Sorry you lost your fish.
I don't know what killed them. Where there were some improvement for the orange fish after water changes it may have been partialy due to poor water quality. In a 30 gallon tank water quality will go down hill much quicker than in a larger tank. The major factor in keeping water quality where it should be is weekly partial water changes.
The white coloring around the fish's mouth may indicate some kind of bacterial infection although you can't really determine too much by a fish's color after death. Their bodies break down really quick.
Just having only two cichlids in ANY size tank, but especially in a small one, sets you up for problems with aggression so while aggression may not have killed either of them outright the stress would have set them up for other problems.
My advise: hold onto this 30 gallon to use a quarantine/hospital/fry tank and get a much larger tank. (Minimum: 55 gallon) You'll be able to have more fish and they'll be much easier to take care of.
Again, sorry you lost the fish. Best of luck in setting up a new tank.
Robin
I don't know what killed them. Where there were some improvement for the orange fish after water changes it may have been partialy due to poor water quality. In a 30 gallon tank water quality will go down hill much quicker than in a larger tank. The major factor in keeping water quality where it should be is weekly partial water changes.
The white coloring around the fish's mouth may indicate some kind of bacterial infection although you can't really determine too much by a fish's color after death. Their bodies break down really quick.
Just having only two cichlids in ANY size tank, but especially in a small one, sets you up for problems with aggression so while aggression may not have killed either of them outright the stress would have set them up for other problems.
My advise: hold onto this 30 gallon to use a quarantine/hospital/fry tank and get a much larger tank. (Minimum: 55 gallon) You'll be able to have more fish and they'll be much easier to take care of.
Again, sorry you lost the fish. Best of luck in setting up a new tank.
Robin
