Killer Festive Cichlid?

[chocolicious]

Starting about mid last week until today , everytime i go to turn my fish tank lights on i notice there is a dead platy floating at the top of the tank and ,my fetive cichlid is sat munching at it. After i take the platy out it looks like he is trying to have a go at my Red phantom tetra's and Black Neons but thankfully i don't see any missing. He also only seems to look like he is going for the fish in that small period of just when i'm waking up to turn the light on and about 10 mins after that, any other time he is fine. But now i am down to two platies , one i bred myself so i don't want to lose them. Is there something wrong with my festive or is there something in my tank?

I've also recently lost a Male fighter, and Angelfish, an albino shark and another festive cichilid in the space of a few months. Do you think my festive has a killers instinct? My tank is going bare and i have no money to replace any fish so i dont want to lose anymore , can anyone help me?

 

[star4]

Hate to say it but it does sound a possibility you do have one very aggressive fish, unfortunately it does happen sometimes, I had a killer plec! your best option is to re-home the festivum. Do you know if its male or female? I would suspect its female and is looking to spawn and with no male in the tank it is picking on the other fish, cant understand why it would kill the other festivum unless that was a female too. Personally I have more trouble with female cichlids than I do with males.

 

[meguro]

sounds like it might be hungry. when ppl go away for 2 weeks they sometimes come back to find all their tetras missing. big fish will eat smaller fish, but only if theyre hungry and/or can catch it.

what are ur water parameters? ammonia and nitrite readings in particular. what filter/s do u have on it? as u have quite a number of fish in a 4ft tank. sure a year ago they were all small and got on fine right? and ur filter would have been managing nicely. but as the fish grow, so does the waste they produce, along with their aggression. all these previous deaths may very well have been the results of poor water stats and/or aggression. but i doubt it is all down to a single fish.