Compressiceps jaw problems-can i fix it?

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JeffLeMay

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 22, 2006
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Manchester, CT
I need help guys. two of my three yellow compressicepps have upper jaws that appear to be dislocated. :eek3: I don't know for sure, but that is how it seems. The upper part of the mouth is actually extended past the lower part in these two. they try to eat, and are swimming okay, but are clearly getting bullied by the other fish. my question might be ridiculous, but i am wondering whether or not there is any way for me to physically maneuver the jaws back into the proper position. obviously if the chances of me doing so without causing any damage are slim, it is not worth it and i won't give it a try. i just don't know what else to do... i feel bad for the little guys, and a little pissed because they were kind of expensive. any advice? is it cruel to keep them alive if they are suffering?
 
Unfortunately it is not that uncommon for that to happen to compressiceps. They can break their jaws pretty easy. Not really much you can do. I think if you did try and do anything it would do more damage then good.

Altough they have this problem, they can function just as good as if they had a normal jaw. I have a friend who has had one with a messed up jaw for 6 years and the fish is actually the ruler of the tank.

When compressiceps are small they tend to get bullied, but as they get older they ussually get more aggressive and ussually become the hyper dominent fish in the tank.

So they should be fine.
 
thanks again, i know you had advice the last time i posted about this problem. at first it was just the one fish, then yesterday i saw another one with it even worse. very disheartening, but hopefully they'll hang in there.
 
They should be fine, I wouldn't worry about it. Out of the 20 or so that I have kept have if not more have gotten messed up jaws along the way. I had one for 3 years, it got into a fight and broke is jaw, it is just something unfortunate that tends to happen with these fish.

Also don't be alarmed if in the future they lose the yellow color. They aren't imported very often cause after a long period of time in captivity they lose the yellow color. It is believed what they eat in the area they come in the lake is what give them the color.
 
The distention of the jaw in Altolamprologus is often associated with poor water quality. Physical injury may be a factor. Typically folks wil try to "fix it"...manually. While I wouldn't recommend it, if it were me I'd definitely give it a try.
Sometimes, it gets popped back it, water quaity is improved and kept in check and it stays that way. Other times it pops out again despite improved water quality and the fish either learns to deal with the malfunction or perishes.
 
not sure what could be wrong with the water...ph and hardness are good, no trace of ammonia/nitrates/nitrites, and i do 25 percent water changes once a week...anything i'm missing?
 
I had some with the same problem...I "manually" relocated one's jaw, seemed to be normal for a few weeks, then two had the problem.

Could/is this be related to the fish diving into tank decorations, corner of the tank while trying to catch food (live fry-from-other-fishfood that is)?
 
I don't see how it would be, by slamming into objects. I could see how if the fish extended it's jaw to an extreme while snapping or food the jaws might lock or become displaced somehow.
Thing is no one's completely 100% positive why it happens (we can all speculate though) and know even less about how to fix it.
 
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