My fish are giving me anxiety!
Rhiannon
Member Posts: 15
So I'm still learning about my fish, I currently have a variety of African cichlids who normally get on well but my fish tank broke and flooded my house so now the are living in a small bathtub. This is not going well they seem to be turning in each other and picking on my pink cichlid (I think it's a jewel) and she nearly has no fins left!
We are getting a new tank tonight but it already has fish in it we are not keeping them as we know they are not compatible with our fish, but could we put the clown loaches in the tank??
Also the pet shop sold us a fish that is an American cichlid of some sort and he needs a new home too
We are getting a new tank tonight but it already has fish in it we are not keeping them as we know they are not compatible with our fish, but could we put the clown loaches in the tank??
Also the pet shop sold us a fish that is an American cichlid of some sort and he needs a new home too
Comments
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First thing to do is to seperate the fish that is being picked on either through a divider, net or another tank. Then try to rehome as many fish as possible to shops or other people's aquariums, the chances you are going to lose some fish in this operation. The more that are safely elsewhere the better.
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After we filled the new tank my partner put our fish straight in it and just about killed all our fish with shock, the water was way to cold! We scooped them back out put them back in the bathtub and waited for the tank to heat up, in the mean time we managed to rehome all the other fish we couldn't keep aswell as our American cichlid but we did keep the clown loaches who are happily getting along with our fish, except pink fish is still in the bath tub while her fins heal up, she seems ok but I guess it just have to wait and see
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Sorry about the partners booboo
I'd stick the bullied fish in a fry saver in the tank,
if it will fit
Be aware this new amount of water will most likely go into a cycle, If you get some Seachem Stability and prime liquid, and follow our directions for tank cycling in the beginners section.. You should come out of it ok
"I'm a Doug Addict" 
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We managed to find our trouble maker a new home
an thanks I will check out the cycling directions -
What fish are currently with you and where do they live in terms of tank size?
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We have a mix of African cichlids and a golden Chinese algea eater, and we just put in 2 clown loaches they live in a 3 FT tank with about 200ltr of water, we use a canister filter, a power head and air stone,
does this help? As far as the fish goes we have
1x electric blue
2 x red zebras
1x cobalt blue
1 x giraffe
2 x clown loaches
1x algea eater
And 3 other fish my partner bought with out me so I have no idea what they are -
Oh and my jewel cichlid who is still in the bathtub healing her fins
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Ok, thanks very much for the list.
Are you in possession of an ammonia or nitrite liquid test kit? If so, what are the ammonia and nitrite readings? If not, I highly reccomend purchasing one. One can be found here ( https://www.livefish.com.au/accessories/test-kits-water-quality/api-freshwater-master-multi-test-kit-5-test-in-one.html )
Your main priority should be to keep ammonia and nitrite at zero or as close to zero as possible. This can be done through water changes. If your filter is new or hasn't been used for a while it won't be established and ammonia and nitrite levels will rise until it gets established.
Your second main priority is to aim to rehome the electric blue cichlid, clown loaches and most importantly the giraffe cichlid. All of these fish will outgrow your tank or cause aggression when they grow older. The jewel cichlid may also cause problems but probably not outside of breeding.
As to treating the jewel cichlid in the bath, clean water, comfortable environment and no stress will give her the best chances. -
If I want to keep those fish what size tank should I up grade too, eventually we would like to get a 5 or maybe 6 ft tank. We were looking at bigger tanks already untill our old tank split open and we needed to replace it asap,
I do have a test kit so I'll get onto that today and check the levels
Thanks heaps for the help -
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Well, giraffe cichlids and the clown loaches get the biggest. The giraffe loaches to 25 centimeters and the clown loaches to 30 cm. Both are very large and need big tanks. The giraffe cichlid is also very very aggressive so your stocking would need to be adjusted to suit his needs.
A 125 gallon would be the absolute minimum for these fish so a six foot would cover you.
125 gallon 72" x 18" x 21" -
Thanks for taking this all on board, I realize it is not easy to deal with crisis like this. You're taking it very well.
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Well we checked all the levels and they are all good our giraffe fish is still very little so iv got a while before he gets to big for this tank
