ill labidochromis caeruleus

Q&A about cichlids in community tanks

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muddassar1
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2008 1:16 am

ill labidochromis caeruleus

Post by muddassar1 »

hi Pam,
i have a 30 gallon aquarium with 4 labidochromis caeruleus, one Copadichromis borleyi ,two cyrtocara moori ,1 pseudotropheus socolofi(albino) , one convict cichlid (about 2 inch and very mild natured, overall not so dangerous as one usually hears about them), one blue morph. The aggression in my tank is very limited except for some stray instances.

The thing is that for the past 2-3 times one of the labidochromis stops eating and starves itself to death.
it swims on few occasions. but usually lies around in a corner. also the face turns dark and dark horizontal lines are visible on its body.
i change 30% water every 4-5 days. filter is fine, temperature is 77 degree F. no one chases him or harasses him. this happened with my other 2 labidochromis as well. and conditions were good for them. i mean their same species guys are all active and swimming around. and just one of them stops eating and dies in 10-15 days.

can you tell me why? as i am too confused about it.
Thanks in advance . Take care.
Pam Chin
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Re: ill labidochromis caeruleus

Post by Pam Chin »

Hi Muddasar,

Well I see several red flags with your set up. It is overcrowded, you have way too many fish for this size of tank. The fish you have chosen are going to get too big for this size of aquarium. Too many fish means poor water conditions, even if you change your water 30% of your water every 5 days. Fish don't do well when you mix up to different countries i.e. a convict from Central America with the Malawi Lake Cichlids, they don't know how to react to each other so they just stress out. The Labidochromis are just the first to react to these conditions and they are stressing out on you.

I am not sure how your tank is set up. But 30 gal tank with sand/gravel, rocks, decorations and that it is not totally filled to the brim, would give you about 15 gallons of actual water. I suspect that there is also more aggression then you realize, it doesn't have to be all physical, the mental agression kills off fish too.

I would suggest a larger tank ASAP!!! and if you can't do that, then we need to start over, and work on what kinds of cichlids will work in this size of tank.

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