I'm mad at my fish

[Sorrell]

My African tank is 100gal and it has caves and a few plants. There are currently 7 African cichlids in there (aurutus, johanni, electric blue) and then Mongo, my micro-pacu who is 5 years old and about 6 inches long, just never grew any bigger.
Anyway, the tank is seriously understocked for Malawis and everytime I add new fish everything is fine untill the lights go out. Next morning the new fish are gone.
Why are they killing new tankmates?! It's getting really irratating, let alone expensive! I know it's not Mongo, this was happening before he moved in (he'll soon be moving out, they are too mean to him).

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can increase the stock in this tank? It's a lot of tank for only seven fish...

 

[treefrog]

Well they are very territorial, so you could majorly rearrange the tank when adding new fish. Also add several not just one or two.

 

[vantgE]

Exactly what i'd suggest too

 

[TheeMon]

what they said, oh and pacu's rock btw

 

[Sorrell]

Well the last batch was three fish, and two were gone by morning, the other the next day. I'll try moving stuff around, but I feel bad buying a fish to send it to it's death, ya know?

 

[vantgE]

Do you add them at night with the lights out i hear that helps too

 

[TheeMon]

how many you gonna put in there total? maybey you could buy 7+ (maybey a more meaner but less agressive species)

 

[-=DG=-]

Pull all the rocks out (or flatten the cave holes). Put new fish in. And then put the rocks back in the day after. Always works for me

 

[JeremyD]

Do you add them at night with the lights out i hear that helps too

Actually, if I have a problem with aggression when adding new fish I do quite the opposite. I add the fish at the height of the feeding frenzy. This way the fish are all too busy eating to pay any attention to their new tank mates.




BTW, johanni and auratus are both VERY agressive species. What type of fish are you adding?

 

[Sorrell]

The last batch was a male auratus and a pair of polystigma.

 

[wrs]

maybe u can take the bad ones out, then put the new ones in and let them find hidding spots then put the old ones back in? i have 2 do that w/my molly because he kills all the new ones 2

 

[freshmike]

Lots of good suggestions....what size are the new fish? Same size? Smaller?
I would definitely blame the deaths on territory though. The best advice is to pull all of the territorial posts from the tank and then add the new fish....once they have settled in, then put the decorations back. Another way to do it is to pull the old fish and put them back in after the new ones are in...but you probably would have to do the decoration thing again....

Basically, you have to change their world, before they will accept new friends. Just my opinion of course.

 

[wuvmybetta]

Basically, you have to change their world, before they will accept new friends. Just my opinion of course.

That's reason enough for me to not add any more fish! The last time I added the baby fronts it was a royal pain! rearranging 3 times in a month

Best of luck,Sorrell!!

 

[Chrisismyrealname]

I have just finished stocking my 400 l (88 gal) tank with a wide range of malawi's I found adding big groups of juviniles worked really well everyone doesn't seem as botherd when little. Groups of 10+ worked very well. Try adding all fish of the same species at the same time as well, I find there is a lot more aggression between fish of the same species so adding more of the same species later will probably cause more problems. Also try adding things that look completly different to what you have in there at the moment.

I think with mbuna it helps to keep big numbers of the same fish. I have no problems with my 8 P. Zebra or 10 P. Saulosi (4m : 6f) but my 4 hongi (2 pairs) are always fighting.

When stocking like this you have to watch your water quality though I was performing 10% water changes every day for a week or so until my filter cycled up. I also used nitrasorb bags and fishless cycling before hand.

I hope this helps good luck and if you ever get a full tank watch your arm hair once theres a big group of them they gain confidence and thats when they strike!