[mattawan_cichlid]

Hey I have a female Acei who is acting really weird. She is sitting in the corner of the tank, I thought she was dead. I tried to get her our with my net, but then she swam off. Then 20 minutes later she swam back and laid on it again. She is not responsive to me tapping the glass or waving my hand, when she usually swims back to the rocks. I'm worried cuz I've had her for almost a year. She is in a 75 gallon with another male Acei, and 3 yellow labs. I know they need more females, but she actually picks on the male more, so I didn't think adding more females was a necessity, because I have about 70 of her fry growing out right now. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[DanniGirl]

How is her breathing?

 

[DJRansome]

What are the test results for pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? Is this the same tank you have cyanobacteria in?

 

[mattawan_cichlid]

Yup same tank DJR. She seems to be breathing fine, and my results are...
pH is about 8, Nitrites .2-.3 ppm, nitrates 5-10 ppm, and I don't have ammonia on my test strips.

 

[DJRansome]

The nitrites could be bothering her...my fish are gasping at the surface at 0.5. Is she eating and pooping?

 

[mattawan_cichlid]

She has been doing fine like I said. But she just sits on the bottom and lays there, I looked at her this morning and she seems to be doing fine, but she isn't gasping and she is eating fine.

 

[newforestrob]

how often is she holding and mating she maybe exhausted

 

[Guams]

How long ago did she spit those fry and how soon afterward did you reintroduce her into the main tank with the male? The reason I ask is because I had a group of acei, two of which spawned regularly. If i put the female back in before she had time to get back her energy, the male would nearly kill her. If I waited a couple weeks and let her strengthen up, she did much better.

Maybe your male is ticked off that she's not ready to breed again.

 

[mattawan_cichlid]

She spit in the tank after holding for about 2 weeks, and then 3 or 4 days after she spit I noticed her sitting in the edge. But now she is swimming around with the male again, so I hope she is alright. As soon as those fry get a little bigger I will be adding another 2 or 3 females to spread out aggression and breeding.