Please Hlep Me - Crisis!

[dasparado]

Hi, Ill try to be brief, my ex-girlfriend bought 4 African cichlids a few months ago. She is away on business alot so they were staying with me. One of the fish named Phoenix was extremely agressive, (tank was only 20 gallons) and bullied the others but one in particular. This fish named Fred stopped eating and had his tail bitten in many places.

I had another 20 gallon tank at my place so I set it up and tried to make the water as ideal as possilble, got a few decorations, etc. Anyway I didnt think Fred would make it as in the past if one of fish stopped eating, that was usually it. But Fred did recover and started doing very well which pleased me greatly.

Anyway here is my problem, this morning I awoke and went to feed all the fish, but in Freds tank there was more than just Fred, there were 10-15 tiny blue baby cichlids!!! I was shocked!, I had always thought the pet stores only sold females, guess that was just in Betas? So anyway I dont know how to take care of babies! I went up to the petsmart ang got some of this liquid baby fish food. I tried to give them that today though I cant really tell if there eating or not as they are so little. The people at the store told me that the mother would eat her young (guess I got to rename Fred huh), and to separate them. But I just cant justify buying a 4th tank and setting it up (I have a turtle in a 65 gallon as well), and if I put the mom back with the others, im afraid she just get bullied again or this scenario will repeat itself.

Please if anyone knows what I should do about this, please tell me, as Im lost.

Thanks alot
Scott

 

[miriormsby]

Hi, Got round this problem by hanging a breeding net on the side of the tank and buying a small fishing net.
Worked wonders and the other fish cant get to them.

 

[Krib Crazy]

I had got some of that food and the petsmart people said that they absorb the food or something like that but it really does work i can vouch for that.

 

[mamafish68]

If your putting the fry in the net your taking the chance of other fish sucking them thru the net, atleast trying to and killing them.
If their hybrids I suggest offing the fry and keeping the female seperate. If their NOT hybrids, well. ...
theres not much to do. Either put her back in w/ the big boys orleave her in with the fry, it's been my experience she will NOT eat the fry. She's carried them this far.

 

[keane]

Hi,

Quite difficult without knowing what sort of African cichlids they are, however I will assume Lake Malawi at this stage.

Questions: -

I have assumed Malawi but do you have any idea what sotr of African cichlids they are?
Are they all the same breed? Are they all different? Is there a mix?
How big are they? (They are obviously not juvies if they are spawning

Firstly, the 20 gallon tank is way too small IMO. If You/Your girlfriend need to get a bigger tank. Not because of the fry but because you will end up with dead fish on your hands sooner rather than later if you dont. This is no doubt part of the reason why "Phoenix" has been overly aggressive (not enough territorial space, stress, no room for the less aggressive fish to escape to).

I would say a minimum of a 30 (long) gallon tank is required for this number of Malawis but would recommend bigger. 55 gallons is a better size.

Are any of the fish in the other tank the same breed as "Fred"??

If you do (and i really suggest you do!) get the bigger tank then I wouldn't worry too much about putting Fred back in. The probable reason she wasn't feeding was because she had the eggs in her mouth and was unable to. (these fish are known as Mouthbrooders). With a bigger tank the aggression should be far less as well.

Just keep her well fed for a couple of days in the same tank as the fry. This will serve two purposes. First, it will build her strength back up after a probable three or more weeks of not eating. Second, it will keep her from being hungry and hopefully delay her from eating her fry (i had my female Auratus in with 20+ fry for nearly a week. Just made sure she was well fed and she left the fry alone).

steve

 

[dasparado]

Well heres an update...

Ok so I got Fred the mom and her fry in one 20 gallon tank. I went to the pet store and got some liquid food and decorations (roman theme) with many places to hide. The last 3 days ive fed mom and babies 3 times a day, crushed flakes morning and night, and liquied food in afternoon (im not sure if there actually eating it so I feed them a mix) The babies are able to eat the crushed flakes.

I havnt seen Fred eat any of her babies, or go after them at all for that matter, but the babies are very good at hiding, they are quite cute. She might have gotton a few as it seems like there not as many, only seen 5 or 6 at any given time, but then again theres a ton of places for them to hide now and they are real good at it, only come out to eat.

As far as the other 20 gallon tank. Yes now there are two algae eaters in there (dont know why my gf has them in there at all). The algae eaters are more like decoaration though, they never move really and totally are ignored. So I got 3 left in there ; Phoenix the bully (hes named Phoenix because my GF had another fish that lives to be 7 years old, the toughest and meanest African cichlid I ever saw, I mean that guy (named Piglet) lived through so much stuf I could write a book on it, anyway this fish is orange as well and acts just like him), and 2 others. I dont know what they are as I know nothing about the species, just that they are all African cichlids. Phoneix and Fred look similiar, have some circles on their bottom fin and are sleek baracuda looking.

Anyway, one of the fish seems to deal with Phoneix well, just brushes hium off and seems healthy. The other one is not doing well, physically bigger than Phoniex but still is bullied. Hes got a number of nicks in his back fin and now he has fin rot. Today he didnt eat his food. I went to petsmart and got a tank divider. Now phoniex and one algea eater is on 1 side, other 2 on the other. The fin rot fish will probably die, but at least he is in peace, and I do clean my tanks regulary.

I know I should get them a bigger tank, I told my gf dont get more than 2, she never listens. Right now I have 2 20 gallon tanks with 3 cichlids in one, a cichlid and 10 or so babies, and a 60 gallon tank with a failry large red-ear slider. Lol im done with tanks, they take enough of my time as it is.

I figure Ill leave mom with babies and let nature decides what happens. Because lets face it, if all 10-12 grew big, that would be bad, I have no clue what I would do with that many. But I will give them a fighting chance, I feed them regulary and keep the tank in good condition.

Any advice for the fin rot fish, Ive seen this before and never seen one get over it?

 

[Soaup]

If there is no counterpart that looks like Freds mate i mean such that they are different types of cichlids then off the fry let fred eat them its good protein and will be a nice snack. If you wish on putting fred back in with the others and worry about fred being beaten. You should maybe try to go to the pet store and buy another female or two. That would eleviate some of the aggression towards fred each fish will take a smaller equal beating.