Why do I always lose my African's? HELP!
- Thread starter sledge760
- Start date
As I said, if the mbuna are small at the time of putting them in with the Aulonocara it could work. I would never do it as the price of Aulonocara to that of mbuna does not warrant giving them the added risk of being stressed to death by whatever mbuna.
All I am trying to say is the Aulonocara is known to be a far less aggressive and far less hardy fish than your average mbuna and mbuna tend to have attitude.
When it comes to Temperature never let your temperature go above
32C. The fish die off rather rapidly above this temperature. Told to me by a chap who breeds, big time, and also lecture on fish. Too hot is far worse than cold.
All I am trying to say is the Aulonocara is known to be a far less aggressive and far less hardy fish than your average mbuna and mbuna tend to have attitude.
When it comes to Temperature never let your temperature go above
32C. The fish die off rather rapidly above this temperature. Told to me by a chap who breeds, big time, and also lecture on fish. Too hot is far worse than cold.
I didn't bother reading the entire thread.. but heres a few things you should do research on..
Aggression levels of different types of Africans (aulonocara vs. mbuna)
GH, and KH.. the different types of hardness' and why they are so important to Africans. (Crushed Coral dosn't provide the same chemical makeup that say.. Seachem's Rift Lake Salt would provide)
Osmoregulation
Might also think about looking into to purifying your water of bad minerals like copper and zinc, with a resin like Chemi-pure or Purigen.
I lost a handful of Brichardi's twice in a row, got real mad at the pet store.. Back in the novice days. I had a small chunk of driftwood in the water. Africans + Acid = Dead African.
Aggression levels of different types of Africans (aulonocara vs. mbuna)
GH, and KH.. the different types of hardness' and why they are so important to Africans. (Crushed Coral dosn't provide the same chemical makeup that say.. Seachem's Rift Lake Salt would provide)
Osmoregulation
Might also think about looking into to purifying your water of bad minerals like copper and zinc, with a resin like Chemi-pure or Purigen.
I lost a handful of Brichardi's twice in a row, got real mad at the pet store.. Back in the novice days. I had a small chunk of driftwood in the water. Africans + Acid = Dead African.
mike dunagan;1034900; said:
I would have to disagree. pH is not an issue with most fish as they are highly adaptable to a wide range of parameters, depending on the fish and where it came from. Wild fish tend to be less adaptable, compared to fish that have been captive bred.
pH and especially the different types of hardness is an issue with African Cichlids, however. Even if Captive Bred, having a low amount of dissolved solids in the tank will put a strain on the osmoregulation system of a fish. The crushed coral in your Fx5 could give you the appearance that your pH is very high, and your water is very hard.. However, this might not be the right combination of dissolved solids for your fish to osmoregulate comfortably.
There are 3 different types of hardness.. However I am no expert in this field. I just understand that you can add buffers to give your water the appearance of having a high pH and hard water, with it actually being very depleted in the appropriate dissolved solids. Chemical additives like 'RO Right' and 'Rift Lake Buffer' will help immensely if this is your problem.. Along with aquarium salt.
From personal experience, many fish can live outside their desired pH range.. but in every instance in which an African cichlid (thousands of year of wild generations derived from very hard water) is taken from this hard water, or depleted of dissolved solids, it suffers and dies 'mysteriously' quite quickly..
Referring to my previous post about the Brichardi's and the driftwood, I see alot of customers fail to inform me they are on well water.. and although their pH tests in the range of 7.8+, which should be great for Africans, the africans die over and over. Only adding a rift lake specific buffer solved the issue.
Hope that helps..
(I would still point fingers at aggression first though.. do you re-arrange decor upon addition and/or add multiples of 3+ in order to spread out aggression? Adding a single fish in a tank full of established africans with-out making them re-establish their territory through scenery change could be your problem too.)
As a side note regarding aggression and adding new fish:
When ever I add fish, (one or more), I always do a rock re-arrange. It throws everyone off and they do not even know that there is a newbie in the tank.
It was good that that was brought up.
Also a point, that some of the fish stores may be getting fish from the same source. I never thought of that. Still very "ify" idea.
When ever I add fish, (one or more), I always do a rock re-arrange. It throws everyone off and they do not even know that there is a newbie in the tank.
It was good that that was brought up.
Also a point, that some of the fish stores may be getting fish from the same source. I never thought of that. Still very "ify" idea.
Sorry for not updating yesterday. My work laptop died. Went home last night, another loss. The A. stuartgranti was dead laying at the back of one of the rocks. It looked like he dead for most of the day. He was eating well the night before with no signs of if sickness. Today, dead as could be. He was a freebie which is the only reason he was in with mbuna. I never saw any of them chasing after him. I took everyone's advice and took out all the rock last night and added 10 or so tufa rock that I had from before. Changed some of the water also.
The only fish left are:
1 Orange Zebra (M. estherae)
1 Nimbochromis Fuscotaeniatus
4x Red Zebra (M. estherae)
The only fish left are:
1 Orange Zebra (M. estherae)
1 Nimbochromis Fuscotaeniatus
4x Red Zebra (M. estherae)
The idea that fish all came from the same source is most likely not Ify... No matter where you live the petstores can not create fish from the air... They have to get there stock somewhere... sometimes they will get it from a local breeder, but often not so... Most will get there fish from a distributor. There are only a few places that you can get them from in an area. Most distributors focus on certain types of fish and usually one in the area will be best for cichlids. That will most likely be the one that everyone in the area gets their fish from. In my area almost everyone gets their africans from the same source. Everyone else gets it from a distributor in the city... so it is likely that they came from the same place...
Hammerhead;1033645; said:
I forgot to mention that all of my fish that died were found the following morning except one, which I caught and transferred to a 2nd tank of similar if not the same constitution, only to see him die within hours. I caught him because he was near death anyway. Before the lights went out at night, all appeared to be fine. I also forgot to mention that my fish that died did not have fin loss ... only those that survived. I thought that was strange at first until I think I figured out what was going on.
The fish that were terrorized could not hide in the holey rock and other caves because the red zebras could access those regions, being of similar size. Instead of hiding in the rock those targeted scurried into corners, at the top, and up around the spray bars. I saw the red zebras torpedo these fish and didn't initially recognize what was going on. I think most of this severe torpedo-ing may have happened when the lights were off at night. I didn't see any outward physical problems with these dead fish, which led me to believe there may have been internal trauma. I watched for about 30-minutes one night and could see the red zebras activily darting around the tank and could not see the others. Most of that activity I'm sure was the male chasing the female, but both of them have been caught in the act of high aggression towards the others.
It has been two weeks since I have removed my zebras and I have added 7 fish since that time and not a single loss. My tank is wonderful!
I don't want to harp on a single source as a possibility, but I noticed in your last post that you are down to 5 zebras and 1 Nimbo-. I would still keep this possibility in the back of your mind.
Rod
well, here is an opposite story to yours... I have a 135... in it I have OB red zebra, 3 Ice Blue males, 1 red male, and 2 red/orange females... I also have a crap ton of other mbuna in the tank... in the 3 months that I have had all these in their new tank at the new house...(were all in a 55, a few 29s prior) I have only lost one fish a large yellow lab... I believe he was killed, but I have not lost one since... I also have four different fish holding... and the other males are spawning, just no females for them...
sledge760;1033820; said:
Just because it was cycled once doesn't mean something didn't stir up a mini cycle... Why is it Fresh Water people have no concept of mini cycles ? As a Salt water keeper we FEAR them, they can happen.
Anytime you stur up the bottom you will get something. I once moved an established tank, upon setting it back up testing all the water (Was fine, according to the tests) I put the fish in, drip acclimation. Ammonia burn, Severe ammonia burn.
Even after their death, no trace amounts of ammonia in the water. It could be gunk from anywhere hurting the tank.
Also yes, some people dont seem to get your fish were dying BEFORE you added your toxic rocks of doom (Which they probably are) and they are hung up on it (For good reason) but be that as it may... they most certainly aren't HELPING the problem in ANY way.
Take that **** out, instantly.
