Need Help! What's happening to my yellow lab?

[Blue2Fyre]

You either need to remove him or the bully. If the auratus is the bully then I suspect the lab won't live long.

 

[stewnew]

agreed

this happens all the time to lower ranking fish

 

[Red Devil]

stress kills a fish faster then anything..remove him if you can to another tank.. maybe a quarenteen or hospital tank.. let him recover for a couple of weeks .. and try him again after the tank has been rearranged etc..also add more hiding places..

 

[patrickd007]

Thanks for all the help! I will move him!

 

[kay-bee]

...It is a 30g all mbuna all male...I only got this fish a week ago <apparent reference to the yellow lab in question>... Stocking list: 1 Golden Cichlid, 1 Demasoni, 1 Kenyi, 2 Yellow labs.

There are several factors in play here:

- For the best shot at success, stock the tank starting with the least aggressive species. The more aggressive species are then added last. In this case it seems the yellow lab was the last (or among the last) to be added which placed it at a disadvantage almost from the get go.

- The tank is somewhat small and is under populated when looking at just the quantity. I would think mbuna group size should be 8 or more. Less than that it's easier for individual fish to be singled out and harassed (or worse). It's challenging to attain an ideal group size in a smaller tank.

- I'm not sure if the stressed yellow lab was added to the tank by itself. If so, that that could have contributed to the situation as well. Based on mbuna territorial nature it's usually best to add new comers in groups of 4 or more. (but again I'm not sure if this yellow lab was introduced by itself or with some of the other fish).

It's probable that when the yellow lab recovers and is returned to the tank, the scenario may repeat itself because the factors above are still in place.

In a larger tank you may want to consider increasing the quantity of yellow labs you have (say 3 or 4 more) and add them at the same time that this yellow lab is scheduled to be returned to the tank (makes it harder for any one of them to be singled out). In a 30gal this is probably not an option.