getting killed by the 3" new fish cause the shop said agression is purely on size!

Oh, did I mention our water has a GH of 0 a KH of 0 and a ph of 6...thats what the shop had them in and they never even mentioned them liking hard water... I dont know much about them but I now have the aggressive one in a bucket upstairs, I have chucked my goldfish in my neighbours pond so have my 2fter as a temp home, but it looks like I'm gonna be doing a African Tank. Any advice on water? Should I leave themin the acid water tonight and get to the fish shop tommorrow for additives, or should I put some bicarb in the water now? I'll post some crappy pics (difficult to get good ones out of a bioorb!).
 
Heres the best pics!

fish 1.jpg

fish 7.jpg
 
looks like a pair of Melanochromis interruptus to me.

more info about them in this profile:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=758


I hope the 2ft tank is only temporary, cause it will be too small for them eventually.

If you are planning on going for an african tank and add more species, go for other agressive species to go with the melanochromis. Species that are calm, will most probably die if put in the same tank with them.

Make sure you create some hiding places aswell, cause Malawi Mbuna species like to hide.

About the water: Here in holland we use plain tap water. That is good enough for them. But I don't know what the water quality is like at your place.

/Cath
 
Wimmels;1952358; said:
looks like a pair of Melanochromis interruptus to me.

more info about them in this profile:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=758


I hope the 2ft tank is only temporary, cause it will be too small for them eventually.

If you are planning on going for an african tank and add more species, go for other agressive species to go with the melanochromis. Species that are calm, will most probably die if put in the same tank with them.

Make sure you create some hiding places aswell, cause Malawi Mbuna species like to hide.

About the water: Here in holland we use plain tap water. That is good enough for them. But I don't know what the water quality is like at your place.

/Cath
Click to expand...

everything he said x2.
add some marine buffer by seachem to raise your pH and mineral content levels, some salt will help bring out their colors when larger. mainly feed them vegetable matter and expect the male(blue one) to kill the female unless you get more females or get rid of the male.
 
Wimmels;1952379; said:
^^ forgot about that...

I agree on the veggie food, but they do need some protein aswell.
Click to expand...
also be sure not to feed certain foods too meaty or high in protein because it has bee known to cause diseases such as malawi bloat. africans have an extremely adapted digestive tract thats very delicate and can get clogged with too much protein at one time.
be sure to stock more to add diversity otherwise you will wind up with one extremely territorial fish. add a few almost enough to make it seem like your overstocking.
:)
 
Thanks for the replies lads...so you think they are male and female...wow, I thought for sure they were different species... I just got back from work, been to the fish shop and bought some coral gravel to raise the pH. Willie at the shop also suggested mixing Bicarbonate of soda or sodium bicarbonate with epsom salts and mixing that in with the water.

The 2ft tank is temp, and only the male is in there. The female is still in my neighbours biorb...So if I get say a 4ft tank then I could have the male with the females as long as there are lots of them? How many females do would you add?
 
:)Wimmels was reg met sy antwoord. These fish are more than likely the most aggressive of the Melanochromis species.
I would suggest you use Bicarbonate of soda to raise the PH and KH of your water. That is all you need to add. In the 3ft I would look at adding about a 1/4 packet, thats if it is a 500gram packet.
Where I live my PH is not too bad but the water is very soft and all I use is Bicarb. Works extremely well.
Your fish look to be a really great specimen.
Get the male another 4-5 females and then be careful they don't knock each other off. The females can be just as nasty.
Dit is als vir nou!:naughty::screwy::ROFL::headbang2:nilly::)
 
Your getting very good advice. Melanchromis species are highly aggressive. You will need that many females to "distract" him when picking on one fish. Most of the fish you buy in pet shops today are tank raised in the states and will easily adapt to 7 PH. It is the wild specimens that usually need the higher ph's. The key to success is to have the ph stable and not bounce up and down. The bouncing up and down is what will kill your fish, better to have a slightly lower or higher than normal ph and leave it there than have it fluctuate up and down. Give them tons of rockwork and caves, they are a cave dwelling african cichlid. I used to feed mine a sinking pellet herbavore diet and suppliment with krill and lightly boiled veggies such as zuccinni, broccoli, frozen green beans, watermelon, lettuce. Just dont leave it in for a long time or it can foul the tank. THey make clips with a suction cup that are good for that stuff. Have fun with them, be warned though africans are very addictive LOL.
 
Well, I got some coral gravel and put that in last niight, I'll mess round with the bicarb tonight. Do you think these would mix well with demasonis? They are very pretty and mubuna too? Any suggestions for a 4ft tank with these as the base?
 
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