Dead Demonosai

[TreesSZ]

Yesterday I found my tinyest demonsai dead, bobbing around the filter. Prior to this he/she was slowly moving around but very dark in colour. Any ideas or natural causes?

 

[Ferris]

Sorry to hear that.

Demasoni are sadly not very hardy fish, especially by Mbuna standards. Water parameters need to be absolutely spot on for them. They can also be fussy eaters so a good varied diet is essential.

 

[TreesSZ]

Plenty in their diet. Peas, cucumber, mbuna flake and frozen mbuna food (not on the same day!!!). Water PH could be a smidge higher I suppose. I heard you can use bicarb of soda to do this. Is this possible? Cheers for further advice ferris. Water is crystal clear now by the way

Thought about adding another punchy fish to replace him. The LFS mentioned something called an 'electra' any Ideas about this fish?

 

[Ferris]

What is your Ph at the moment? You can add bicarb to increase it but once you start down that road, it's a nightmare to keep it stable, i personally wouldn't risk it.

You would be much better adding some crushed coral or more rocks and do it the natural way IMO.

I've known many fish referred to as "electra", could be a Johanni or maybe Placidochromis electra, the latter being a fairly large Hap only suitable for larger tanks.

 

[TreesSZ]

I will follow your tried and tested advice Ferris, it has never steered me wrong before. Will LFS have said coral? (Ph just shy of 8)

I also now have photos but having difficulty getting them on putfile because of restriction set on our cpu sytem (im in a boarding house). any other methods?

 

[Ferris]

Not all LFS have crushed coral but it's not too hard to get hold of. Most Mbuna available these days are tank/farm reared in a much lower Ph than lake Malawi and it isn't therefore neccessary to get it as high as 8. Mine is and always has been 7.5 and i've never had any problems and wouldn't anticipate any unless i started looking at wild caught fish, which are extremely rare in the UK anyway.

Not sure i can help with the photo's as i always use a hosting service like putfile.

 

[TreesSZ]

Not sure i can help with the photo's as i always use a hosting service like putfile.

I'll keep trying. Got one fish, not sur what it really is but I'll try with a description (here goes)

Long body yellow tipped fins, black body, blue narrow stripe running down the middle. forward facing mouth like a lab. Quite angular body. similar fin set up to a demonosai. Any clues?

 

[Ferris]

Could be a male Auratus, does it look like this?....

Male Auratus

They are really vicious by the way and are best kept in a species only tank, i'm not exaggerating, these guys are killers.

 

[Xebadir]

If its an auratus run for cover These guys are so nasty and really should be avoided at all costs.

 

[TreesSZ]

Could be a male Auratus, does it look like this?....

Male Auratus

They are really vicious by the way and are best kept in a species only tank, i'm not exaggerating, these guys are killers.

Nope its not one of those. more black less brown on top and its quite placid. begins with a 'C' if I remember rightly chitimbu? chitamba? really cant remember.