Three Small Cichlid Tanks
- Thread starter Ulu
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Photon is in a nice 20g and his color is coming back nicely overnight.
He is with my pleco Pepper and they seem to be OK together.
The Pleco is getting too big & is supposed to go into a pond with my other ones.
But I gotta dig the pond first . . .
The other fish in the 55 have calmed down, but I am afraid Leeloo is holding again. She didn't eat last night.
I accidentally siphoned up one of the fry and almost poured him down the drain. He stuck to the bin and was saved.
I put some cover in for them and they are all hiding. I only see a couple behind the divider this AM, but they are small enough to sneak out as it seems.
He is with my pleco Pepper and they seem to be OK together.
The Pleco is getting too big & is supposed to go into a pond with my other ones.
But I gotta dig the pond first . . .
The other fish in the 55 have calmed down, but I am afraid Leeloo is holding again. She didn't eat last night.
I accidentally siphoned up one of the fry and almost poured him down the drain. He stuck to the bin and was saved.
I put some cover in for them and they are all hiding. I only see a couple behind the divider this AM, but they are small enough to sneak out as it seems.
In smaller tanks with not so many cichlids, you will have this problem, of the fish on the bottom of the pecking order getting relentlessly bullied. With more fish, the dominant fish's attention will be more equally distributed, and nobody would end up like photon, hopefully. I would recommend getting the 100g for them, and putting all the africans in there, while simultaneously adding a few more. Hopefully this would allow the aggression to not be focused on the fish that are subdominant.
Can you post me a photo?
My intention was to buy him a custom tank, and have a couple tankmates but at the time we were remodeling. Now I am shopping for a bigger tank.
That's kinda how I got here
Get a bigger tank and then add more fish.They were in a 30 housing:
Two 2.5" convicts
One 3.5" bristlenose pleco
Three 3.5" USD cat
One 4" golden mbuna
One 4" mbuna fem
One 3.5" Yellow Lab
One 4" peacock
and
One 4" mbuna (Mojo) who is still in the 30
I moved them to a 55 and added Buttercup, Cromwell, Photon, and Sunshine (now deceased ;( ) in pairs, 2 days apart, moving all the deco around, and it worked. And then, when I fed them, these fish had the audacity to grow! . . . and then vote Sunshine out.
Now I think it all would have worked better with a bare tank and minimal substrate, to prevent turf wars.
I move the stuff far about at each siphoning, and then they all have to go house hunting. But after 2 days they are fighting, and I move it again. Anyhow I had removed Mojo. Last night Photon, and now the fighting abated.
Also I removed all the sand. Buttercup had decided to mine the entire bottom like some atomic dredger, and was just plugging up everything and making a mess. I gave them some natural gravel and pebbles and rocks. He can spit those! LOL
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It appears that 3 fry and most of the snails have survived my evil ministrations to the 55.
When Buttercup dug up the sand last night he just clogged the filters & polluted the entire tank. I thought the fry would croak. I had to strip everything from the tank but fish and divider, and wash off the sand from everything. I tossed the floss and rinsed the bio-rings, and brought in cycled floss from 2 other tanks.
After massive water changes the tank is clearing up from a big bloom, that I initially thought was only silt. I pumped about 100 gals of stinky water onto the garden.
After all that mucking about I took the wife for sushi. That's kinda strange considering our den smelled like a dead shrimp tank all morning.
I picked up a bit more gravel & some wondershells and more pothos. I was going to buy the 100 g Visio that's been sitting at the LFS for $399+$32 tax. but it was gone. More next week he says.
That'll be a nice tank for the mixed cichlids, but I keep wanting to pull the convicts out. They're South Americans so it seems odd. I don't think they will ever be safe with the big red stripeless zebra.
I'll bet he'd grow some stripes if I put him in with Felix.
The title of this should already read "Four Small Cichlid Tanks" and by tomorrow it might be 5.
When Buttercup dug up the sand last night he just clogged the filters & polluted the entire tank. I thought the fry would croak. I had to strip everything from the tank but fish and divider, and wash off the sand from everything. I tossed the floss and rinsed the bio-rings, and brought in cycled floss from 2 other tanks.
After massive water changes the tank is clearing up from a big bloom, that I initially thought was only silt. I pumped about 100 gals of stinky water onto the garden.
After all that mucking about I took the wife for sushi. That's kinda strange considering our den smelled like a dead shrimp tank all morning.
I picked up a bit more gravel & some wondershells and more pothos. I was going to buy the 100 g Visio that's been sitting at the LFS for $399+$32 tax. but it was gone. More next week he says.
That'll be a nice tank for the mixed cichlids, but I keep wanting to pull the convicts out. They're South Americans so it seems odd. I don't think they will ever be safe with the big red stripeless zebra.
I'll bet he'd grow some stripes if I put him in with Felix.
The title of this should already read "Four Small Cichlid Tanks" and by tomorrow it might be 5.
In my first post I neglected to include Sunflower, the 5" yellow Lab, in the 55g stocking. He was rescued in the 30 with the original collection of fish.
Mr. Fancy pants is certainly not a cichlid but he is my prize mutant double tail highfin tetra. He's taking up way too much water, and I think I'm going to restrict him and his lone compatriot, so I can move leeloo into this tank.
I do not think that Leeloo will bother the corydoras or plecostomus but I'm pretty sure she will chase these tetra.
But I think as long as I have a female in that mixed cichlid tank I will have fish killing each other.
Mr. Fancy pants is certainly not a cichlid but he is my prize mutant double tail highfin tetra. He's taking up way too much water, and I think I'm going to restrict him and his lone compatriot, so I can move leeloo into this tank.
I do not think that Leeloo will bother the corydoras or plecostomus but I'm pretty sure she will chase these tetra.
But I think as long as I have a female in that mixed cichlid tank I will have fish killing each other.
This is one of my mini-monster fish, Spike.
I recently cracked his home and had to toss it out in the garage for a terrarium.
He's now living with a big stinky pleco (Pepper) and a very timid blue cichlid (Photon.)
Photon has turned so dark from stress that he may be permanently renamed Darkmatter.
I did a water change on the 55 gallon cichlid tank and it appears that the fry are all gone.
I recently cracked his home and had to toss it out in the garage for a terrarium.
He's now living with a big stinky pleco (Pepper) and a very timid blue cichlid (Photon.)
Photon has turned so dark from stress that he may be permanently renamed Darkmatter.
I did a water change on the 55 gallon cichlid tank and it appears that the fry are all gone.
Well very good news today!!
While I was siphoning the gravel and moving ornaments around in the 55g tank I saw two little yellow fry Still surviving.
I made a tangle of things for them to hide in at one corner of the tank so perhaps they will survive a bit longer.
Right now they are still small enough for any fish in this tank to swallow them whole.
Frankly I am totally amazed these little fish have survived because there have been 3 water changes where I did not notice them at all.
I was also happy to see a little Rhino who does not come out very often.
In other news my anubias in the 30 std has finally bloomed for the second time!
The first time Morton the pleco chewed the blossom up and I expect he will do it again.
While I was siphoning the gravel and moving ornaments around in the 55g tank I saw two little yellow fry Still surviving.
I made a tangle of things for them to hide in at one corner of the tank so perhaps they will survive a bit longer.
Right now they are still small enough for any fish in this tank to swallow them whole.
Frankly I am totally amazed these little fish have survived because there have been 3 water changes where I did not notice them at all.
I was also happy to see a little Rhino who does not come out very often.
In other news my anubias in the 30 std has finally bloomed for the second time!
The first time Morton the pleco chewed the blossom up and I expect he will do it again.
