my fish got eatin

[curtis20]

I made a thread a couple months back( which i cant find) about my putting 4 chiclids in a 20 gallon tank. I think they are chiclids. 1 is all gold,1 is grey with some dark strips. and 2 are the same type light coloured with a black stripe on each side of them. anyways they grew that much in the past months. I would always see them playing together and they would all follow my finger. i feed them twice a day. Just now i checked on them and my dark coloured one was lying on the rocks dead. he was eatin, his eyes his fins and a big hole on the side of him below his head. I have no idea what has happened and why the other fish did this to him. i wonder if it was all 3 fish that ate him or just 1 fish. I wish i knew because i have a big chiclid in a tank all alone thats hungry. Anyways im sad now

Click on the pic to make it bigger
http://gallery.filefront.com/curtis20//198108/

[cstrohmeyer]

How big are your fish now?
How big is your aquarium?
Do you have rocks and caves for submissive cichlids to hide from the dominate ones in? (this still may not be the answer if your aquarium is too small or your cichlids are too aggressive)
When cichlids are ready to breed they become much more territorial too.

Carl
Aquarium Design and Maintenance since 1978
http://americanaquariumproducts.com/AquariumProducts.html

[curtis20]

Fish are about 1 and a half Inches long
Tank is 10 gallons
They do not have much of caves but they have a couple temples that they fit in and under it.

I do not know if any of them are females so i do not know if they are pregant or not.

[jonesy zoo]

hang in there...Betachris should be along soon and he will be able to help...

[curtis20]

Im waiten for him

[cstrohmeyer]

Not to sound too harsh, but your aquarium is too small for cichlids even of that size. As for male or female, most likely they are not carrying eggs yet. You will see them paired of and defending an area of your aquarium.
You really need at least a 60 gallon and lots of places for the fish to escape and nest. Some cichlids such as convicts can breed well with other fish present, but many will not tolerate other tank mates.

Carl
Aquarium Design and Maintenance since 1978
http://americanaquariumproducts.com/...mProducts.html

[curtis20]

But are these fish chiclids? did you look at the pciture? I know my tank is to smal i have come to figure that out. im working on a bigger tank as we speek. i did have plans for a bigger tank earlier but those plans got messed up by someone taking the tank that i had put money down on.

[cstrohmeyer]

First time I clicked on your URL I did not get a picture of a fish tank, I got something else. I checked again, and this time a picture came up. You appear to have a Red Zebra African and either [2] Auratus Africans or a pair of Kribs (all cichlids).
The good news is they do not get as large, but they need caves and rocks more than the larger species. If these are Kribs (hard to tell from the picture) they are fairly passive. If they are Auratus, they will get quite aggressive.

And I am not trying you make you feel guilty, I would like this to be a pleasent hobby, so try and get a larger tank when you can, add more rocks, read up a little about Mbuna and their needs, feed them a quality diet (Spirulina based foods are excellent- http://spirulina-algae.blogspot.com/ ), keep good water conditions (water changes, proper ph 8.0 and up, KH of 80ppm or higher, ect.), change water regularly. Do some of these basics and I think will really enjoy the hobby.

Carl
Aquarium Design and Maintenance since 1978
http://americanaquariumproducts.com/...mProducts.html

[Bettachris]

i did notice the kribs, but to me for a quick glance at the pic looks like 2 males. but the middle is a african cichlid.

like u know a bigger tank is ness. but there really shouldn't be any real aggression in that tank unless they are hungry.

[krazy4birds]

Checked out your picture and as a novice I think it looks great! Just wanting to make that statement. Good luck in getting your new tank and set up. I had fish years ago and it was not a cheap deal back then I can only imagine what it is now. I am more of a bird person now but I do have one Red Betta. His name is Ozzie....ok,ok.....so that dates me LOL that's ok....woodstock days are hard to turn loose of!!!! :rolleyes: j/k

[curtis20]

Well thank you for that . it makes my hard work pay off a bit :) I would love to see pics of your pets

[Bettachris]

yea hard work pays off, i still have fishes in my first original tank that are over 10 years old. i put alot of work into fishkeeping and i how u will contiune to as well.

[curtis20]

Thx Chris and i will continue. My cats sit infront of tank for hours and try to catch the fish and the fish tease them. I have it so the fish cannot get to the fish but the i guess the cats keep them company.