I just wasted $40!

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What were/are the cichlids?

The two that got killed were metriclima lombardoi and melanchromis blue johanni. the one thats killing everything is some type of peacock i think. someone said was it a auratus and no its definitely not.
 
how decorated is your tank? how did you introduce the cichlids?

my tank is pretty well decorated with lots of little "territories" and space for everyone. I first let the two new ones that are now dead sit in the water for 15 minutes to get acclimated and then put them in one at a time. i did switch some decorations around.
 
i know a lot of people dont like this, but you could try petsmart fish, atleast you will have a 2 week guarantee on ANY deaths.

Thanks, i should have done this. i went there first but didn't like their selection. i'm now kicking myself. i'm wanted to fancy myself as "better" than that.
 
By the way, the two fish that were killed off were female and male. The bully is most definitely a male. It was so strange to see it go after the female so aggressively.
 
Got that many hiding places? Lol

(and since this picture I've added about 15 more rocks; I add about 3-4 more per every fish I add)
 

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i have a 4ft tank (79g) and its fine for africans, but 6ft is better. and 8ft even better.. you get the idea :)

plenty of rockwork/hiding spots, as said previously change it all around if you have a bully.

peacocks arent usually aggressive, theyre the weaker/whimpier of the africans usually.

the biggest prob with adding fish to an established tank is that your new fish will always be bottom of the pecking order until they establish their place in the heirarchy.

you can try adding more fish at once so the aggression is dispersed amongst more "newby's" in your tank.


as for acclimation:
dont just float the bag and then up end it into your tank.

float bag for 10min, add a cup of your aquarium water to the bag. wait 5min. add another cup of water. wait another 5. then net your fish and add them.
dont add store water to your aquarium, just incase.

the idea is to slowly dilute the lfs water to be similar to your own so there is less of a PH change shocking your new fish.

they'll still get bullied by your boss, but they wont also be suffering from some degree of acclimation shock while being bullied. (one less place of stress for em' )

if your boss has plenty of wimmin's to show interest in, it might help too.
 
after reading 3 pages i was sure i read 75g but now u mention it i see it is a 29g
thats a 2 ft tank? only cichlids i keep in a 2ft'er are fry/juvies growing up
 
oblivion at one point we totally blocked out the original poster and started our own convo, myself and another person were the ones with 75g. origanal post did say 29g.
 
29g is 30 inches long i believe but maybe to small for afric/cichlids.. The prob where most people go wrong is they by a few put them in tank, a couple days layer buy more and put them in etc. I found if you get all your fish at one time and put them in your tank within a few mintues its too early for any fish to claim its territory and result in less deaths in the begining IMO. Now if its getting bullied later on i would suggest moving rocks around to try and make a few more hiding spots like one of the peoole said in a earlier post! Try and buy all the fish around the same size..
 
29 Gallon: 30 1/4 x 12 1/2 x 18 3/4

In my opinion that tank is much to small for even dwarf Mbuna. There is simply not enough swim/floor space with all the rocks and caves that need to be added. Not to mention the amount of fish that need to be stocked to help quell aggression If you want cichlids look into kribs, rams, shellies or Apistos.
 
This tank is most definitely waaay too small for fish of this size i keep a a mating pair of ebr in this tank with a handful of shoaling tetra some corys and a couple of dwarf frogs everyone gets along just fine in my 29 gallon.
My bigger cichlids who also accept new arrivals with a little bit of a tank rework and low lighting live in my 8ft though! ;-)
 
I understand why they wouldn't I work for a fish store also and we don't do returns for fish that have been beaten up. Get rid of the bully and start over with the less aggressive going in first and most aggressive going in last.
 
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