Nandopsis haitiensis bloat prevention program

[John Rambo]

I am planning another attempt in keeping haitiensis. My last tries resulted in dozens of dead nasties from aquabid, other MFKers, and even Rapps. I already know high temps, high fiber, it was never enough. My tanks must be loaded with bloat causing parasites!

So again Im keeping the tank at 86F, but what food do all you odo keepers use? And where do you buy Metronidazole?
What else can I do to prevent bloat!

 

[volcomstone]

I also plan to keep odos soon and I'm interested also in hearing from the people who've been successful at keeping Odos alive particularly on their routine (diet, water param, community or solo?, etc...) regiment.

However, here is a thread I found useful http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=199862

 

[GTS]

It has been a good while since I have kept odo's, but I treated them like beani. Very high aeration, if you think you have enough add more. Very staple water parameters, you could do this by not using gravel or using a very small layer of sand. Add salt to the water, I would say to point that you create quasi-brackish conditions. Feed vegetable based pellets that do not contain very high amounts of protein. The salt is important, Chris over at the cichlidscene raised a very large male odo. The whole time he added salt to the water. He stopped and the fish got sick, he was unable to save it. I have had similar things happen.


I have never heard of the 86 degree thing before. It seems irrational, higher temps equal higher metabolic rates which increases the amount of ammonia expelled from the fish. They also cause oxygen to be consumed at a higher rate which causes stress. Both are odo killers. When I kept haits (maybe 10 years ago) I kept the tanks at normal temps.


Just be careful to not overfeed. Once the digestive problems start, odo's get the long stringy feces. Once this happens it is all over.

 

[robmcd]

I raised some haits in a planted tank and had no problems in the least. I started out with 6 and lost 2 to a heater malfunction. The majority of the fry at my friends house were lost to bloat and he later ended up getting the ones that I had raised...

 

[GTS]

I raised some haits in a planted tank and had no problems in the least. I started out with 6 and lost 2 to a heater malfunction. The majority of the fry at my friends house were lost to bloat and he later ended up getting the ones that I had raised...

You know I have noticed that some people seem to have no issues raising odo's, whilst on the other hand others can't seem to keep them alive. I have always thought this has to do with local water parameters. It most likely isn't due to differences in the stock we are raising as the vast majority of odo's that available come from closely related stock.

 

[robmcd]

You know I have noticed that some people seem to have no issues raising odo's, whilst on the other hand others can't seem to keep them alive. I have always thought this has to do with local water parameters. It most likely isn't due to differences in the stock we are raising as the vast majority of odo's that available come from closely related stock.

Yeah you are probably right... Funny thing is that I didnt really even want to keep them, I was at polomaxs house to buy a big old lenticulata pike when I saw that he had a ton of 1'' fry and I had space in my 60g planted so I grabbed some. I ended up just giving them away. Now Im keeping a couple beanis and hoping that my luck holds out...

 

[GTS]

Another interesting thing I have found about haits was their diet. Back when I first got some, I kept losing them to bloat. I started feeding pellets meant for vegetarian fish and I had no problem raising them. A friend of mine raised a group from the same brood. He feed his fish mostly live food and he never lost a single fish to bloat.

I know that jeff rapps used to feed his haits channel catfish feed, which is not a low protein food. So perhaps digestion problems are not at the base of the issues that some have with raising them.

 

[Jason_S]

I bought 3 haits a while back...put them in a 30 gallon tank (they were 2" TL tops), put a strong powerhead on the tank and changed 30-50% of the water weekly. I fed them everything high-protein that I had...freeze dried krill, freeze dried bloodworms, frozen bloodworms, flakes, cichlid pellets, etc.

The dominant male grew quickly to 4"+ and killed the other 2. He was in excellent health when I had to move him to a much larger community tank. He was then killed.

I don't believe diet has anything at all to do with bloat in CA cichlids. Most of the cichlids from CA that tend to bloat are riverine species found naturally in fast flowing waters. These species also are not all that common in the hobby so the specimens we see have not been farm bred for generation after generation like, say, firemouths, dempseys etc so they do require at least something close to their natural environment to thrive. That means immaculately clean water with lots and lots of oxygen.

Give them this, and I truly believe they'll thrive no matter what the diet. In the wild, they're primarily piscivores according to Rusty Wessel.

 

[GTS]

I bought 3 haits a while back...put them in a 30 gallon tank (they were 2" TL tops), put a strong powerhead on the tank and changed 30-50% of the water weekly. I fed them everything high-protein that I had...freeze dried krill, freeze dried bloodworms, frozen bloodworms, flakes, cichlid pellets, etc.

The dominant male grew quickly to 4"+ and killed the other 2. He was in excellent health when I had to move him to a much larger community tank. He was then killed.

I don't believe diet has anything at all to do with bloat in CA cichlids. Most of the cichlids from CA that tend to bloat are riverine species found naturally in fast flowing waters. These species also are not all that common in the hobby so the specimens we see have not been farm bred for generation after generation like, say, firemouths, dempseys etc so they do require at least something close to their natural environment to thrive. That means immaculately clean water with lots and lots of oxygen.

Give them this, and I truly believe they'll thrive no matter what the diet. In the wild, they're primarily piscivores according to Rusty Wessel.

That is logical. When I switched to feeding my old haits vegetarian pellets, I also greatly increased the size of the water changes that I performed on the tank. The interesting thing about bloat prone fish like haits and beani is that some do occur in lagoon type locales. Such places have lower oxygen levels and more stagnant water. For example the beani that are out there for purchase now are from the Rio tepic,they occur throughout that river even in slower flowing parts of the river and near Semi- urban areas where the water is likely polluted. I'd dare say that the water in aquarium of the average cichlid keeper is cleaner than the water in Mexico or haiti. So perhaps diet cannot be completely discounted from the equation.

 

[BigPic]

I have to say that I think the biggest problem with any of these bloat prone fish is evironmental stress. Things like poor water quality (too much food, not enough water changes), aggressive tank mates or any other variable that could cause stress to the fish are IMHO the root of the "bloat" issues with fish. I have been keeping Tropheus for a few years now (very prone to blaoting) I pretty much killed my first colony because I didn't know how to read the signs. I have found Clout to be the best "meds" to correct bloat in the early stages. I would say that the best way to prevent it is to really watch the fish, you will quickly pick up on signs of fish not being well and should be able to correct the problem before it becomes a real problem