Hello,
I'm new on the forum and created this account because I just set up a tank for l. multifasciatus. Currently I have eight (bought them yesterday), but I'm hoping they'll add some fry to the colony soon.
My setup is based on pictures I've found of other shell dweller tanks and information online - I'm hoping I'm doing it all right.
I have a few questions that I'm hoping some of you might be able to answer.
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.
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.
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.
I've tried to attach some pictures of the fish in question and the entire tank - it's 47 gallons and of course cycled.
Any help would be very much appreciated. Not a beginner, but definitely a multi beginner
I'm new on the forum and created this account because I just set up a tank for l. multifasciatus. Currently I have eight (bought them yesterday), but I'm hoping they'll add some fry to the colony soon.
My setup is based on pictures I've found of other shell dweller tanks and information online - I'm hoping I'm doing it all right.
I have a few questions that I'm hoping some of you might be able to answer.
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.
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.
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.
I've tried to attach some pictures of the fish in question and the entire tank - it's 47 gallons and of course cycled.
Any help would be very much appreciated. Not a beginner, but definitely a multi beginner