Former Newbie's African Cichlid Experience

I'm not holding out much hope for the peacock's recovery. I did some more researching and now think she has malawi bloat, which is probably my fault. I might over feed them a little, but that's because I want to make sure the fry get some too. Some of the websites I visited say that pellets aren't the best thing to be feeding them, especially if they aren't being soaked before feeding. So now I'm going to start soaking them and see about buy a big can of spirulina flakes next time I go to the pet store.

I caught the peacock very easily again, also with my hand. Almost got stabbed by the catfish a couple times too because she was hiding where the synodontis lives. I have her in a 5 gallon bucket with 2ish teaspoons of epsom salt and half a packet of API general cure which has Metronidazole as the main ingredient. Several articles said that Metronidazole was a good treatment. The bucket has an established sponge filter and an adjustable heater as well, so the water quality should be good for now.

I took a few more pics on Sunday, she looks worse than in the first pics. I hate seeing her like this, it's got to be painful.

Added the second dose of general cure, and she doesn't seem any thinner but I think she acts less lethargic than she was. I forgot to mention that I threw in one of the hybrid females that's been having issues for a long time, so hopefully I can cure both fish.

After a long time of not seeing either of the two gimpy fry, I finally saw one today. It's the second oldest and I'm thinking the youngest one didn't make it, which is fine. I'm debating on thinning some of them out by using them as feeders for the 55 gallon. I've already got my eye on a few of the promising ones and I don't mind letting nature take it's course with the others. Besides, I need to start making room for the future generations of OB peacocks, which is taking ages because the male seems to have zero interest in breeding.

The general cure treatment is complete and I've changed 100% of the water and added more epsom salt. The peacock looks better, I think. Her belly doesn't look as swollen and it isn't as squishy as it was before. The other fish looks better too, her weird wounds/patches seem to be completely gone. I'll put her back in the 29gal in another day or so.

Well things don't look too good for the dragon's blood. I believe she's developed a case of dropsy. Her scales are sticking out, she looks really bloated and even her eyes are bulging Not much I can do at this stage other than let nature take its course. She hasn't once pooped since I started treating her, nor has she eaten. I'm leaning more towards her being bloated rather than egg bound, when she passes I will open her up to see what happened.

For a new development, looks like the suspected male might actually be a female. It has gotten rather plump and the vent area looks about ready to pass eggs. We'll see in a couple days.

I wonder if its time to think about putting her to sleep rather than letting her suffer?

Just for the record I am not a fan of the clove oil method.

The clove oil method is the only way that I could think of to do it, but I don't have any on hand (and I just don't wanna do it). How would you do it Nick?

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER











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This will seem gruesome and must be done right the first time.

When you are ready, quickly net the fish, Place your thumb on one side of its head your index finger on the other side, the eyes and the area just behind them and squeeze as hard as you can, Basically crushing the skull and brain resulting in instant death, Its clean its instant and there is virtually no stress unlike clove oil where you net the fish put it in a container of water then add small amounts of oil over a few minutes first the fish is made unconscious by the oil and then suffocates.

Im sorry if the above instructions offend or upset anybody that is not my intention, These are the facts of fish keeping, I believe if you must euthanase a fish that it be done as quickly, painlessly and stress free as possible for the fish, Other slower methods are to make humans feel better about what they are going to do not the fish.

I was thinking more along the lines of pithing the brain, which is basically the same thing but you use a knife or similar pointed object to quickly destroy the brain, that's how my family does it when we are cleaning fish to eat. The fish dies quickly although there is a bit of quivering when the brain is penetrated.... I'll make up my mind tomorrow if I have the stomach to do it.

I forgot to mention some stuff about my trip to the pet shop today. I got to see my other male yellow lab/peacock and female blue zebra in the shop's show tank They are doing well and are living with dozens of other Africans, synodontis, loaches, and plecos. There was one huge black frontosa which looked awesome too. I bought two new adjustable heaters, one cobalt and one marineland both rated for a 40 gallon. Now the 20 tall and 29 will be at the right temps.

Ugh I feel disgusted with myself. I did it, I took a knife and destroyed the brain and now I feel terrible. But she was certainly beyond help, so better to do it quick than let her suffer for a few more days right? I'm going to do a bit of dissection now to make sure it was indeed Malawi bloat rather than egg binding. Will update in a few...

Don't feel bad, you did what you had to do and now the fish is no longer suffering. Remember in the wild a sick fish wouldn't survive for long any sign on weakness and its food for something else.

If you are squeamish I suggest you stop reading right HERE





So I cut her open and the first thing that come out is a ton of clear fluids.
See how larger the eyes are?



There wasn't much to see inside her, I expected to find angry intestines or a ton of eggs, but the digestive tract was all white to cream colored, completely clear of any organic matter. I then looked at the meager amount of eggs she had. I felt them and they were hard, like pebbles. Looks as though they had become nice and ripe, ready to be laid, but weren't and they shriveled up inside and she was unable to pass them. The yellow ones were still soft but the darker and clear-ish ones were solid.


My conclusion is, she was egg bound. If she was bloat then it would of been my fault for feeding them unfitting food, in which case I would feel worse. I feel okay now knowing that it couldn't be helped.

SIP.

So the suspected male is indeed a female. She's been holding eggs since Saturday evening. Didn't get to see the spawning process because of work but I'm pretty sure the first generation male is gonna be the dad. To keep track of the family tree, the male I traded in is this females dad, so the male I have now is her uncle. Guess we'll see how the third generation of yellow lab/peacocks turn out Also, the OB female looks really close to laying eggs. Hopefully the male will quit being afraid of the hybrid females and make me some babies.

I think there is another male from the 6 fry I kept from the oldest 2nd generation group. This is the one that had a pelvic fin bitten clean off (it's growing back). I am pretty sure this is also the one I nearly lost a while back when it jumped out the net and fell between the cedar chest and the wall. Either way it might be the first male that wasn't yellow as a fry. The only yellow one I kept of the six is the for-sure male.

The OB female is also holding, don't really remember which day it was so let's say it was the 23 of Feb. She and the 2nd generation female are still holding, so I'm hopeful that both are carrying good eggs. I'll be moving the hybrid to a 10gal so she can do her thing and probably strip the OB female. I think it's time to start thinning out the older fry in the 55 and keep only 6 or so for breeding. I've already got 2 in mind that I will trade in. The second batch of fry are beginning to grow out as well, out of those I plan on only keeping a few.
Here's a pic of the possible non-yellow male:

Update pic of the EB Ahli:


There's not much else to say, other than I think I will be moving fish around again. I really need to figure something permanent out for the corydoras, then I want to get them a few more friends.

I have an update. Guess who came out for feeding time in the 55? The 2nd gen female, who is no longer holding. I thought for sure she would have fertile eggs, but perhaps not. I also stripped the OB peacock, and I was surprised to see little wrigglers, and a lot of them. 35 or so are now in the egg tumbler and their mom is already begging for food. One of the little fry looks a bit underdeveloped. Going from the right to the left, the 6th yoke sac, you can see how much smaller it's eye is compared to the others.


Side note: I went to the LPS and had a nice chat with the lady there. She said the tanks will be fully stocked in 2 weeks with new fish, plants, driftwood etc I'm super excited and plan on taking some of the older fry and maybe a couple of the adult fish in to trade. I really need to take a few pic of their main tank next time (if they let me).