Male aurutus with 3 females

[Ryan1980]

I've got a mixed Malawi tank 190 litre,I had one male aurutus on his own and he's one of my most interesting fish to watch,I like the way he digs and moves around the substrate. So I thought I would go out and buy 3 female's in the hope that they would one day breed. There quite difficult to find in my area (UK) so I phoned around a few places and managed to find a fish shop that had some,it was 30 minutes drive away,anyway I bought 3 female's I know there females because there much lighter than he is,I brought them home flouted the bag in the tank for about 45 minute then did the started adding my tank water to the bag until it was full then let them swim out on there own. As soon as they went into the tank he started to chase all 3 around loads,and I think he was stressing them,so I caught him and put him in a bucket for an hour to let them settle in,hoping the other fish in the tank would have established a bit of territory and he would stop chasing them.I then re-added him to my tank,and he was still chasing them,but as the evening moved on it did seem to calm down. It's now 2 days later and I can now only see one female in my tank,even if I feed them only one female comes up,the other 2 have completely disappeared,I did a water change earlier I can't find them anywhere. Has anybody got any idea what's going on I can see him and one female atm.


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[jmats]

Female auratus are yellow


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[cichlidthinker]

Post pics

 

[PassengerTN]

As mentioned, females are yellow

Jesse

 

[Ryan1980]

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[Ryan1980]

Here's a picture of my male,with the female in the background,the other 2 female's are nowhere to be seen.


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[jmats]

When you add new fish to an African tank it is useful to move around the decorations in the tank to get rid of territories and spread aggression. When adding a new fish you should also add multiple at a time so the fish already in the tank don't know which fish are new so they don't get picked off.

What I used to do was take half of my fish and put them in a 5 gallon bucket, then add the new fish to the bucket. Move around the hard scape of the tank. Then dump whole bucket into the tank. It worked every time. It's a good probability that your two missing fish were killed off.


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[Ryan1980]

Is it, great,I was hopeful that wasn't the case. But it would explain why I've not seen them for 2 days plus £12 down the drain Its going to be extra messy when I clean the filter out then.


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[Ryan1980]

I still don't understand how they can eat 2 fish without me seeing them do it as well. Unbelievable


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[Ryan1980]

I've just found one lol stressed but ok


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[Freakgecko91]

Post a full tank shot when you get a chance. Check around the stand and tank in the floor, sometimes they'll jump out


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[Ryan1980]

I've pulled up the rock work,one is dead I've managed to rescue the other but she's stressed. I've put her into big bucket,for the time being. She's not eaten for a day


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[Ryan1980]

But not half as stressed as me. Anybody got an advice on the best thing to do for her now?


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[Ryan1980]

Rq


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[jmats]

You could always try and re-add her to the tank in a little while using the method I just gave you. If you don't feel comfortable doing that you can put her in a different tank if you have one.


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[Ryan1980]

I've got another tank but i can't really put her in there, with South American cichlids. I think I'm going to leave her in the bucket to recover for a few days. Then try to re-add her using your method. She's already had her fins nipped a bit,hopefully she's ok going back in. Thanks for the help


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[cichlidthinker]

You should put a filter in there if shes going to be there for some days and daily water changes

 

[Ryan1980]

I haven't got a spare mature filter,I'll just do regular water changes


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[TMRC Exotics]

Why is there dead live rock?

 

[Ryan1980]

You mean the rock that's in the bucket ?


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