Malawi Prob

[stevek77]

hi all i put 2 Pseudotropheus Demasoni in my tank along with 10 other mixed malawi. yellow top hongis and yellow labs etc but the following day one demasoni was dead and the other is just laying down (upright) on the bottom he/she does move when fish pass but its not eating, its been a week now and no change, theres no marks on it and its been like that since they both went in all other fish are fine and lively even tho they went in together water parameters are fine always have been, so whats wrong with he/she? do demasoni require diff water parameters? or is it a bad batch any help cause i love the colours of the demasoni but im worried if i put another 2 in now they would get bullied as new comers? HELP PLS

 

[rifty]

demonsoni can be very agressive towards each other they may have done each over in or like you said they may have been in a poor quality tank before you got them

 

[stevek77]

is there anything i can do to make it at least eat? feeding them on nls pellets at the moment but its just not interested it seems a shame to lose it as its about 5" and a real beauty

 

[minnnt]

Pretty sure Demasoni don't reach 5"...

Any number of things could be causing it. What size/temperament are the other fish? Ideally you should have placed it in a quarenteen tank for a couple of weeks to see if anything developed. It may have internal parasites. Does its belly look sunken at all mate?

 

[stevek77]

no nothing the only noticeable thing is hes breathing slightly quicker then the other fish but hes hiding most of the time in the rocks but like i said the other fish just ignore him no fin flare or chasing its almost like hes not there?, and he's been like that since they went in all his fins are good no nips or rips, colouration is good, just not swimming unless he has too mainly when a synodontis pushes him out, every morning i come down expecting to see him belly up but he's still going?, do you think i should get more in to see if that will draw him out?

 

[minnnt]

Very strange indeed mate. Maybe adding another 2 would work, but I would have thought he would be out and about if he isn't getting any grief from the others.

 

[rifty]

serious add more fish to a tank with an unknown problem? again poor advice! sounds like stress dont add more demonsoni until he settles just do waterchanges daily adding conditioner and monitor him

 

[minnnt]

What is your problem with me? The fish has been in the tank for well over a week and nothing has developed, no illness, no signs of disease and no injuries have become apparent. If he is stressed the adding a couple more of the same breed may entice the fish out and give it more confidence. The rest of the fish are fine, so adding two more would make no difference at all. If it works then hey presto, if not then at least you have two more nice fish to add to your collection. If you could source them from another breeder or lfs then that would be best.

 

[rifty]

do you keep demonsoni minnnt? no problem with you but find your advice poor in regards to this type of fish i keep 16 malawi tanks and have kept most types over the last 7 or so years. demonsoni are a very agressive fish best as a single example or very large groups to break up fighting adding 2 fish is not the done thing with this type

 

[minnnt]

No I don't have demasoni but I did consider a species tank so researched them quite a bit. I read a fair few posts on various forums where people had small groups of demasoni within a community and they reported no major issues. People try different things, sometimes it works, sometimes it dont. All fish are different. The one in question is not fine on its own within a community and is showing no signs of ill health. What else would you suggest?

 

[rifty]

although the fish is showing no signs of external illness it is behaving like an ill fish so perhaps its not a visable illness, also bearing in mind another demonsoni died and not other fish have been effected maybe it has not taken a hold of this fish was less effected? any tank showing fish exibiting signs of illness or stress would be an unwise idea to add more fish until the route of the problem is discovered and considering demonsoni are so agressive adding more would definatly be the end of this one.

 

[minnnt]

Ok, very sorry for my poor advice.

 

[Dieses Madchen]

I think that the initial problem probably was started by the low numbers of the species to begin with. DOing a lot of research as I to, wanted to do a demosani spec. tank, 2 in a tank of other cichlids simply isn't ideal. Any chance that these little guys tried to to tango with the other and just got their feelings hurt due to low numbers?