acbunker

I have a fish tank with semi-aggressive and aggressive guys:
1 cobalt blue zebra cichlid - 2.5"
1 julido Dickfeldi Cichlid - 2.5"
1 albino rainbow shark - 1.5"
1 black kuhlii loach - 2"
3 chinese algae eater - 4", 3" and 3"
2 ghost glass cat - 2" both
1 gold gourami - 3.5"
1 pictus cat - 3"
1 synodontis eupterus catfish - 5"
1 dwarf puffer - 1"
1 Jack Dempsey - 2"
1 Green Terror - 1.5"
4 tiger barbs - 1" each

(the jack dempsey and the green terror are the new ones, I bought them 4 days ago)

I got a cobalt blue zebra last september, his name is Blue, but 2 days ago he was attacked by someone (who knows!!) and his tail is pretty much gone, which includes part of his body. I put Blue in a small fish tank that has no gravel nor plants. I've been replacing the water every day and running an air pump a few times a day for a few minutes (don't want him having to swim a lot, once he's in pretty bad shape). I also added some stress coat.

What else can I do?
He's swimming upside down and sideways at the same time, non-stop?
Blue's a tough guy but will he survive?
I usually feed my fishes with frozen blood worms. Should I feed him with something special / different??

I really don't wanna lose Blue, he is my first cichlid and the reason I felt in love for those guys...

Thanks everybody!!!

MissMTS

I am sorry to hear about Blue Unfortunately I cannot give you much advice on how to heal him; however, I do have some other advice for you that may prevent future problems.

First of all, the combination of fish that you have in your tank will not work. Your fish will keep getting attacked and soon you will only have a few left. Did you research the fish before you bought them? Here's why I am asking:

You should never combine african and american cichlids. They require completely different water perameters and will not get along. My guess is that your Jack Dempsey or Green Terror attacked your blue zebra. Your blue zebra is an african cichlid.

Also, you should never combine aggressive and semi-aggressive fish. Youf gourami and tiger barbs will never survive in a tank with big aggressive fish like you have. The gourami and barbs can be with eachother, but not with the other fish.

Your glass catfish are peaceful fish and I am surprised that they have lasted this long. They should NOT be in this tank.

Also, your tank is overstocked. You need to look at the adult size of the fish when you are figuring out what to put in your tank. Honestly, my best advice to you would be to take your fish back to the LFS, do some research, and figure out what type of fish you want to keep and what kind are compatible together. If you want tips or suggestions just ask us and we would be happy to help. Also, I see in your aquarium stats that you are not familiar with the nitrogen cycle. This is very important. I am surprised that you have been able to keep your tanks up and running for a year without doing water tests. You should read up on the Nitrogen cycle and get an API test kit so that you can make sure that your water perameters are safe for your fish.

As far as Blue goes, if you have an empty tank or a quarantine tank, I would put him in there by himself so that he can heel and not have to deal with the stress of being with other fish. Good luck with everything. I hope it all works out.

Allie

You have african and American cichlids mixed together, doesn't really work long term. A Green Terror will kill whatever gets in their way. SO I am betting on him.
Put Blue in hospital tank with some melafix. Those fish should be divided between 3 tanks, tropical, American, african cichlids.

acbunker

Blue is gone, he passed away this morning after 11am...

No need to say I don't understand a lot about fishes, huh?

Thanks for the advices, I buy my fishes a lit bit here and a little bit there, never at the same place. I started with semi-aggressive ones, until I bought Blue. Then Yellow came last November and then Jack and Green last week. I told the guy at the store that I had Blue and Yellow, so he suggested me to buy Jack and Green!! He also said that the barbs were fast enough to escape from the cichlids...

A friend of mine gave me Goober and Casper, the glass catfishes, last March and said they were semi-aggressive... I moving them, the barbs and Daisy, the gourami, to my smaller fish tank (if the guppies in there don't survive, oh well...). I'll also buy an API Test kit and do some research about nitrogen cycle.

All that I do to keep my fish tank running is to put some Stress Coat, Stress Zyme amd Aquarium Salt whenever I'm supposed to, according to their instructions. The water here at home comes from the well, so there's no chlorine. I also check the pH on a regular basis and it's always around 7.0. I remember that I waited for a month before I put any fish in there.

Questions:
Is Yellow going to survive?
Are the catfishes safe (Big Daddy, the pictus, and Cheetah, the synodontis)?
What about Puff, my dwarf puffer and SpikeII, the albino rainbow shark?
What type of fishes can I have now?
The guy at the store told me I shouldn't have any log in my fish thank, just rocks. Should I change its actual set up? I attached a pic of my fish tank...

Sorry about all the questions, but I'm really confused with your info versus the one that the guy gave me at the store!!!


Thanks for your help!!!

Attached Images

FishTank.jpg (456.1 KB, 20 views)

MissMTS

Hi again! I am so sorry to hear about Blue. I had a similar experience with my first tank. Many fishstore employees don't know what they are talking about. They just try to sell fish for the sake of making a sale.

I am assuming that yellow is your gold gourami. I would definetly remove him from the tank. He will not be able to hold his own with those other fish, especially the Jack Dempsey and the Green Terror.

What kind of set up do you want to have? This kind of depends on which fish you keep. I am assuming that you are intested in keeping most of your cichlids. Your pictus cat will grow to be over 1 foot long and will get to big for you tank. The synodontis should be fine. I would also remove the dwarf puffer. For him, he would do well in a small 5-10 gallon tank by himself. Tanks that size are fairly inexpensive so you may just want to get him his own space. He will be happier as well. When your larger cichlids get bigger they will be able to easily swallow him. I would remove the Tiger Barbs. Tiger Barbs are hard to keep because they cannot hold their own against cichlids, but they are to aggressive for most tropical community fish. They do best in a species tank in a school of at least seven fish. Your albino rainbow shark could coexist with your green terror and jack dempsey. Your Julid Dickfeldi cichlid is a small african cichlid that only gets to be 4 inches, so I would remove him as well. Definetly remove the glass catfish. The chinese algae eaters are not reccomended for community aquariums and get to be pretty big.

If I were you I would pick a theme for your tank. Either central american or african cichlids. Either one can be quite interesting. With a 55 gallon you could only keep a few central american cichlids because of their large size and tendency for aggression. However, in a 55 gallon you could have a pretty nice setup of african cichlids. Most africans only get to be about 6 inches. So in a 55 gallon tank, you could probably house about 12 to 15 fish since you are can overcrowd them a little to disperse the aggression. If I were you I would look at the site www.cichlidforum.com. If you click on library they have a link to a cookie cutter setup that will help you stock your tank correctly. They have setups for African Cichlids and American Cichlids. When you have a better idea of what you want in your tank, we can help guide you through setting it up correctly.

I know it can be frustrating to have to get rid of most of your fish, but in the end your set up will be very rewarding. You won't have to worry about fish getting injured or killed or fish out growing your tank. We are all here to help answer you questions. I found that this forum is a great place to learn and it certainly helped me learn everything that I know about keeping aquariums. Don't ever be afraid to ask to many questions because that is how you learn. Take a look on that website and let me know what you think

acbunker

Thanks again!!!

Jack and Green are the new guys, so I'm not "that" attached to them yet. Which means, they are going bye bye. I'll stop by at the store and I'll return them tomorrow or Saturday...

I ratter have african cichlids, once I can have more guys and I love their color!!!

Can I put the gold gourami, the barbs (now just 3), the glass cats and the puffer in a 15 gallons fish tank? I'm not sure how happy my husband will be if I tell him I need to buy "another" fish tank for Puff...

And what about the algae eaters? What happens to them if I leave them in the african cichlid fish tank? If I don't keep them, what should I do to prevent the algae growing in my fish tank? And how do you get rid of fishes?? I don't believe in "a heaven called septic tank", like my husband keeps telling me all the time!!!!

I didn't like the options of that website... 'Cause I already have a few fishes that I know I can keep:
1 julido Dickfeldi Cichlid
1 albino rainbow shark
1 pictus cat - Big Daddy is my husband's favorite fish, can't get rid of him...
1 synodontis eupterus catfish

That would give me the options of buying how many more fishes? I want colorful ones, like Blue was!!!
(I was thinking about buying 1 rainbow shark, so I would have a white and a black one)

By the way, Yellow is the Julido Dickfeldi cichlid.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

MissMTS

Many local fish stores will take in fish that people cannot keep. I would call around to the stores in your area and let them know your situation. Chain stores like Petco and Petsmart won't adopt fish, but most privately owned stores will. You could also try putting them up for adoption on craigslist. I would not put the chinese algae eaters in a tank with africans. Your synodontis catfish will keep the tank pretty clean. Algae shouldn't be a huge problem unless your tank is right next to a window. I hate to break it to you, but you should not put your rainbow shark in with African Ciclids. Africans should be kept in a tank with only Africans. The only exception is the synodontis catfish because those naturally coexist with them in the wild. If you are going to do a tank of Africans I would decorate your tank with a lot of hiding spaces with lots of rocks and driftwood. You could do what I did with my tank of Africans and just get 1 of each species. Only one catch here...don't get 2 species that look alike or they will fight with eachother. Avoid overly aggressive cichlids like red zebras or kenyi cichlids. If you don't want to go this route I would reccomend getting 1 male and 2-3 females of up to 4 different species. The fifteen gallon tank is to small to put all of your other fish into, especially since most of them cannot live peacefully together in such tight quarters. I also just noticed that you have 2 algae eaters, 2 cories, and a bunch of guppies in your 15 gallon. There is no way that you could add more fish. Unfortunately, you are going to have to part with most of them. I also hate to break it to you, but you really need to get rid of Big Daddy. It is cruel to keep a large fish like him in such a small tank. He won't even have enough room to turn around. Eventually, his growth will be stunted and he will become stressed and die. If your husband cares about this fish, he will understand why you need to take him back. Also, he cannot be in a tank with African Cichlids. Well, I am sorry about having to get rid of so many of your fishies. I know it can be hard, but you are making a very good decision by doing so. Good fish owners think about the well-being of their fish and not just their own attachments to them.

acbunker

Hey, thanks for all your advices...

I talked to my husband and after 2 days of brainstorming we decided that we are not going to get rid of all the semi-aggressive fishes, but the cichlids... We'll try to find new owners for the 3 guys: Yellow, Jack and Green. Or I might take them to the store that we bought Jack and Green.

That was a hard decision, the cichlids are beautiful and amazing fishes. So it's part of our plans to get another big fish tank in the future and fill it with african cichlids.

Just FYI: Yellow is kicking Jack and Green's asses!!!!!!

Take care!!

MissMTS

lol! Good luck with everything!