One of my electric yellows is not looking good.

[carey]

Hi
I have a nine gallon tank and it contains:

x6 Platies
x3 Yellow apple snails (decent sized, bigger than any of the fish)
x2 Electric Yellows
x2 Kirbenisis

The platies are full grown and I made a mistake ( I think) buying the electric yellows. They are only small, About 1 inch and the snails are bigger than them! One of them has black fins on the top and bottom with a little dot on the tail near the "drain". The other only has black fins on the top with no spot. The one with black fins and a spot is chasing it around all the time (I know that you can expect this from chichlids) But it appears to have some damage on the breathing plate ( I cannot remember the word for it I feel really stupid) and so does the other one. Now one of the Kirbenis just sort of hovers under the magnet used for cleaning the sides and one of the electric yellows just hovers vertically between the glass and heater. I cannot set up my big tank because my frog lives in it and I don't want to give him away. What can I do. I am worried that they will die and they cost $16 each. ( this is quiet alot of money for a 12 year old that is saving for a copyright for his game) So what do I do?

If you can help me PLEASE HELP ME!

Carey

 

[semper fi]

the spots near the "drain" or on the anal fin are called egg spots or dummy spots. females supposedly have one or none and the males have three or more. mbuna need to be kept in groups of one male with three females to keep the aggression down. the only effective way to sex fish is to vent.

if i was you, i would see if the lfs would take back the yellows. they will only bully the other fish.

maggie

 

[mostanks]

the way i see it carey,you have 2 options
1-give/sell the yellows to an lfs or friend coz they need more space for territory,that 9 gallon will only stress them out and make things worse.

2-depending on the size of your frog,swap tanks

also the elctric yellow are malawi cichlids and their water should be very hard (ph 7.8 or higher)they grow to about 4"s and although they are "less agressive" than most malawis they can be still very territorial ime.

imo your 9g tank is overstocked and thats proly why they are acting like this.


btw-what kind of game are you gettin a copyright for?ps2?sorry i'm just curious

 

[carey]

Thanks for your help.
I really am not allowed to setup the frog tank as a fish tank. The electric yellows onlky chase each other but leave the platies alone?. I think that I have 2 females now. I can't give them to a friend because I don't know anyone who keeps fish except one person that will not want them. O the copyright for my game is a game I have made. Its a computer game.

You can read about it at My Homepage, (some of the links that go out of the site might go to porn, this is the server )

I cannot take them back because my parents wonj't drive me and I am only twelve so I can't drive. Tehy won't let my setup the frog tank as a fish tank because the frog is full grown and needs the space. What can I do?

PS: The fish shop had alot more of them all in one small tank and they were all fine??

 

[semper fi]

because they had all of one species in one tank. mbuna are better kept overstocked imo. they are less aggressive and the ratio of males to females was better also. another trick to keeping mbuna. most of the lakes can be mixed to some extent, but would not reccommend mixing the mbuna in with nonmbuna fish. the aggression level is too high.

maggie

 

[carey]

What should I do then?
Get MORE?!?

 

[semper fi]

i would seperate them from the rest of the fish. either get them a tank of their own or get rid of them. by giving them to someone else who can have the adequate space for them. you are pretty much maxed out on the nine gallon even without them in there.

maggie

 

[cichlidmaster]

Carey,

I understand the situation your in and can sympathise with you.

At this point the only thing that may help is to start loading the tank with little hiding spots such as small pieces of plastic piping or numerous rocks forming little caves.

This will give the fish being beat on a place to hide.

When a fish flattens itself out at the surface of the water it is attempting to hide, but this is futile as the aggressor will simply keep attacking it. By providing hiding spots the fish will have an opportunity to relaxe a bit.

Even a few tiny clay flower pots from say home depot or a nursery will help. If you get the pots, very carefully knock a small hole in the side of them (just big enough for the fish to enter through) with a hammer and lay them with the large opening down in the gravel. This will leave only the tiny hole in the bottom and the hole you put in it for the fish to have to guard. Much better than being out in the open!!

This should heklp for awhile at least!!

Keep us posted and let us know how everything is going.

Eventually you will either have to give them up or get a bigger tank as these fish will not survive in a 9 gallon tank.

CM

 

[carey]

Thanks,
I considered this idea today, and was going to try it until my twin came home with a ew huge fake plants. I put these around the heater and moved the bog wood to from a few little caves next to the glass and one cave only accessable if the fish swims sideways against the gravel (the fish has already done this a few times) and I also made two bigger caves with rocks leaning against the wall and supported by the bubble wall. The dominated Kirb is happier as well. But how big will the yellows grow? I should have asked but the guy was hurrying and he had spent 5 minutes trying to catch the second one, this was amusing to see, he was getting frustrated but wanted the $$. I will probably have to end up putting the big frog in my pond and setting up the bigger tank, It is about 25 gallons. Thanks for your help everyone!

O and I remembered the name for the breathing plate- A gill how simple!

 

[cichlidmaster]

Your yellows can grow to 4-4.5" or so!!

Although this is not huge, it is large given the fishes propensity for aggressive outbursts!!!!!!

I have kept many groups of electric yellows under many differwent conditions and to be honest have yet to have good luck in keeping them from killing each other!!

Some others I know keep a trio or quad in a 29 gallon tank without any problems at all!!

All depends on the individual fish I guess, but a 9 gallon tank is really to small to keep these when adult.

CM

 

[carey]

Thanks for that.
The last couple of hours they have really settled down. It can swim it its heater-cave thingy with the plants around it with out being chased or attacked by the other one. Thanks for your help.

Carey

 

[sgtbirch]

you sound pretty smart for a 12 yr old!!

 

[carey]

you sound pretty smart for a 12 yr old!!

Thanks, don't under-estimate childern, heh.