Thu Oct 10, 2019 8:34 am
Thu Oct 10, 2019 1:20 pm
Kiks wrote: 1. The water in my tank has a bit of current. The fish aren't being pushed around, but in some areas of the tank they have to use quite some energy to keep in one spot. Is this okay or is it too much? There are places with rocks where the current is less, but I don't want to exhaust them.
Fish are not expected to eat for the first 24 hours in a new tank and may not eat well for the first week. Post the ingredients of the food you have.Kiks wrote:2. I bought some food when I bought the fish since the food I had is flakes and general bottom feeder food like algae wafers and such. The store employee gave me some food which says it's for American cichlids. I asked him if it made a difference since the multis are African and he said it doesn't - but I don't quite believe this. On some website it even stated that feeding Africans with food made for Americans could be dangerous because their dietary preferences are so different. Should I buy a different food? Might add that they don't seem too stoked about the food, they tend to spit out most of it from what I can see.
Regarding fin spots...does it look like pigment? Regarding the eye...maybe an injury? it does sound swollen. Clean water is best unless you see more symptoms...and injuries heal very fast...improving every day.Kiks wrote:3. One of the multis have an odd white spot on it's fin. It's rather large, but kind of see-through like the rest of the fin. To me it doesn't look like fungus (it's not fluffy looking or raised), it even looks to be shining in bright light. It's also not equally white on either side of the fin. Any idea what it could be? It also has one eye that looks to be larger than the other, which I'm thinking is pop-eye. I intend to cure it by keeping it in clean water unless there are any other options? Looking at the picture of the eye, I'm actually thinking it might not be that much larger, but appears larger because it seems like part of the "shiny" part of the eye is uncovered more on one side than the other... I don't know.
Thu Oct 10, 2019 1:36 pm
Welcome to Cichlid-forum!
I would tone it down a bit...what is your total GPH?
Fish are not expected to eat for the first 24 hours in a new tank and may not eat well for the first week. Post the ingredients of the food you have.
Regarding fin spots...does it look like pigment? Regarding the eye...maybe an injury? it does sound swollen. Clean water is best unless you see more symptoms...and injuries heal very fast...improving every day.
Thu Oct 10, 2019 5:59 pm
Ingredients: Whole Antarctic Krill Meal, High Omega-3 (DHA) Herring Meal, Whole Sardine Meal, Wheat Flour, Kelp, Spirulina, Garlic, Astaxanthin (Haematococcus Algae), Calcium Montmorillonite Clay, Vitamin A Acetate, L-Ascorby-2-Polyphospate (Source of Vitamin C), D-Activated Animal-Sterol (D3), DL Alphatocopherol (E), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Thiamine, Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Biotin, Choline Chloride,Cobalt Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Selenium, Zinc.
Fri Oct 11, 2019 1:19 am
GPH seems low for cichlids, but you do not want them to have only limited places to rest in the tank. Not sure I have the liters and gallons and GPH all converted correctly, but either way we usually do 8X to 10X GPH for cichlids.
The first ingredients are most important. Specify the fish and the source. Aquatic protein and aquatic vegetation like spirulina. These are high quality ingredients.
You don't want ground up fish from farms...they tend to have high heavy metal content.
WRT the spot...lots of cichlids have egg spots on their fins, and I see lots of spots on shellie fins but not exactly what you describe. Cichlid bad fin spots are similar to other fish...ich or fin rot, etc.
Fri Oct 11, 2019 4:54 am
Fri Oct 11, 2019 5:55 am
Fri Oct 11, 2019 1:26 pm
Fri Oct 11, 2019 2:14 pm
I have been keeping African cichlids for the last 16 years. Malawi and Tanganyika, but mostly Tanganyika. New Life Spectrum Cichlid Formula and Northfin Cichlid Formula is what they have been fed. Northfin more so in recent years but I think both brands are great. DJRansome has given great advice.
From Tanganyika I have kept tropheus, cyprichromis, furcifers, compressiceps, frontosas, enantiopus; some of these not the easiest fish to keep but I think one reason I have been successful is that I have used good quality food and been careful about which fish were kept together and which ones were better on their own.
Fri Oct 11, 2019 3:48 pm
Sun Oct 13, 2019 9:00 am
Sun Oct 13, 2019 11:00 am
punman wrote:Sorry, no idea on the white spot. Maybe if you post in the Illness, Health and Disease section, you might get more feedback.
naturlvr wrote:Hi Kiks. I am glad to have another shellie wanna be in this forum who asks questions. You will get a lot of great advice in here. I have never been steered wrong. DJ and others are truly glad to help you...it must be their calling.
I have a couple of tanks devoted to the shell dwellers and the fish that go with them. Right now I have a pair out of ten gold occellatus that are breeding..started quickly after i got them. So far the babies are not making it and probably eaten by the other fish. I hope the parents soon learn how to protect them, if that is possible because I too want to see an active colony.
Sun Oct 13, 2019 11:14 am
Sun Oct 13, 2019 11:51 am
DJRansome wrote:If the fish is repeatedly driven toward the surface, that is too much. Multi's like a lot of shells...100 are not too many. But usually all in one pile...multi level.
Sun Oct 13, 2019 12:07 pm