stress dilemma

[deli_conker]

I have a bit of a stress dilemma...

I have one yellow lab that has been ostracized from all the good territory. He gets picked on wherever he goes and no matter what terrain adjustments that I make.

His color is terrible. His tail fin has a couple of chunks out of it. And it's near impossible to net anything in my tank with as much stuff as I have in there (my current tank set up is NOT in my gallery, I'll try to change that soon). He won't come out for feedings, but he doesn't look like he's starved either.

I'm going to try to net him tonight (hopefully). If I can get him without stressing him or the others (or myself), then I will.

Assuming I can't net him, are the any alternatives to help reduce the stress or cause the others to give him some peace?

 

[Menagerie]

I would get him out of there and let him live in QT for a few weeks. Before reintroducing him, rearrange all the rock (it sounds like you tried that). How much rock is in the tank? You may need to add more. How big is he compared with the others?

 

[deli_conker]

I have been trying at different times of the day and other methods to net this sucker, but he just won't let me.

I've got plenty of hiding places for all of the fish. Out of my 8 fish, he's probably 4th or 5th largest in the tank. The only way I can think to add more rock is to use silicone to glue a bunch of pieces together for stability instead of using free standing formations. That is actually sounding like a good idea anyways as I can rapidly remove it (the 'siliconed' formation) to net a fish that doesn't want to be caught...

Now I may have a secondary problem as well... I got up this morning and started the whole fish tank ritual (room lights 15 min before tank lights, getting food ready, examining tank, etc.) and I see that most, if not all, of my fish are on one side of the tank. This is not the normal state of affairs. I look around and see who's all alone on the other side and realize that my socolofi is trying to house the tank. I had this problem before when I first started my tank; I had 2 socolofi that pushed everybody else to one side (they were both males). I ended up having to take them back to the lfs. Now this guy's doing the same thing. I keep reading that socolofi aren't as aggressive as some of my other fish. And he does indeed look like a socolofi. How is he getting away with this?

 

[Strikh]

Try using two nets, one in each hand. That's how I net the difficult ones...

 

[Menagerie]

Each fish has his or her own personality. OTOH, this fish could be a hybrid with something else that is more aggressive. It sounds like you will need to remove the rock from your tank to net the lab. I have done, yes it's a pain, but it really sounds like that lab needs to be QTed.

 

[hashbaz]

Hard to net fish: has anyone else noticed this. I'll try netting a fish with no luck, give up and leave the net in the aquarium for a while. Before long my fish get curious and swim into the net. I've seen it with danios and platys. I don't know what a yellow lab is but if he's curious, it might work.

 

[Christmasfish]

My larger gouramy will do that as will many of the tetras. Nosy parkers!

The faster fish are very hard to net when I HAVE to get them out. I also wil use a "different " catcher like a clear container or pitcher for the wary ones.

 

[krap101]

8O with anything glass for example the pitcher i mean im kinda reluctent or is it not glass? because like its hard and it might squash sumtin.. might try a bigger net 8O oh i guess the smily doesnt exactly ffit but its my fav 1 8O

 

[madasafish]

Yeah, I've taken to using a small 1/2 gallon clear plastic container to catch fish. They don't see it coming. Works like a charm. I use one of the carrying containers you can buy at petstores to carry gerbils, fish, lizards etc. This works like a charm.

 

[deli_conker]

I have too many hiding places in my tank to use a container.
He seems to be doing a little better though. I actually saw him chase off another fish recently.

I'm actually planning on redoing the terrain in the tank as soon as I can find a place that sells slate. It's going to end up being a modular addition (the magic of silicone). That way if I have to remove terrain, it will be 3-4 complex pieces instead of half a million rocks.

My socolofi is still trying to rule half the tank. The only fish that ventures over is my red zebra. He's about twice the size of the soco. Although my zebra does have a little chunk out of his tail...

I'm hoping the overhaul will fix the whole aggression thing...

 

[madasafish]

Deli... If you didn't know, there's a very specific ratio of males to females that you're supposed to employ for Malawi cichlid tanks. Females are supposed to outnumber males in a 4:1 or 5:1 ratio to reduce aggression. In this scenario, males feel more secure with their harem and don't need to attack each other as much. I'm no expert on sexing malawi cichlids, so you'll have to look this one up... Or gauge it from behavioral patterns (may be easier this way). A way to curb the aggression might well be to buy more females, or sell a male or two.

No advice on the Socolofi, sorry.