Who's Killing My Cichlid's

[saulgonzalez210]

i haves a 4o gal tank with now 3 kenyi 1 red zebra 1 yellow lab and a johanni and a pleco.1 of my kenyi is all bite up missing tail and has small chunk's missing from he's body.had 2 more dead all chewed up is the pleco killing them or a kenyi?

 

[SPIKE88]

Its probably not the pleco. they are not really bitters. If they are big enough they will swallow just about anything that fits in their mouth, though they would do this at night when the lights are out

 

[mamafish68]

My guess is when buying your fish you didnt take into account zebras are one nasty mean fish and Johans are just as nasty.
It sure isnt the lab or the pleco..
isolate the two mentioned and see what happens.

 

[freddyk]

All of the fish you have chosen are quite aggressive, the Kenyi with a reputation as ruthless. and my guess is that it's them doing it to each other, though it could be the zebra too. I doubt it's the Johanni and I'm sure it's not the pleco.

Your biggest problem as it stands is that you only have 7 very aggressive mbuna and they'll just continue to be picked off unless you overstock the tank. Read the pinned artical for tips on dealing with aggression.

 

[saulgonzalez210]

All of the fish you have chosen are quite aggressive, the Kenyi with a reputation as ruthless. and my guess is that it's them doing it to each other, though it could be the zebra too. I doubt it's the Johanni and I'm sure it's not the pleco.

Your biggest problem as it stands is that you only have 7 very aggressive mbuna and they'll just continue to be picked off unless you overstock the tank. Read the pinned artical for tips on dealing with aggression.

thanks guy's guess i need to hit the lfs and buy more fish.overstocking will help but how many is overstocking for a 40 gal with a penguin 330 as filtration and a 100w heater.

 

[freddyk]

What are the dimensions of your 40 gallon? If it's a 4 foot tank then consider about 4-5 for each species, with only one male (if you can't sex them yet at the store you may need to get extra juveniles to make sure you get enough females). Then the chances are higher that they'll keep their aggression among their own and there'll be a few specimens to spread the aggression.

If the tank is less then 4 feet I'd reconsider the species chosen entirely and go with milder types.