Is it time for Dude or Zebro to go?

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AngelLeah1981

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Feb 11, 2008
Messages
5
As some of you know we have mixed fish that shouldn't be mixed. 2 african cichlids, 2 south american cichlids (yellow lab which some people call electric yellow, blood parrot, red devil, and an orange cichlid with white dots on his bottom fin. I have been told alot that they will not be ok together and I have also been told that it's POSSIBLE they might be ok.....to see how they act over the 14 day period. Well, last night I noticed "Dude's" fin looks a little mest up. Its a very very small amount but if this was done by the red devil then that means its time for someone to go. :( (whimpers). My cousin posted a video of it on her youtube site. Will you view this 18 second video and on the 12th and 13th second it shows the fin. Please comment. Thanks alot. Also, I don't know if this is important or not but we have been having a hard time keeping the amonia down. We replaced 10 gallons of distilled water 3 days ago and it's going up to stressed and almost to danger again on the test. Comments on this would be great too. We're thinking of replacing some more water today. Can we use tap water (with perfect ph) and just put this stress coat/water conditioner in it instead of having to do the gallon jugs? I had to add a little of this after the distilled water anways and it stabilized so I know it works.
Thanks.

YouTube - Dude's fin
 
Hey, hopefully everything works out. I don't know about the compatibility of cichlids, so I can't help there. But definitely don't use distilled water, purified is fine but distilled isn't.

I use tap water with my betta fish. I use a water conditioner and let the water set for a couple of days before doing a PWC. If I don't have a couple of days, then I use bottled water with a bit of water conditioner (I don't know if this is or isn't necessary). Hope this helps!

In fish tanks I had in the past (2 of which had cichlids), we used tap water with water conditioner and they did great.
 
Welcome to Aquarium Advice! (both of you!)

Your tank sounds like it's cycling. You'll have to do frequent, maybe daily, water changes to keep the ammonia below .25 ppm. Change about 50% of the tank volume. Tap water (at the same temperature as the aquarium - you can use the hot water faucet on your sink) can be used with the stress coat. I usually let water sit overnight for a water change but today I didn't make quite enough so I just used some tap water for the rest that I needed. I held a digital kitchen thermometer (that is fish-only) in the water until I had it at the right temperature, and added my dechlorinator.

When the ammonia test reads 0, check for nitrItes. You'll see nitrites rise and fall to 0. During this time also, do daily water changes if necessary to keep the nitrite level at or below .25 ppm. Nitrite poisoning in fish has been compared, in a way, to carbon monoxide poisoning in us, so be vigilant in your testing and water changes until the ammonia, and nitrites, read 0. Then you should see a nitrAte level begin to appear. Nitrates will read anywhere from 10-40 ppm depending on your fish load. Most people do water changes once a week to keep their nitrate levels between 10-20 ppm.

Do you know someone with an established, disease-free tank? You could put some of their gravel or filter media in a clean, new (never washed in soap) pantyhose. Knot it and lay it in your tank so you have some good bacteria to help the cycle get established. For your own filter, don't rinse the media yet - the bacteria is new and growing and shouldn't be disturbed until the cycling is done.

I don't know anything about cichlid compatibility so I'll look for someone else to help.
 
Welcome to AA. Unfortunately none of the cichlids you have go very well together. So first you must decide what level of aggression you want to live with. Different cichlids have different levels of aggression. Also what size tank are you housing them in? The yellows and possibly the orange cichlid with the egg spots might go together but a pic of the orange cichlid would be helpful.

I would get rid of the red devil, aggression is natural to them.
 
I agree with PP, your tank is cycling. How long has it been set up? What size is the tank? When you are dealing with African Cichlids, you will need at least 55 gal. I am assuming that you are using the test strips, get a liquid reagent test kit. AP makes a Master Test Kit for under $20 and it is a lot cheaper and more reliable than the test strips.

Stop using the distilled water. Tap water is just fine. Also stop using the pH adjuster, it is not needed and usually ends up causing fish deaths from the fluctuating pH levels. Regulat tap with a dechlorinator is all you need.

Yellow labs are a pretty docile for African Cichlids. Red Devils are not. I would suspect that the Devil is what is causing the problems. Parrots tend to be pretty docile also, but I still would not mix them with the yellow lab. I used to keep a Parrot with my Africans and it lasted for about a year before they were getting picked on. As mentioned, you need to decide what you want to keep. If you want to keep the Lab, you need to revolve the stock around the lab. The same goes for whichever fish you choose to keep. If you DO keep the lab, they are best kept in larger groups. They like to "school" in a sense. Not like Tetras school, but they prefer to be with several of their own kind. So I'd replace the other fish with at least 5 labs.
 
I found out the name of the orange with "egg" spots. ...it's a red zebra african cichlid
40 gallon
been set up for about 12 days
Now for some reason - the past 3 days - the blood parrot is going after the reddevil and the reddevil isn't bothering the blood parrot. Does this make any sense to anyone?? It doesn't to me. Does this mean my blood parrot is aggressive or is he displaying behavior like a dog - showing dominance in order to keep himself from getting bullied????
Thanks.
 
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