Beat up Cichlid ?

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Jessl17

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Oct 10, 2017
Messages
46
I have a peacock Cichlid that got beat up pretty bad by a couple other cichlids in my tank last night. I woke up this morning and he is missing mostly all of his fins and tail. I noticed he wasn’t swimming well and when he tried to swim up to the front of the tank he ended up flopping upside down and now he won’t go back upright and if he does it’s only for a few seconds. I feel horrible and don’t know if there is any hope for him or what else to do. What I have done so far is I put him in a breeder net just to get him away but that wasn’t working out well in the tank he was in so to alleviate as much stress on him as I could I moved him to my hospital tank but left him in the breeder because I wanted to make sure he could get to the top if he needed. I don’t know if I should keep him in there or let him out? I also put aquarium salt and started treating with melafix. I also put some stress coat in there. He is moving around a lot but not upsright and he looks to be in pretty bad shape. I don’t know what else I can do??Is he going to die? If there is anything else I can do please let me know. Thanks
 

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Here’s another photo of him. For some reason it won’t let me upload more than one at a time
 

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I think you've done all you can for tonight. As long as the tanks water is clean you just have to see how he is tomorrow. I would keep him in breeder for the night.
 
Ok thanks. He seems to be moving around a bit more now but he just can’t get back upright. I have just shut all the lights out and will keep checking on him and hope for the best ?
 
Jess
Sorry about your injured cichlid. I also keep cichlids, a lot of them. I manage their aggression by making numerous rock and driftwood hiding places for the weaker ones to retreat to.
 
Yea I have caves, driftwood and all kinds of hiding places in my Main tank ? I think he just wouldn’t give up and they were out for him. Here is a picture of my main tank there usually in
 

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The tank looks good. It's difficult to achieve peaceful balance in most cichlid tanks.
 
Thanks �� definitely still a work in progress but I feel like with all my tanks I’m constantly changing things around lol. And like I said this is my first attempt with cichlids but I just love them so I’m hoping I can make it work. Fingers crossed he will make it. I will post tomm and see where he’s at. Again Thanks for your help��
 
How big is your tank ? Are you keeping Mbuna's or just peacocks, peacocks are normally that aggressive to each other, good luck!
 
My tank is a 30 and no I had a mix but realized that’s what the problem was so I took the 2 that were causing problems back yest. And just to update he is doing amazing this morning back upright and I took him out of the breeder because he kept running into the walls and he seems to be swimming around fine now. Have him another dose of melafix and just waiting and keeping a close eye on him.
 
Your problem is your tank is much to small for cichlids. 55 gallon is the minimum for keeping cichlids. My advice is go as big as you can afford. Also overcrowding is the key to lesson aggression.
 
If your first experience with cichlids are to be Africans, you are exposing yourself to a crash course in hyper aggression. That aggression will be amplified in a smaller tank. If it's not too late, might consider starting your cichlid experience with a little colony of Bolivian Rams.
You've got a great attitude towards fish keeping. I'm sure you'll do fine.
 
Yea I have gotten mixed things about the size of the tank I was told a 30 would be fine for 6-8 Africans then after I had already gotten them I had someone else tell me they should be in a 55 at least. So your the only other person that has told me this and online I read conflicting sizes as well. And I do have a tank with rams in there and I love them �� but wanted to do Africans and as of now my tank is going great no agression at all since I got the other 2 out. Even today my smallest one is out and roaming around which usually hides all day and night. Quick question.. should I be adding more aquarium salt mix and taking out some of the water daily or leave it be for now? And stress coat how often should I be putting that in? I know it’s really just a conditioner with aloe so not sure how significant that is in helping the peacock? He seems to be doing a weird shaking but still swimming around fine?
 
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