need advice

[ccebr]

picked up 5x 1.5" ocellaris yesterday for £15, bargain really, but 2 out of 5 are already dead. I've never had fish die that quickly from adding to my tank. I properly acclimated them, and checked the water parameters, nothing extreme there. One died within 3 hours yesterday, with its mouth extended fully. When I got back from uni today, another fish had almost completely been eaten. They are currently housed with loads of jag/dovii fry of around the same size and clown loaches 3-4" in a 45 gallon. Can anyone give some advice to try and save the remaining 3. Cheers

 

[gangster]

whats your temp? What are they eating?

At this size they should be in a well airated tank kept at 87 degrees fareinheight. Frozen bloodworms are a good food as well as frozen brine. If they wont eat that try live blk worms.

 

[ccebr]

the temp is 78F, very well aerated and I fed crushed massivore which they have eaten. I also have a frozen mixture which I feed twice a week. I've only had them 24 hours and even the remaining 3 are hiding away.

So you reckon its the temp being too low? 87F seems high,

Any other suggestions?

 

[Thai]

I say u would need to bump up the temp to around 82F-87F and make sure they are not fighting each other.

 

[ccebr]

I have increased temp to 30C/80F so hopefully will see some differences in the morning. They are with 50 or so jag/dovii fry so could feel intimidated by them.

Any thing else? Help a cichla noob out

 

[callen]

So you reckon its the temp being too low? 87F seems very high,

Any other suggestions?

Lol...EVERYONE says that when they first start keeping Cichla! I said the same thing when i started w/ em, i said wtf...i'm gonna boil my fish.Lol.... Gangster know what he's talkin about... keep the temp at 86-87, and plenty of air due to the high temp. The babys are pretty sensative at that size (imo). Once they get a little more size on em, they're pretty hardy fish. As long as they're eating, and not gettin beatin up by the Dovii fry they should be alright. Good luck! Oh yeah, i'd watch the Dovii/jags, i know you said they are just fry, but i've had Dovii's, that at only 2" were already VERY aggressive...baby pbass don't stand a chance!.....unless the fry canfit into their mouth, then the tables turn

 

[gangster]

^^^^thanks callen

Yup bump it up to 87 and have and airstone. That low temp is why your losing your cichla.

 

[HULON]

^^^^thanks callen

Yup bump it up to 87 and have and airstone. That low temp is why your losing your cichla.

+1 for sure!!!

 

[ccebr]

thanks for the advice

unfortunately, 4/5 of them are now dead. Even after increasing the temperature. I went to the lfs earlier with the dead fish and a water sample. There was nothing wrong with the parameters, and they were keeping theirs at 76-78F NO PROBLEMS, looking very well.

Therefore it must be the wolf-jags terrorizing them. I will have to build a divider tomorrow, as the lfs gave me 5 new ones, which are currently still in the bag, temperature adjusting. There is O2 in the bag so do you reckon they'll be alright in there for another 12 hours until I can get the materials needed for a divider? I just dont think they'll make it if i put them in with the other fry

 

[ccebr]

Lol...EVERYONE says that when they first start keeping Cichla! I said the same thing when i started w/ em, i said wtf...i'm gonna boil my fish.Lol.... Gangster know what he's talkin about...

thats funny actually, it does still seems unnecessarily hot.

What grows faster, dovii or pbass fry? and I though pbass were pretty aggressive or would at least be able to stand up for themself