Hi. I seem to have an issue with my two wild Caquetaia Spectabilis.
I believe I have one male and one female and have had these fish for around 3 years with no issues at all (more background info later).
The male started refusing food about a month ago. First he started spitting food out, no matter what food I tried. Then he started refusing to come up to the surface for food. I've not seen him eat for about a month. At the time, the female was still eating fine.
About 2 weeks ago the female stopped eating too. Much the same thing happened. First spitting food out, then not even taking the food. At this time, the fish also paired up. They have paired up and spawned a couple of times but when the eggs went white, the male was kicked out and they stayed at separate ends of the tank. On this occasion they have decided to pair up again, but there has been no spawning, but they are not eating.
They are exhibiting breeding behaviour by defending a bogwood cave but they also swim around the tank together too. BUT... ZERO food being eaten.
The female also hangs around the filter inlet a lot and is often just staring at the pipe or looking directly down at the substrate. Very weird. Almost as if it's guarding eggs!
They visually look fine. No marks, fungus, whitespot and colours are as vibrant as ever. as they have not eaten for so long I was expecting whitespot by now due to stress.
I usually feed a varied diet of 2 different brands/types of Cichlid sticks (Hikari Cichlid Gold and New Life Spectrum) and also live Mealworms. They have always taken both every one to two days with no issues.
So, details of the setup, to help with diagnosis:
Tank is a 700 litre / 185 USG, 6.5ft (2 meter) setup. Other occupants are a single large Tiger Oscar and a very large Sailfin Plec. They have all been in the tank together for the whole time. The Oscar I have had for 6 years and the Plec 7 years roughly. Both these fish are feeding fine and looking well. There is no unusual bullying. No more than normal anyway. There is an established order in the tank. Plec is the boss, Oscar is next in line.. he pushes the C.Specs around but they do not retaliate. they seem to accept he is the dominant fish. There is never any physical contact... always just flaring etc.
Water parameters....
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 10-20 max
pH = 6.0
Temp = 27 degress constant, maintained by 2 x 300w Hydor External Inline heaters with an electronic computer/temp probe in the tank.
I do 50% water changes weekly without fail, using R/O water re-mineralised. I also add Cichlid minerals and vitamins. Never had any other problems in the tank.
Filtration is 1 x FX5 and 1 x Eheim Professional 3e (the biggest one they do)
Minimal decor. Just lots of bogwood and sand substrate.
I have just treated with Melafix today... more out of desparetion because I just don't know what is going on here
Hope someone can shed some light here. I consider myself quite an experienced fishkeeper but this is confusing me. I can only think this is either some sort of internal paracite (but why just affecting these two fish??) or there is bullying going on that I am not seeing (I did try a partition for 2 weeks to keep the Oscar out of the way, but no difference)
Thanks, Stuart
I believe I have one male and one female and have had these fish for around 3 years with no issues at all (more background info later).
The male started refusing food about a month ago. First he started spitting food out, no matter what food I tried. Then he started refusing to come up to the surface for food. I've not seen him eat for about a month. At the time, the female was still eating fine.
About 2 weeks ago the female stopped eating too. Much the same thing happened. First spitting food out, then not even taking the food. At this time, the fish also paired up. They have paired up and spawned a couple of times but when the eggs went white, the male was kicked out and they stayed at separate ends of the tank. On this occasion they have decided to pair up again, but there has been no spawning, but they are not eating.
They are exhibiting breeding behaviour by defending a bogwood cave but they also swim around the tank together too. BUT... ZERO food being eaten.
The female also hangs around the filter inlet a lot and is often just staring at the pipe or looking directly down at the substrate. Very weird. Almost as if it's guarding eggs!
They visually look fine. No marks, fungus, whitespot and colours are as vibrant as ever. as they have not eaten for so long I was expecting whitespot by now due to stress.
I usually feed a varied diet of 2 different brands/types of Cichlid sticks (Hikari Cichlid Gold and New Life Spectrum) and also live Mealworms. They have always taken both every one to two days with no issues.
So, details of the setup, to help with diagnosis:
Tank is a 700 litre / 185 USG, 6.5ft (2 meter) setup. Other occupants are a single large Tiger Oscar and a very large Sailfin Plec. They have all been in the tank together for the whole time. The Oscar I have had for 6 years and the Plec 7 years roughly. Both these fish are feeding fine and looking well. There is no unusual bullying. No more than normal anyway. There is an established order in the tank. Plec is the boss, Oscar is next in line.. he pushes the C.Specs around but they do not retaliate. they seem to accept he is the dominant fish. There is never any physical contact... always just flaring etc.
Water parameters....
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 10-20 max
pH = 6.0
Temp = 27 degress constant, maintained by 2 x 300w Hydor External Inline heaters with an electronic computer/temp probe in the tank.
I do 50% water changes weekly without fail, using R/O water re-mineralised. I also add Cichlid minerals and vitamins. Never had any other problems in the tank.
Filtration is 1 x FX5 and 1 x Eheim Professional 3e (the biggest one they do)
Minimal decor. Just lots of bogwood and sand substrate.
I have just treated with Melafix today... more out of desparetion because I just don't know what is going on here
Hope someone can shed some light here. I consider myself quite an experienced fishkeeper but this is confusing me. I can only think this is either some sort of internal paracite (but why just affecting these two fish??) or there is bullying going on that I am not seeing (I did try a partition for 2 weeks to keep the Oscar out of the way, but no difference)
Thanks, Stuart
