How To Net An Mbuna

[PEneoark]

One of my ciclids has not been eating. He just hides most of the time. I don't think he is sick. He is just timid of the feeding frenzy of the other fish. I want to move it to a mesh isolation tank inside the tank. I cannot catch the guy for the live of me. I have nineteen other fish in the tank, and do not want to disturb the rockwork. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Andrew

 

[elisew]

Erm, without seeming too blunt......if you don't want to disturb the rocks then it's unlikely you'll be able to catch him. You either want to catch him or you don't, simple really.
Moving rocks or pulling out plants is all part and parcel of catching fish from a busy, decorated tank as many people here will tell you.

 

[PEneoark]

#41####. It took my two hours to arrange them. There are lots of them too. Maybe tomorrow night when I have some more time.

Do you think I should actually isolate him? He eats, but not much. He mainly feeds on scraps from the others that sink down to him. He is getting thin though.

 

[elisew]

If you're concerned about him and can see there's a problem then yes I think you should put him into a separate/quarantine tank and see if he starts to eat and put on weight

 

[Squidward]

No clue!
In my Mbuna tank which I had for 2 years, I never caught 1 fish!

I do know that some people take all the rocks out of the tank.
But mine took hours to put together, so wasn't bothered. But then I never really had a reason to do so.

 

[KittyKat]

A mesh isolation thingy won't do your fish any good.. you know, exposing him, leaving him no where to hide, making him feel insecure. Just get a smaller quarantine tank and use that, if you can. Remember about bacteria in the filter for the small tank, so use media from the large one.

 

[Squidward]

A mesh isolation thingy won't do your fish any good.. you know, exposing him, leaving him no where to hide, making him feel insecure. Just get a smaller quarantine tank and use that, if you can. Remember about bacteria in the filter for the small tank, so use media from the large one.

And also, you probably won't be able to put him back in the tank.
He will probably just get picked on again.

Maybe best just to move him on?

 

[KittyKat]

A mesh isolation thingy won't do your fish any good.. you know, exposing him, leaving him no where to hide, making him feel insecure. Just get a smaller quarantine tank and use that, if you can. Remember about bacteria in the filter for the small tank, so use media from the large one.

And also, you probably won't be able to put him back in the tank.
He will probably just get picked on again.

Maybe best just to move him on?

I have found that sometimes, isolating the fish and feeding it up to the point where it can fend for itself is good enough.

Also my Malawis are trained to hand feed, so I will actually target feed any which are looking thin (like females after holding fry).

 

[PEneoark]

I will try the hand feeding thing. They swarm to the glass when I get anywhere the tank anyway. I'm sure I could pick him for feeding. Thanks everyone.

 

[KittyKat]

I will try the hand feeding thing. They swarm to the glass when I get anywhere the tank anyway. I'm sure I could pick him for feeding. Thanks everyone.

I hope you have a hell of a lot of patience! It takes a long time.. but you should keep the option of isolating the individual you are worrying about open.

 

[PEneoark]

I've got patience, and will keep isolation in mind.

 

[Squidward]

I've got patience, and will keep isolation in mind.

The problem with isolating the fish is that you may not be able to re-introduce him back into the tank.

It's being picked on as it is.
If you remove it, how are you going to put it back in? It's not a good idea to introduce any individual fish into a tank.

 

[rifty]

moving the rock may actually help the fish as it will break up any territory tank all the rock out for an hour then put it back

 

[Monty-2010]

Personally i'd try to catch a few of the main aggressors take them out of the tank for a little while rearrange some of the rockwork then re introduce them, that should work in theory. It worked with my SA but not sure about africans