Hi guys,
I have recently purchased a new peacock bass to add to my tank. He is a wild caught cichla piquiti, beautiful little guy. The problem is he is a little bit smaller than I assumed he would be for my tank. I got an 8 inch orino, 11 inch kelberi, 11 inch mono, and 13 inch temensis. As for introduction to the tank, the little guy got picked on a great deal less than any other bass, the mono and kelberi charged at him a total of once and never did it again, the orino is always an ******* but he was the old smallest and compared to the way he treated the other bass the couple times an hour he charges at him is not bad at all. The temensis has chased him a couple times, but the more concerning behaviour is him sneaking up from behind and intently watching him, for a good chunk of time.
Here are the issues:
1) The azul, even though not getting picked on very much at all, is hanging out at the top right front corner of the tank, fins down, back slightly breaking the top of the water, and showing huge stress coloration. I do have driftwood in the tank but he does not seem to want to hide down there. Will only swim for a couple seconds when I spook him, and then goes right back to his spot. When the lights are off he "swims" in the water collumn normally as all the other bass do, just kinda chills, fins up, and everywhere around the tank. I am worried about the stress, despite not being harassed, being too much for the little guy, or is the fact that hes wild caught mean recently mean that this is expected behaviour?
2) Being wild caught, so far he is only eating live food. I got him 2 days ago and have yet to feed him, but the pet store did the day I bought him. Normally I wouldn't be concerned about getting him to eat other than live, however with him being as stressed as he is I doubt he will show any interest in non-live food as he hasn't so far. Tried floating and sinking pellets, worms, and shrimp. My other bass have never eaten live food other than worms. My concern here is if I introduce them to live fish as food, it may spawn a feeding instinct that may but the azul at risk, because he can definitely fit in the temensis mouth, if not the kelberi and monos as well. My other concern is even if I dump 3 dozen rosie reds minnows in there, what are the chances of him getting any with the other bass being as dominant preditors as they are? Any suggestions on how to get him to eat sucessfully?
3) I do have a 23 gallon quarantine tank that is currently housing a 20 inch clown knife with a mystery protrusion coming out of his throat. It was red and swollen and caused gill problems, but has since gotten much better, and looks to me more and more like he got stung by one of my sting rays. I was thinking if I need to I can either put the azul in there with him, or probably the more safe bet swap them because what happened to the clown knife is still not 100% determined so it could be parasitic. My concern with this is that the tank is bare, and has no light on it, just a heater, bubbler, and aquaclear 110 filter. While it could reduce stress for him, I am worried about a 23 gallon being way too small and may inhibit his growth a little bit, and his colours not developping nicely without a light, nor helping the conversion process from live. I personally believe it would be better for him in the long run to stick it out and adjust with the big guys, but will the stress of being in there now be too much?
Thanks for reading, let me know your thoughts, I'll post pictures when I get home so you can see the size difference.
I have recently purchased a new peacock bass to add to my tank. He is a wild caught cichla piquiti, beautiful little guy. The problem is he is a little bit smaller than I assumed he would be for my tank. I got an 8 inch orino, 11 inch kelberi, 11 inch mono, and 13 inch temensis. As for introduction to the tank, the little guy got picked on a great deal less than any other bass, the mono and kelberi charged at him a total of once and never did it again, the orino is always an ******* but he was the old smallest and compared to the way he treated the other bass the couple times an hour he charges at him is not bad at all. The temensis has chased him a couple times, but the more concerning behaviour is him sneaking up from behind and intently watching him, for a good chunk of time.
Here are the issues:
1) The azul, even though not getting picked on very much at all, is hanging out at the top right front corner of the tank, fins down, back slightly breaking the top of the water, and showing huge stress coloration. I do have driftwood in the tank but he does not seem to want to hide down there. Will only swim for a couple seconds when I spook him, and then goes right back to his spot. When the lights are off he "swims" in the water collumn normally as all the other bass do, just kinda chills, fins up, and everywhere around the tank. I am worried about the stress, despite not being harassed, being too much for the little guy, or is the fact that hes wild caught mean recently mean that this is expected behaviour?
2) Being wild caught, so far he is only eating live food. I got him 2 days ago and have yet to feed him, but the pet store did the day I bought him. Normally I wouldn't be concerned about getting him to eat other than live, however with him being as stressed as he is I doubt he will show any interest in non-live food as he hasn't so far. Tried floating and sinking pellets, worms, and shrimp. My other bass have never eaten live food other than worms. My concern here is if I introduce them to live fish as food, it may spawn a feeding instinct that may but the azul at risk, because he can definitely fit in the temensis mouth, if not the kelberi and monos as well. My other concern is even if I dump 3 dozen rosie reds minnows in there, what are the chances of him getting any with the other bass being as dominant preditors as they are? Any suggestions on how to get him to eat sucessfully?
3) I do have a 23 gallon quarantine tank that is currently housing a 20 inch clown knife with a mystery protrusion coming out of his throat. It was red and swollen and caused gill problems, but has since gotten much better, and looks to me more and more like he got stung by one of my sting rays. I was thinking if I need to I can either put the azul in there with him, or probably the more safe bet swap them because what happened to the clown knife is still not 100% determined so it could be parasitic. My concern with this is that the tank is bare, and has no light on it, just a heater, bubbler, and aquaclear 110 filter. While it could reduce stress for him, I am worried about a 23 gallon being way too small and may inhibit his growth a little bit, and his colours not developping nicely without a light, nor helping the conversion process from live. I personally believe it would be better for him in the long run to stick it out and adjust with the big guys, but will the stress of being in there now be too much?
Thanks for reading, let me know your thoughts, I'll post pictures when I get home so you can see the size difference.
