one of my cichlids won't eat

[Drrrfffeee]

Hey i have 2 cichlid tanks a 30 gallon and a 70 gallon. I recently transfered one cichlid from my 30 to the 70 because he was being too aggressive he seemed fine for a few hours so i went to work. When i came home the other fish had almost completely bit all of his fins off and his body was a matted gray instead of gold. I put him in the 30 gallon and they picked on him too, so i bought a breeder and put him in the 30 gallon with the breeder and now he won't eat at all i've tried flakes shrimp and cichlid pellets he just doesn't seem to care. Is he going to die? i'm worried.

 

[Lupin]

to MFK!

Could you please elaborate exactly what species are all your cichlids?

Please bear in mind that in general, cichlids establish their territories. A 30g is very inadequate if you are dealing with medium sized cichlids. Once they mark their territories, they will start defending them and consider the rest as intruders. There is also a ranking order being established by their hierarchy. Thus, in this case, the fish that was badly battered would most likely be in the lowest rank.

It's a good idea to keep the fish separated but please do not use the breeder trap! A rubbermaid tub or bucket will do if you can find either one that has adequate space. Borrow the established filters/filter media from one of your tanks to set up the temporary hospital.

At this point, it is already stressed thus it has refused to eat at all. Give it time. In the meantime, add table salt (without yellow prussiate added) at a teaspoon per gallon. Do a water change before you do so and be sure to check the water parameters regularly. This is pretty much all you can do.

Do you have access to garlic juice? Cease feeding for now. Feed after at least 2-3 days (while doing daily water changes in the hospital tank). When you're ready to feed them, soak the frozen stuff in garlic juice to coax him to eat.

Hope this helps.

 

[Drrrfffeee]

thank you for the reply i didn't know about garlic juice at all! oh and the "breeder" i mentioned is a tupperware box with holes in it it's clamped onto the tank so the water still filters

and as far as the breeds the one that got beat up is a Metriaclima Pyrsonotos OB the one that was beating on him is a Metriaclima Zebra lundu i also have a few Placidochromis Electras in there as well but they're not really agressive at all the two fish that fought were both the dominant fish in their own tanks so i know it was my stupidity putting him in there that got him hurt