PetCentralNotObsessed

I was given 3 full grown African cichilds (about 4"), was told they were all between 1 and two years old, they came with a 55 gal tank I purchased. I moved them to a 75 gallon tank, seeded with a lot of water from their original tank. Water quality is good - amonia = 0, pH = 8.0, slight salinity. I've been trying to maintain their water conditions per their previous owners gave instructions as to what they did. They sent Kent Liquid Cichild Chemistry. They seemed to do great for about a month. One yellow fish hid all the time, but seemed healthy otherwise. In recent weeks I noticed the yellow fish (with black fins top & bottom) was becoming discolored, a few of his scales near his head and on his back turning darker or gray. Its getting worse and worse, he is now turning a greyish/green color and seems kind of translucent. I don't see him eating much, but then I never did, he was always in hiding. In addition, the other 2 cichlids in the tank have started picking on him, chasing and harassing big time. I decided to temporarily remove the two harassers, add more caves/hiding places in the tank, and give the yellow fish a day to get to know some new hiding places by himself and maybe be able to calm down and regain some health. There is a school of 5 tiger barbs in the tank, and a Jule, which seem to do fine and not bother anyone else.

In their temporary overnight home (realize now this combo/size tank was a mistake), one of the two former harassers, a bright orange one, started severly harassing his blue striped tankmate. I just finished acclimating the blue fish back to the 75 tank and have just put him back in. Blue and yellow don't seem to know each other are both in there yet. Are these bright orange cichlids extreme aggressors?

Any advice would be appreciated. I don't know what to do next. Orange fish is happily swimming in his temporary 10 gallon home. Blue and yellow fish are both in the 75, listing and stunned. I feel bad and I am worried about losing both of them.

I also have a 30 gallon tank with 6 assorted baby cichlids that I have had since before I inherited these large full grown ones. They include a bright orange one whose growth has outpaced the rest and he is dominant. They all seem healthy and fairly relaxed..

Next question - can you mix sizes of cichlids? I'm running out of tanks. What can go in with this large orange cichlid? Is there an ideal number of cichlids to have in a tank? What if I added the 6 small cichlids to the 75 with the large yellow and the large blue striped cichlid (assuming they survive), would that work? Then I could move the large orange to the 30 gal. tank.

namehater

sounds to me like you need to get some females in the tank to help calm the fish that you have. you want 3-4 females for every male of each species.

as for the yellow (lab?) slight color variation is normal. my alpha yellow lab has very dark fins and lots of black/gray around his face.

jdhef

Welcome to FishLore!

I know very little about Cichlids.

My biggest recommendation to you would be to re-post this in the Cichlid forum on this site (or maybe a mod can move it there). You will get much better help in that section.

Steve420

It would probably help if you could get some pics up of the fish in question. There are quite a few different Cichlids out there and just mentioning the color of the fish is pretty vague.
If you could get a pic or two of the fish, one of the Cichlid experts can chime in and let you know how "compatable" they really are.

With my limited knowledge of Cichilds, I'm wondering if you have a mix of American and African species? My understanding is that Africans only tolerate other Africans. Mixing Africans with other fish is just a recipie for disaster.

bolivianbaby

Welcome to Fishlore! What are your water parameters on the african tank? Could you provide a list of what you have in each tank? If you could post pics of the fish you have, we could help you identify your african cichlids and help you with any compatibility issues you may be having.

PetCentralNotObsessed

Thank you all for your offers of help so far. I was feeling pretty desparate last night. I will be taking pictures today after work and posting them hopefully by tomorrow. This morning everything was status quo. Yellow and blue fish seemed ok in the 75 gal tank together, aggressive orange fish is still isolated in a temporary tank.

I will work on posting stats and parameters for all of our tanks. I am a beginner. My husband is getting back into the hobby. He, at one time, bred tropical fish (Angels & Discus), he had a [heated] room with 26 tanks and pipe system for water changes. He was unavailable for help and questions last night when I knew I had to move some fish. Again, I really appreciate the help and support.

PetCentralNotObsessed

Update: the blue fish died. The orange fish is back w the yellow in the 75. They seem to be getting along, orange is not attacking yellow. I removed the school of tiger barbs, they were being obnoxious and I don't think they were harmless after all. (5 tiger barbs anyone?) I plan to give them back to pet store tomorrow. Tank now contains 4 fish: orange cichlid, yellow cichlid, large pleco, jule. Did water tests using API kit: amonia 0, ph 7.9 before partial water change, nitrites 0, nitrates 8 PPM. Yellow fish is not eating. I have pictures but I don't know how to post them yet. I will list livestock of all of our 7 tanks. Still finding my way around this site. Tank 1, 75 gal, see above. Tank 2, 75 gal, 3 albino tiger oscars, 2 plecos. Tank 3, 55 gal, 3 tiger oscars. Tank 4, 30 gal, 6 baby african cichlids, 1 small pleco, 1 chinese algae eater. Tank 5, 20 gal, 1 ea: chinese algea eater, cherry barb, rosie barb, lf rosie barb, tin foil barb, 2 small plecos. Tank 6, 10 gal, gobe dragon and a few feeder fish (guppies)/ tank 7, 10 gal, isolation or spare tank, housing 5 tiger barbs tonight.

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore!!
im sorry for your loss of your cichlid
heres a great site to help you with stocking the african tank http://www.cichlid-forum.com/article...cutter_75g.php
african cichlids are a hoot and a ton of fun but can be a species only tank..meaning nothing but african cichlids.....that link will show you a bunch of different you can go with ...id have at least 20 or more fish in there..depending on what species you like...and 1m/3-4f as others suggested....tons of rocks and caves for hiding spots is a must also...good luck!

bolivianbaby

I'm so sorry you lost your blue african.

I have african cichlids in my 75g. It is usually recommended to have at least 3-4 of each species and to overstock the tank in order to keep the aggression down. Rough estimate, I have around 25-30 africans in my 75g. I'll be adding another 10-12 when my baby africans grow out.

I hope this helps get you started in getting this resolved. Keep us posted on the progress of the tank.

Shawnie

I didnt read where there were a problem with the oscars did i miss something with my brunette moment again?

bolivianbaby

No, you didn't miss anything. I just had a parental moment myself I edited it so I wouldn't confuse the whole forum

Shawnie

LOVE your parental moments

PetCentralNotObsessed

My 30 gal tank with young african cichlids is gorgeous and their behaviors are hilarious to watch. We really enjoy it. What about moving these small ones in with the large cichlids (after verifying compatibility of their types), would that be bad? The yellow cichlid was still hanging in there this morning, I hope he makes it.

bolivianbaby

How big are the baby africans? And how big are the adults? If the babies are too big to be eaten, then you should be fine.

Shawnie

I hope he makes it too!!!!!!!!
depending on the size of yoru smaller cichlids to your bigger ones, depends on moving them...I let all my fry be raised with the adults but I have a ton of hiding spots .....if you can accommodate that, id move them if they are not going to fit in the others mouth...it might even perk up the others by having something to chase and keep them active...do you know your ammonia, nitrites, and nitrate readings on the tank? making sure its cycled is very important

PetCentralNotObsessed

The only problem with our six oscars is that they are pigs and beg for food constantly. Not to mention they are the reason we have so many tanks, they have terrorized a few (former) tank mates. Other than that, they are highly interactive and enjoyable, we have raised them from babies.

DRock914

Do you have 6 Oscars in one tank? It sounds like your yellow African is a Labidochromis since it has black on the top and bottom. I suggest you get some female labs too. The way you can tell is the females will have very little if any black coloring along the top. Adding females has calmed down the dominant lab in my house. The orange fish could be a zebra but I can't be positive without seeing pictures.

Shawnie

that would be my ultimate tank!!!!!!!!!!!! but if you read above, he has his tanks listed not all in one

bolivianbaby

Then you'd have oscar spawns as well

DRock914

Oh ok I must have skipped over that. I was going to say that tank must get dirty fast.

PetCentralNotObsessed

The smallest of the small cichlids (about 2" in length or a little less) may be small enough to fit in the mouths of the large cichilds. I should probably wait to move the two smallest ones. But I'm thinking of possibly moving the 4 largest youths to the 75 gal tank w/ the large cichlids after we see if the big yellow guy is going to be ok or not, I'm trying to just let him rest and not be bothered for now. Either that or we can just stock the 75 from the pet store, it sounds like we could and should put a lot more fish in there.

I wish we had all 6 oscars in one tank, but we separated 3 albino tigers from 3 regular (orange and black) tigers because the albinos seemed a lot less aggressive, weren't getting nearly as much food, and were being rapidly outpaced in growth. I'm hoping when they're all fully grown, they can all be together in one big tank.

Shawnie

a 75g tank WONT hold 2 oscars at full grown adults....2 adults need at least 120g ...seeing how that is the biggest tank you have, it probably wont happen and eventually you are going to have to rethink you tank situations with all the oscars you have...or rehome them

albinos are just as agressive but the fems are less agressive..so maybe you have a bunch of gals....

PetCentralNotObsessed

We are already planning to get a 130 or 150 gallon tank next year. Then that's it, I swear. (Everytime we've added a tank, that's what I've said.) Was hoping to have all 6 oscars in one large tank, but I realize that may not be realistic, they may have to be in 2 or 3 tanks.

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PetCentralNotObsessed

Here are some pictures of the yellow cichlid that is not doing well. Latest report from home is that he is still holding his own, but not eating.

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Shawnie

awesome pics!!!!!!!!
oscars and plecos need 100's of gallons ..they are such HUGE waste produceers that its almost impossible to keep the tank parimeters in check...size plays as well..but the waste is huge of those two...I know how it is to have to rehome them as I had to mine that I had for 8 years...my home cant hold over 75g ...and my 2 outgrew that tank fast

namehater

that is a yellow lab and a red zebra btw. nice egg spotting on the zebra. the lab looks fine to me, maybe a little dark from being angry at not having any ladies around.

Shawnie

what are your readings for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates? could be a cycle isssue..the lab looks majorly stressed

PetCentralNotObsessed

So would a good thing to do be to add some female yellow labs and red zebras to this tank? I can get smaller ones, just so they are big enough not to get eaten? Should I wait to see if the yellow fish improves and maybe starts eating (his equalibrium seems a little off, and someone nipped off part of his tailfin), or should I add them soon, in hope they might energize him?

bolivianbaby

Your tank info says no ammonia. What are your readings for nitrites and nitrates? Your lab definitely looks stressed to me. It could either be water quality, environment, or lack of company. Could you take a pic of the whole tank?

Before you add anyone else to the tank, we should make sure you're not having any water quality issues.

PetCentralNotObsessed

Nitrites are 0 and Nitrates are about 8