brichardi not eating

[lex]

Hi all,

A couple weeks ago I picked up a couple daffodil brichardi and absolutely love them. The only problem is, they rarely eat unless the food floats directly in front of them, which doesn't happen often becaus all the other fish rush to the top for the food while the brichardi don't. Their stomachs are stating to look pinched and I'm getting really worried. Any advice?

Thanks.

 

[Menagerie]

What are you feeding them? Have you tried live foods? Can you QT them for awhile?

My brichardi live by themselves and are generally slow eaters. They will eat flakes, but the flake needs to hit them on the head , then they get the idea that they can go TO the food! I have been hatching brine shrimp for one of my other fish and everyone gets to enjoy it!
HTH
BTW, who else is in the tank?

 

[lex]

I keep them with two kenyi, two red tops, two yellow labs, and one giraffe hap.

And yeah, the brichardi seem to be much more laid back in general compared to the rest of the crowd. I feed them flakes, some sinking pellets, and occasionally algae wafers. I've not tried live food yet but I'll give it a go. Thank you for your help Menagerie.

 

[Menagerie]

I see a problem that hasn't happened yet--those brichardi (Lake Tang) are in with Mbuna (Lake Malawi--way more aggressive when mature). The brichardi will not have the same temperament as the Mbuna cichlids. They are all from South Africa, but they do not belong in the same tank. How old are all the fish?

IMO, those fish should be separated by origin. I learned that lesson the hard way last weekend. I had a Jack Dempsey (MEAN—from South America) in with a mainly Mbuna tank and he viciously harassed my giraffe hap to death . I knew Giraffe was missing a scale here and there, but I was waiting for the LFS to have room for Jack. Thursday night I looked over at my tank and Giraffe was at the bottom--covered in fungus (due to stress) and had hemorrhages down her back. My fiancé and I did all we could for her—QT, meds—but it was too late. Please don't make the mistake I did.

 

[lex]

Yeah, I am aware of the differences in temperment and was going to set up another tank about 4 or 5 months down the road, that's after we move out of this house, 'cause we are only renting right now and why set up another system just to have to move it a short while later.... I figured they'd be fine while everyone is still small. Good advice though, thanks, and sorry about your giraffe. I had lost quite a few fish to my dempsey trying to find a fish who could stand up to him, until finally, I came home from work and found he had jumped out of the tank some hours earlier... ah well... You'll have that I suppose.

 

[Menagerie]

'cause we are only renting right now and why set up another system just to have to move it a short while later

Wow, I just set up tanks and tear them down--you're doing it the smarter way. My fiancé and I bought and set up an 80 gal four months before we moved from Idaho to Calgary. Now, we're in a place that is going to be demolished (6 months to a year—no one knows) and we have gone from two to five tanks (it will be six in a couple of days) since we moved up here not even three months ago

 

[lex]

Haha, guess I should have knocked on wood before I said I figured they'd all be fine... found one brichardi dead this morning, torn to shreds by my male kenyi (I believe, since he is the most aggressive one in there). None of the other fish seemed to even notice either of the brichardi up to this point. The other one is fine so far. I don't see any nips or tears in the fins.

And yeah, it takes a LOT of restrain to not set up more tanks. I am holding myself back from setting up my 90 reef, as well as the second African tank. I couldn't help it though, I orders stuff to set up a nano just last night. Figured it would be easy to move since it's so small (I have a 2 gal hex to work with).

 

[Menagerie]

Please QT the other fish. That brichardi will have the same fate eventually if left in the tank with the Mbuna tank.