Killer Festive Cichlid?

[chocolicious]

from about mid last week until this morning i have found a dead platy in my tank being munched on by my festive cichlid. After i take the cichlid out he starts trying to go for the Black neons and red phantom tetra's thankfully not catching any though. But recently i have lost alot of platies and only have two left, one of which i bred myself and really do not want to lose. Is there any reason my festive would be doing this ? and can i be sure it is him?. After the light has been on for about 10 mins he doesn't seem to chase any fish and seems as peacful as the angels again.

Recently i have lost an angelfish , a male fighter , a Discus an albino shark and another festive cichlid that i was confused about ,as it happened about once every couple of monthish. But now this platy almost every night has made me think is my festive really killing the fish? Can anyone help me on this? i thought festives were suppose to be like angels and socialise with them , whereas mine seems to keep to his own near the top and never go near the angels.

 

[Wills]

What is the total capacity of this tank? To me it sounds like your cichlids were a bit crammed in there with what 5 HRP 4 angel fish 1 krib 2 festivums and 2 discus thats 14 cichlids and some weaker than others in levels of aggression and all in a 4 foot tank with other often aggressive fish like fighters, rainbow sharks and a male betta you mentioned?

I just think that the reason you are having problems with fish dieing is because you have perhaps not researched the fish you bought enough before you bought them.

Wills

 

[chocolicious]

What is the total capacity of this tank? To me it sounds like your cichlids were a bit crammed in there with what 5 HRP 4 angel fish 1 krib 2 festivums and 2 discus thats 14 cichlids and some weaker than others in levels of aggression and all in a 4 foot tank with other often aggressive fish like fighters, rainbow sharks and a male betta you mentioned?

I just think that the reason you are having problems with fish dieing is because you have perhaps not researched the fish you bought enough before you bought them.

Wills

Well the extra hondurans are only babies as in like half an inch long they're going to my bf's mums soon is just a temporary solution and all the fish are small atm, so they ain't cramped at all. Plus none of the fish fight at all except this one festive that just seems to be a bit aggressive from time to time and then trying to nip fish in the mornings. Never had any problems till now and had my fish over a year

 

[shroob]

I wouldn't blame the festivum just yet, probably the platy died of other causes and the festivum was just eating it after it died (most fish will do this). I would however look at your stocking options again. Festivums prey on small fish in the wild and will take any chance to eat any smaller fish they can (again, most fish will do this).

Its also normal for festivums to be at the top of the tank, angels prefer the mid tank region I believe so I wouldn't be concerned about that.

Whats your maintinance regime like? How long has the tank been running etc? The more information the better.

I would also suggest doing a little more research about compatible fish and their needs.

 

[chocolicious]

I wouldn't blame the festivum just yet, probably the platy died of other causes and the festivum was just eating it after it died (most fish will do this). I would however look at your stocking options again. Festivums prey on small fish in the wild and will take any chance to eat any smaller fish they can (again, most fish will do this).

Its also normal for festivums to be at the top of the tank, angels prefer the mid tank region I believe so I wouldn't be concerned about that.

Whats your maintinance regime like? How long has the tank been running etc? The more information the better.

I would also suggest doing a little more research about compatible fish and their needs.

i do research on my fish everytime before i buy and i knew someone who had been keeping fish since he was 5 and knows alot and that in some cases you can 'bend the rules' learned alot from him tbh, We clean the tank twice a week with just a 10% water change and the tank has been running for over a year now , just seems strange how it's all of a sudden fish have been dying. Had all these fish since the start , well except the 1 discus.

Also we are going to be moving the Honduran red point pair into the 3 foot tank with the blue eyed's once i get my divider for the tank

 

[shroob]

I don't mean to sound aggressive/insultive but if you did research you should have expected the festivums to try and eat the neons. You should have questioned discus with fish such as ablino sharks/fighting fish.

 

[Wills]

I have to agree with shroob to be fair, I agree that at times you can bend some fish rules but discus in that kind of tank is a massive risk to the health of the fish. Like Shroob Im not trying to be aggressive with the replies but I have to ask, if you and your friend know more than us why did you ask?

I do think that some of the problems you are facing are due to the stocking issues I raised, I know that you have had the fish for a year or more but this does actually raise a point to the fact that at a little over a year most SA and CA cichlids will start to become sexually mature - I know most will breed readily before a year old but at a year old the maturity starts to mean that in their natural environment they would be moving up the pecking order and the same happens in tanks but because they are mixed with different fish and dont have their own species to compete with so focus on other fish - this is something that realistically most hobbyists cant deal with 100% but we can try and do things to reach a compromise point.

An other thing I can think of is filter maintenance how often to you keep on top of that? I am terrible at it because taking apart my filter is so complicated so I only do it maybe once every six weeks or more when it should be more regular but in the past like in my first few years of keeping fish I never did it and actually ended up in a similar situation to you now where I was unexplainably loosing a fish every few weeks then realised what was going on and from then on managed to keep on top of it though like I say my routine is a little sloppy still.

Like I say I offered my advice and got a very defensive response back Im not trying to fight back just outline my points and thoughts on the issues you could be facing but its upto you if you want to take it on board or not.

Wills