So, I've had my 55g up and biocycled 3 weeks, and added the cichlids a week ago. 1 5-inch BGK (I know), 3 scant 2 inch Cobalt Blues, 4 scant 2 inch Yellow Labs. Rock caves, big fake floating plant, sand, gravel, crushed coral. Before I added the above, I had put in 4 blind cave tetras, almost 3 inches, til a friend could take them.
Tonight, one of the tetras was killed--I didn't see it happen, but I figured it was bound to come, just not so soon. So, the Knife has been going at it off and on, giving the Cichs their opps. He's actually been dragging it about! (They give him wide berth). I didn't think I could really stomach this aspect of predators, but guess what? No problem!! It's really quite fascinating.
Question--how long should I leave the corpse in there? It's been about 3 hours now, and I don't want any ammonia decay if it can be helped (doing a partial wc tonite anyway). Is there anybody on now, who can advise me? These little monsters are awesome and I want to care for them properly. Haven't come across this one yet. The buggers are just so small!!! (I've had the tetras for 6 months, they're quite healthy.) Thanks! ~renee
