Cichlid Attacked

Jan

Medium Fish
Jun 27, 2004
78
0
0
Canada
#1
I had to go to class so I never had time to check on them today. Anyway when I got home, one of my african cichlids were attacked pretty badly, now it barely moves. I've taken it out ,put it into a hospital tank and added some melafix. What else can I do???? It looks bad.
 

Jul 9, 2003
8,866
14
38
38
Columbia, SC
www.youtube.com
#9
Had to be a territory issue. I'm guessing these are Mbuna? This happens as its normal in cichlids. I'd suggest you turn off the light in that hospital tank and give it time to recover.

Oscarowner. males attack males and females....females attack males and females...everyone attacks each other in a Mbuna tank. Anything goes basically. Sometimes after breeding males will attack the females. Them and other fish beat on her till she releases the eggs/fry she is holding...nice meal.
 

Jan

Medium Fish
Jun 27, 2004
78
0
0
Canada
#10
The egg thing is probably correct cause this one does look like it's pregnant. I saw them doing this "dance" thing where they twirl around each other for awhile.
 

Kyle

Large Fish
Aug 5, 2004
399
0
0
My House
#11
I have seen those mixed African Cichlids at walmart before, and they are mean. The last time I was there they put a lace catfish in with them and they were beating it up. I felt so sorry for it. They are just down right mean fish.
 

#12
Kyle said:
I have seen those mixed African Cichlids at walmart before, and they are mean. The last time I was there they put a lace catfish in with them and they were beating it up. I felt so sorry for it. They are just down right mean fish.
indeed they are mean, but mainly because they are so territorial. Easy things to fix that, is to set up a well habitat (rocks or some tank decorations that have small or medium holes in it, so they can claim it. My 10 gallon tank now has 2 adults and 5 babies that are 1" 1/2 inches in length. They are all fine now that I gave them places to hide in. I noticed the female had nipped fins before she had babies, so I bought some decoration rocks for them to all hide in. It worked great. Now they are spawning every other month!
 

#13
Jan said:
The egg thing is probably correct cause this one does look like it's pregnant. I saw them doing this "dance" thing where they twirl around each other for awhile.
The dance thing is the male trying to get the female to mate with him or he is trying to promote the female to release the fry from her mouth. My male will do the dance thing (he stays in one spot in front of the female) and shakes his body back and forth in a vibrating way.