Small CA suggestion

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MC4RKiller

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Feb 21, 2016
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VA
A few months prior I setup a 40G Breeder for some P.saulosi....they were doing fabulous for a few weeks until they went off feed and started to die one by one. Water parameters maintained very consistent of 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, no more than 10ppm nitrate, 8.2pH and high hardness. Tank is scaped with lace rock, manzanita, floating plants, and a thin layer of aragonite sand. I treated the P.saulosi with Prazi Pro as I figured it was some sort of parasite however nothing worked to save them. My last died a few days prior. Their diet was Cichlid Excel, Spirulina Flakes, and Emerald Entree.

As I am kind of ticked about this event I am considering some small CA cichlids for the tank...what would be some suggestions for this kind of setup. I will run it a few weeks without any livestock just to make sure whatever it was should be killed out.

Here is the tank if it matters:
DSC_3003_zpswztore6j.jpg
 
A pair of Honduran red points would look lovely in that tank. Personally I would keep them as the only cichlids in the tank.
I would also add a group of livebearers.
These fish should do well in your water parameters and you will observe some interesting breeding behaviour.
Nice looking set up by the way.
 
I like that suggestion, would HRPs do well with Platties? Also I already have a wild male convict from Rapps...do HRPs vary much in terms of behavior or aggression from cons?
 
I agree with HRPs, or, another smaller Central American choice might be Cryptoheros nanoluteus for that size tank.
Although since you have not really determined what caused the Africans to die, adding new non-throw away fish might "not" be a good idea.
It may have been a bacterial infection, that only antibiotics could cure, and those bacteria may still be in a dormant state in the tank awaiting new fish to infect, so unless the tank and all components were torn down and sanitized, you may have an exact repeat performance soon after adding new fish. Even with many other parasites, a dormant stage is quite normal, and may last for months.
nanoluteus

Honduran Red Point
 
MC4RKiller said:
I like that suggestion, would HRPs do well with Platties? Also I already have a wild male convict from Rapps...do HRPs vary much in terms of behavior or aggression from cons?
Click to expand...
Yes.They will be milder mannered than regular convicts.I would not recommend regular convicts for a tank that size.
Platties,swordtails, mollies and some goodieds will all do fine with hrp's.
 
Hadnt thought about bacterial infection...the Saulosi went off feed, lost weight, and just randomly died. No weird skin patches or coloration....which is why I dubbed it some sort of parasite. Is there a general antibiotic I could dose with while the tank is empty?

I would of course start with the livebearers....Petsmart always has platies on sale so I could toss in a few and see how it goes. I like the C.nanos too....have thought about them for other tanks over the years. I think the HRPs blue would contrast well to platies predominant red/orange/yellow.
 
Dosing a random antibiotic without knowing for sure what the cause, is probably not a good idea. It would probably work to create super bugs if not done right.
And just because symptoms are hidden, doesn't necessarily mean a parasite of a certain type. From your description, it could be a protozoa, or it could be viral (in that case no treatment would be effective), or bacterial (but you'd need to know whether it was a gram+, or gram - organism to determine proper treatment, or, it could be some other affliction altogether.
If it were me, I'd tear down the tank, sanitize it, and everything in it, and start over
Then again, I expect any fish from Walmart to be compromised in some way, so it might not matter.
 
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My Petsmart is actually fairly decent...honestly better than LFS in most cases. They seem to have a good management which keeps the system in check. I got my P.saulosi from TheWetSpot....never had issues with their stock until now.
 
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