Author Topic: Newbie (Read 764 times)

Arron yeates · « **on:** February 02, 2019, 10:40:31 PM »

Hi all i hope your all well.

My names Arron just started up a african cichlid aquarium. So far ive now from today got 12 fish. Today i bought an additional 6... i thought what i bought was a maison reef as it was colourful but now looks totally different in my tank. Not sure how to put pics up but its colour seem loads duller now. Not sure if this is due to more dominant members or is it a female? Its a light blue with vertical stripes and yellow/ orange egg spots however the from fins arnt black like photos ive seen. Could the colours get alot brighter over time?

Look forward to hearing from you..

P.s i hope you dont mind me adding all this to my newbie pist haha

Yanks15 · « **Reply #1 on:** February 03, 2019, 07:17:30 PM »

Welcome to ACH Arron

First off, what species of fish are you referring to? Maison Reef is just the location in the lake. Are they Metriaclime sp.zebra chilumba? If so, I've seen them with all white dorsal fins, vertical stripped dorsal fins (continued from the body) and black horizontal stripping from head to tail. I suppose it depends on breeding. As for how they show, if you just added them, they will tend to color down to stay out the way of the existing fish. Are they juvies? And for posting pics, I used Photobucket when I did it. Others have downloaded Tapatalk for our site and say that it's easier to post pics on that platform. Never tried it but you can probably scan the forum for threads about how to do it. Check the Tech help section

And there could be other photo hosting sites that others know of.

Arron yeates · « **Reply #2 on:** February 04, 2019, 04:14:13 PM »

Hi Yanks15, thanks for the warm welcome. Ill be honest im not sure what it is when it was in the community show tank at LFS it looked like a Metriaclima fainzilberi "Maison Reef however now its in my tank it looks loads duller and the vertical bars are ever so faint. Not sure why this is. Ive got a picture but struggling to upload it

Kingston1 · « **Reply #3 on:** February 04, 2019, 04:42:46 PM »

Welcome to the HUB. The new fish could be just stressed, or maybe you are right--Not dominate yet.
How big is your tank, and how large are the fishes?

Arron yeates · « **Reply #4 on:** February 04, 2019, 06:13:34 PM »

Hi kingston1 its a 200L tank. I have 3 yellow labs avout 2 inches, 3 demasoni about 1.5inches, 2 x tangerine peacocks about 2 inches and 1 mpagna about 2.5inch and 2 im not sure about the mpagna is fully colourd up and so are the demasoni however the demasoni were in here first with yellow labs. Also have a cukoo cat fish F1 about 2 inchs.

I purchased the mpagna. The peacocks cukoo and the 2 im not sure about from the same lfs all from the comunity show tank so not new to each other but new suroundings

Arron yeates · « **Reply #5 on:** February 05, 2019, 06:55:21 AM »

The fish in me profile picture is the fish in question lol thata the best upload i can do haha

Kingston1 · « **Reply #6 on:** February 05, 2019, 04:46:42 PM »

Cannot really tell from the small pics. Maybe wait a little longer.

Arron yeates · « **Reply #7 on:** February 06, 2019, 07:42:19 PM »

Ah thats a shame. Ill get them into a feeding routine and see if things change over time. What should the synodontis petricola catfish be fed? The fish shop said it will eat the food left over from the cichlods "new life spectrum" food... however tbey eat is as soon as it hits the water.

Any surgestions

Thanks
Arron

free swimmer · « **Reply #8 on:** February 07, 2019, 12:04:07 AM »

Quote from: Arron yeates on February 06, 2019, 07:42:19 PM

Ah thats a shame. Ill get them into a feeding routine and see if things change over time. What should the synodontis petricola catfish be fed? The fish shop said it will eat the food left over from the cichlods "new life spectrum" food... however tbey eat is as soon as it hits the water.

Any surgestions

Thanks
Arron

Algae wafers always seem to give the bottom dwellers a meal..

Kingston1 · « **Reply #9 on:** February 07, 2019, 04:48:27 PM »

I have about 8 Syno cats in my tank. I have a "Turkey Baster" that I use to shoot food to them. and even then the cichlids still get many of the pellets. What I do now is feed the cichlids on one side of the tank, and "Shoot" the pellets into the bottom of the other side.

Arron yeates · « **Reply #10 on:** February 08, 2019, 05:19:49 PM »

Ill give that a try i fed the cichlids last night and the cukoo came out and started grazzing from the sand bed. Would like a bristlenose in there as well but herd so many mixed stories. I want a clean up crew type fish

Kingston1 · « **Reply #11 on:** February 11, 2019, 08:50:37 PM »

You do not need any "Clean-up" fishes. The cichlids will do this job just fine. You will need to feed the Synos and BN pleco. If you like and want them=OK. But not for cleaning purpose.

jcarson702 · « **Reply #12 on:** February 16, 2019, 06:47:50 PM »

Quote from: Arron yeates on February 02, 2019, 10:40:31 PM

Hi all i hope your all well.

My names Arron just started up a african cichlid aquarium. So far ive now from today got 12 fish. Today i bought an additional 6... i thought what i bought was a maison reef as it was colourful but now looks totally different in my tank. Not sure how to put pics up but its colour seem loads duller now. Not sure if this is due to more dominant members or is it a female? Its a light blue with vertical stripes and yellow/ orange egg spots however the from fins arnt black like photos ive seen. Could the colours get alot brighter over time?

Look forward to hearing from you..

P.s i hope you dont mind me adding all this to my newbie pist haha

Welcome Arron!
You are going to have so much fun with your new tank.

Arron yeates · « **Reply #13 on:** February 19, 2019, 06:53:55 AM »

Quote from: Kingston1 on February 11, 2019, 08:50:37 PM

You do not need any "Clean-up" fishes. The cichlids will do this job just fine. You will need to feed the Synos and BN pleco. If you like and want them=OK. But not for cleaning purpose.

Good advice and thank you. So far so good with the BN rocks are always clean now, started feeding him when lights are out. Found the syno to be very greedy.

Arron yeates · « **Reply #14 on:** February 19, 2019, 06:56:32 AM »

Quote from: jcarson702 on February 16, 2019, 06:47:50 PM

Quote from: Arron yeates on February 02, 2019, 10:40:31 PM
Hi all i hope your all well.

My names Arron just started up a african cichlid aquarium. So far ive now from today got 12 fish. Today i bought an additional 6... i thought what i bought was a maison reef as it was colourful but now looks totally different in my tank. Not sure how to put pics up but its colour seem loads duller now. Not sure if this is due to more dominant members or is it a female? Its a light blue with vertical stripes and yellow/ orange egg spots however the from fins arnt black like photos ive seen. Could the colours get alot brighter over time?

Look forward to hearing from you..

P.s i hope you dont mind me adding all this to my newbie pist haha

Welcome Arron!
You are going to have so much fun with your new tank.

Thanks Jcarson702 yeah im finding it ever so relaxing when feeling ive had a loaded day.

Arron yeates · « **Reply #15 on:** February 22, 2019, 10:48:26 PM »

Well lost my first fish today, small demasoni it was getting thinner compared to the rest just got back and found it on the bottom mouth open no signs of attack. Removed from water now and i have checked ammonia and nitrite all fine. However my synodontis is about 2.5 inches and has developed a bloated stomach, i noticed that when i feed the algae tablets and stick one to the glass the syno is very greedy. I feed the cichlids every 3 daysthe syno eats with them. I did a 30% water change this morning. Any surgestions would be great. Do synodontis need a male to produce or not and how long would it takr for one to show as ive only had it for about 3 weeks.

Thanks
Arron

jcarson702 · « **Reply #16 on:** February 23, 2019, 02:47:11 AM »

Quote from: Arron yeates on February 22, 2019, 10:48:26 PM

Well lost my first fish today, small demasoni it was getting thinner compared to the rest just got back and found it on the bottom mouth open no signs of attack. Removed from water now and i have checked ammonia and nitrite all fine. However my synodontis is about 2.5 inches and has developed a bloated stomach, i noticed that when i feed the algae tablets and stick one to the glass the syno is very greedy. I feed the cichlids every 3 daysthe syno eats with them. I did a 30% water change this morning. Any surgestions would be great. Do synodontis need a male to produce or not and how long would it takr for one to show as ive only had it for about 3 weeks.

Thanks
Arron

Sorry for your loss!
I have been reading and because I dont read so well I may have missed it. How long has your tank been running, and running with fish in it?

Arron yeates · « **Reply #17 on:** February 23, 2019, 06:50:29 AM »

The tanks been running with fish in for 2 months now, once cycle completed 6 fish were added then a week after water check and then if good 6 more amd so on there was 17 fish in there take away one now 16. All fish very healthy and eating well when fed. Its a 200l 53/55gallon tank. External filter, weekly 25/30% water changes and sand vac if needed without fail and feeding once a week. I did notice that the demasoni that dies started looking thin and has been hiding alot compared to the other 2 demasoni i there however out of the 3 demasoni 2 are looking thing now ones died the other looks very healthy and full of colour.

jcarson702 · « **Reply #18 on:** February 23, 2019, 04:04:53 PM »

My experience with demasoni after the first 6 that I started off with is that they are extremely aggressive with each other after a couple months I only had 3 left and seemed to have passed without explanation. I reached out for help too.

I was told that given my tank size and set up that maybe more were needed to help spread out aggression.
So this time I added a dozen that I picked up from a LFS that had them on sale and after 4 months now they are still alive and 2 of them have held even being extremely small.

They are still extremely violent with each other but I do know that any one fish is not chased around as with only having a few as in your case.

Not saying the cause of your demasoni death is due to aggression but the aggression displayed by these fish may have been too much for it and caused it to become stressed and not eat and eventually pass.

My opinion on demasoni is to have at least a dozen or so.

Cant help with the synodontis as I have never kept any.

Arron yeates · « **Reply #19 on:** February 23, 2019, 06:04:01 PM »

Quote from: jcarson702 on February 23, 2019, 04:04:53 PM

My experience with demasoni after the first 6 that I started off with is that they are extremely aggressive with each other after a couple months I only had 3 left and seemed to have passed without explanation. I reached out for help too.

I was told that given my tank size and set up that maybe more were needed to help spread out aggression.
So this time I added a dozen that I picked up from a LFS that had them on sale and after 4 months now they are still alive and 2 of them have held even being extremely small.

They are still extremely violent with each other but I do know that any one fish is not chased around as with only having a few as in your case.

Not saying the cause of your demasoni death is due to aggression but the aggression displayed by these fish may have been too much for it and caused it to become stressed and not eat and eventually pass.

My opinion on demasoni is to have at least a dozen or so.

Cant help with the synodontis as I have never kept any.
[/quote

Thanks for the rwply yeah totally agree, ive actually just looked and a second denasini has died. Im going to do a water testvagain now. Last night ammonia was fine and so was the nitrite. Bugging me now hoping no mpre go. Just noticed a few flashing through the water and then on the rick but no sign of any infection or wgite spot. Some have bewn grazing on the sand bed so may have irratated gills?

Kingston1 · « **Reply #20 on:** February 23, 2019, 07:23:43 PM »

When you say "Ammonia and Nitrites" are fine, what is "Fine"?

Arron yeates · « **Reply #21 on:** February 24, 2019, 07:13:53 AM »

Quote from: Kingston1 on February 23, 2019, 07:23:43 PM

When you say "Ammonia and Nitrites" are fine, what is "Fine"?
[/qurote]

Ammonia is at zero. Api liquid test kit = yellow

Nitrite is at zero. Api liguid test kit = very light blue

jcarson702 · « **Reply #22 on:** February 24, 2019, 04:10:14 PM »

Bugging me now hoping no mpre go. Just noticed a few flashing through the water and then on the rick but no sign of any infection or wgite spot. Some have bewn grazing on the sand bed so may have irratated gills?

Even having white spot or ich still not as deadly as their aggression to one another.

"Grazing" on the sand bed is something these fish do and usually not going to irritate their gills.

Demasoni will fight constantly, and from my experience will fight until there is only one left. Or at least the weaker ones picked off.

Were the demasoni added as a group (at the same time?) Its possible the came to you with a bacterial infection. Was there a "quarantine" time?

Arron yeates · « **Reply #23 on:** February 24, 2019, 07:04:53 PM »

Unfortionatly i dont have a seperate tank to quarantine fish, however the 3 demasoni and 3x yellow labs were bought from the same lfs and introduced to the tank as first fish together all have been fine untill now. All fish seem healthy the last demasoni is looking heathly and dominant.

jcarson702 · « **Reply #24 on:** February 25, 2019, 12:27:17 AM »

Quote from: Arron yeates on February 24, 2019, 07:04:53 PM

Unfortionatly i dont have a seperate tank to quarantine fish, however the 3 demasoni and 3x yellow labs were bought from the same lfs and introduced to the tank as first fish together all have been fine untill now. All fish seem healthy the last demasoni is looking heathly and dominant.

I didnt have quarantine space either at first, but what I did was get a sponge filter seeded in the main tank that I can use to put in a five gallon bucket or a ten gallon tote that I used for quarantine until I was able to get more tank space. Get a sponge filter seeded so you'll have it when you need it.

Lol, but really not laughing he is the "last man standing" of course he is healthy and dominant.

Man this is one of those mystery things that happen from time to time in Im sure EVERYONE'S tanks.