The ones you have are pretty small, so you'll need to feed them small food frequently. Get them on as varied of a diet as possible. Forumla One and Two Marine pellets are SMALL, and perfect. Definately get them onto mysis shrimp as well, as its better for them than brine. I think they are more prone to gettin bloat and the like than most other cichlids, so try giving them a more veggie based diet until they are around 3". Hikari Marine -A- pellets would be a PERFECT source for this. Great stuff, even picky eaters love it. Be sure to give your gramms. at least one day a week to clean out their gut, just to make sure they are digesting it. Being so small, i wouldn't do any more than one day. You could try doing it two days a week, once on Monday and then on Thursday...that would probably be best. Anyway, don't give up man! You just gotta keep on trying.
I give up on Grammodes!!!
- Thread starter balton777
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Peanut_Power;909351; said:
Thanks for the inspiration Peanut Power. I'm actually still hanging in here trying my best to keep the last 2 squirts. I titled this thread one day after I pulled out the 6th dead body and kinda upset at the moment. Thanks for the diet info. I have several kinds of flakes I'm giving them including a veggie based flake and a spirulina flake. And several kinds of NLS pellets, I break up the bigger ones, only NLS in the pellets though. The get mysis, I'll hold off on the brine shrimp. I feed a frozen cube called Frozen Emerald Entree by Sanfrancisco Bay. It's full of veggie matter and in addition to bits of fish and shrimp. Yesterday I got an additional Aquaclear 300/70 HOB filter and hooked it up so they'll have superior filtration. Consistent water changes will continue. Wish me luck. Thanks again.
In a 30g tank, I would be doing more than 10g water changes. Try bumping it up to 15-20 twice a week. When I grow out baby cichlids I do 50-90% water changes once or twice a week and keep the temp near 83.
I've brought up my juvi trimacs in groups with little success. The two big ones I had (have one still) each killed off their counterparts within a week...and this was when they were about 1" long and in a 55 gal tank.
Do grammodes have issues with bloat when young like some Hatians seem to? Any chance it's something like that? I know several folks that have lost young hatians because of bloat. I don't know my grammodes well, but know a few folks that have kept them since they were fry and they too had problems with most dying off.
Do grammodes have issues with bloat when young like some Hatians seem to? Any chance it's something like that? I know several folks that have lost young hatians because of bloat. I don't know my grammodes well, but know a few folks that have kept them since they were fry and they too had problems with most dying off.
SouthCentral;911516; said:
That's what I think is happening. The stronger ones killed off the weaker ones. I added four .75" silver dollars to give them something to chase around and leave each other the h*ll alone. lol Last time I bought grammodes, I put them all in my 55g growout tank and it got down to 2 remaining. They were 3-4" and I put them in my 156g tank and they both soon died. I think they're picking fights they can't back up.
SouthCentral;911516; said:
I'm feeding a low protein diet primarily of NLS rated at 34% protein. They're getting lots of veggies too with a frozen cube I feed them.
Nomadofthehills, thanks for the tip. My new schedule is 50% once a week and 33% twice a week. That plus the additional new AC 300/70 filter I've added should keep them in pristine water conditions. Remember it's only a few tiny fish in a 30 gallon tank.
I really want these two to make it to adulthood so whatever it takes. All comments and suggestions are welcome. THANX!!
Yes, grammodes are prone to bloat when smaller. Some of the previous posts really cracked me up.
82 degrees is fine, the tank size is fine (for now).
With fish that are prone to bloat make sure to not over feed. Feed small quantities 3-4 times a day, not 1-2 large feedings (as much as they can eat in 30 seconds or so). Their intestinal tracts can't handle more very well. Fasting 1-2 days a week to clean out the gut is a good thing too. Feed more veggie foods. 34% protein is high in protein. Things like shelled peas are great for these type of fish. Like Peanut_Power states, there are a lot of high quality veggie based foods out there you can try.
After the 3-4" range they become pretty much indestructable and you can move to a more common high quality pellet.
I can practically guarantee that if you change your feeding habits these two guys will grow to be bruisers in no time (well, some time, as grammodes are the slowest growing fish, ever).
82 degrees is fine, the tank size is fine (for now).
With fish that are prone to bloat make sure to not over feed. Feed small quantities 3-4 times a day, not 1-2 large feedings (as much as they can eat in 30 seconds or so). Their intestinal tracts can't handle more very well. Fasting 1-2 days a week to clean out the gut is a good thing too. Feed more veggie foods. 34% protein is high in protein. Things like shelled peas are great for these type of fish. Like Peanut_Power states, there are a lot of high quality veggie based foods out there you can try.
After the 3-4" range they become pretty much indestructable and you can move to a more common high quality pellet.
I can practically guarantee that if you change your feeding habits these two guys will grow to be bruisers in no time (well, some time, as grammodes are the slowest growing fish, ever).
Sorry about your bad luck!I had the bloat problem with my Nandopsis haitiensis and lost 5 of them and gave up on the last 2 because they were females.I have grammodes and haven't had any problems.I feed them usually only once a day and they get a varied diet of blood worms,pellets,flakes and the ocassional market shrimp and feeder.I got rid of a male and female already and I am just keeping 1 male and 2 females. One thing for sure is they will be aggressive when they get bigger as they are already causing havoc.
Here is my male and a female.
Here is my male and a female.
