Scared To Add New Fish

[tracyw]

I have a 4 foot tank at the moment with 3 Pink convict cichlids in there.

I have been testing the water every other day for Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite

My levels were all down after some daily water changes and they have stayed down

so on Sunday I went out for a visit to LFS and found some Blind Cave Tetras - which i have been told can get big enough and aggressive enough to fit in with the convicts.
I bought home 6 of them and did all the usual floating etc.

I released them into the tank and the cons didn't even acknowledge they were there and were even moving out of the way for them. I fed them before I went to bed and everything was normal.
In the morning there were none of the blind cave tetras left at all. they had all been killed and i pressume eaten as there were no remains anywhere in the tank.

So can someone tell me what I did wrong?

Or are my Cons going to be a nightmare to keep other fish with? If this is going to be the case then I will have to rehome them all.

All future tank stocking is on hold until I can get to the bottom of this.

Thanks in advance for your help,

 

[Wills]

Hi, #41#### that sounds like it might be the convicts - did you get ammonia spikes after you did the tank swap we spoke about before? Not sure what to suggest really as I suspect it might be the same from here on in with other fish if they have taken that attitude to new comers.

What are your water readings at present? I mean even if the new tetras made the water stats spike I dont think that they would have been killed off over night... So I do think it was the cons or bad stock from the shop.

Wills

 

[tracyw]

Levels were all the same on Monday, didn't test Tuesday but am testing tonight

I think it was the cons - if they had died because of bad stock etc then there should be bodies somewhere?
Nothing at all anywhere in there.

Should I rehome all the cons and start again? I just don't want to add more fish for them to become targets for the cons as soon as nightime comes around.

 

[Wills]

Have you searched in the filter (grim as it sounds) just to be sure - how big were the tetras? If they died due to bad quality etc then the cons might have eaten what was left?

Perhaps it is a loosing battle with them though.

Wills

 

[tracyw]

I will search the filter but I think the cons are natural born killers!

They were just over an inch long each - maybe they were still too small to stand any chance,

But when I added them the cons didn't even chase them or anything. I kept a close eye on them all afternoon and was ready to take them out if the cons really bullied them.
By the morning nothing left at all, I even moved the rocks just to make sure.

I'm so unsure what route to take with it all now,

I have a beautiful tank with only 3 fish that probably won't accept any other fish.

Some friends have been suggesting stepping over to the salty side but I'm still not sure,
I could keep the 3 I have at the moment and buy all the bits and pieces I would need to convert to Marine in the next 6 months and then rehome the cons - But who will want to take on fish that can't be in a tank with anything else?!

Confused!!

 

[Wills]

If you want to go marine go for it, I tried it once and it cost me a fortune so had to stop after a month - I spent hundreds of pounds very quickly and sold the tank at a massive loss to me so I am reluctant to try it again especially due to my love of FW fish now

But if you do decide to keep it FW I would perhaps rehome your cons if that is the case, take them back to the LFS and someone will come along and possibly take them to add to an other convict tank or someone who wants just 3 convicts or they might get split and go to decent homes individually.

Then that leaves you with a 4ft tank to stock with what ever takes your fancy just make sure that when you take your cons in you come back with something otherwise the filter bacteria will die while waiting for new fish

Wills

 

[tracyw]

Thanks for your help,

I think that I will have to take the 3 cons back to the LFS and see what else they have there that I like,

Any suggestions for stocking this soon to be empty tank?!