My Fish Are Killing Fish When Im Not Watching!

[FWFishLover]

Lately I've Been Finding Fish Dead At The Bottom Of My Tank, One Of Them Had A Gil Torn A Little (It Looked Ripped)
My Fish WERE
1 Male Neon Swordtail
1 Jewel Cichlid
2 Electric Yellow Cichlid
1 Featherfin Catfish
1 Black Lyretail Molly
1 Angelfish

I Only Know The Swordtail's Gender.
My Tank Is A 20 Gallon With 25 Pounds Of Gravel (Flattened) And Two Peices Of Decor (One Being A Large Hiding Place The Other A Rock That The Catfish Like To Hide In)
I Also Have An Aqueon Filter And Heater (Aqueon)
I've Noticed Dominance From The Catfish But Not Very Much.
The Two Fish That Died/Were Killed Were
1 Black Lyretail Molly
1 Electric Yellow Cichlid

If It Matters The Angelfish And Molly Came To The Tank 2-5 Days Later Together.
The Livebearers Seem To Get Along With The Cichlids
Also I Know Many Of These Fish Are Not Good For 20g But They Are All VERY VERY Small
Maybe 2" For The Jewel And Swordtail
And 1" For The Lab
The Catfish Is Maybe 2.5" Or 3"
******************************UPDATE*********************************
I Have Taken In What You Guys Have Told Me And Plan On Returning The Cichlids And Doing A Livebearers Tank.
I Am Also Going To Return The Catfish And Angelfish

 

[Davo86]

Hi, welcome to the forum,

Wow, sorry but where to begin?

You have a jewel cichlid which as it grows can become insanely aggressive for its size, The labs also get aggressive and are best kept in a malaw mbuna setup with other similar cichlids, Also the featherfin and Angel can become quite territorial species,

All of these species require a bigger tank than a 20G,

 

[furry catfish]

hi and welcome to tff .Ok i'll start with the angel fish,I think they need more than 20 gallons.Electric yellows need a bigger tank and lake malawi conditions,this is probably why the fish died,you are over stocked so I think it is more likely that they died from disease rater than aggresion(although I know next to nothing about jewel cichlids ) .wait for more expierienced members to help you more than i can



good luck

chris

 

[hughessomefish]

Your molly may be next on the hit list along with the neon sword tail bud you really can't keep these big agressive, territoraly fish with these smaller shoaling fish.

 

[kribensis12]

Lately I've Been Finding Fish Dead At The Bottom Of My Tank, One Of Them Had A Gil Torn A Little (It Looked Ripped)
My Fish WERE
1 Male Neon Swordtail. A good choice for a 20g, but needs more of it's own kind. A ration of 1m/2-3f is a good idea.
1 Jewel Cichlid. While a okay choice for a 20g, it is not recommended for your stocking
2 Electric Yellow Cichlid. They need a bigger tank. It is recommended they have a 55g tank. The need a lot of hiding places (rock structures) and they are agressive.
1 Featherfin Catfish. [b]It is a poor choice of stocking for your tank[/b]
1 Black Lyretail Molly. While a good choice for a 20g, they do better in groups. A ratio of 1m/2-3f is good.
1 Angelfish. A good choice for a 20g, but they will eat small fish such as neon's ect.


I Only Know The Swordtail's Gender.
My Tank Is A 20 Gallon With 25 Pounds Of Gravel (Flattened) And Two Peices Of Decor (One Being A Large Hiding Place The Other A Rock That The Catfish Like To Hide In)
I Also Have An Aqueon Filter And Heater (Aqueon)
I've Noticed Dominance From The Catfish But Not Very Much.
The Two Fish That Died/Were Killed Were
1 Black Lyretail Molly
1 Electric Yellow Cichlid

If It Matters The Angelfish And Molly Came To The Tank 2-5 Days Later Together.

 

[FWFishLover]

hi and welcome to tff .Ok i'll start with the angel fish,I think they need more than 20 gallons.Electric yellows need a bigger tank and lake malawi conditions,this is probably why the fish died,you are over stocked so I think it is more likely that they died from disease rater than aggresion(although I know next to nothing about jewel cichlids ) .wait for more expierienced members to help you more than i can



good luck

chris

The Electric Yellows Were Quite Small Maybe 1 In. Tops

Hi, welcome to the forum,

Wow, sorry but where to begin?

You have a jewel cichlid which as it grows can become insanely aggressive for its size, The labs also get aggressive and are best kept in a malaw mbuna setup with other similar cichlids, Also the featherfin and Angel can become quite territorial species,

All of these species require a bigger tank than a 20G,

All Of The Fish (Except The FeatherFin) Are 2" And Under
The FeatherFin Is Maybe 3" Or 3.5"

 

[kribensis12]

Just because they are small now means absolutely nothing. They will grow, and as they get older, they will become more aggressive. How long has the tank been set up?

 

[FWFishLover]

Just because they are small now means absolutely nothing. They will grow, and as they get older, they will become more aggressive. How long has the tank been set up?

The Tank Has Been Up And Running Since December 26th

 

[CrystalClear16]

Just because they are small now means absolutely nothing. They will grow, and as they get older, they will become more aggressive. How long has the tank been set up?

The Tank Has Been Up And Running Since December 26th

As in, a week ago? It won't be cycled yet, meaning you will loose quite a few fish unfortunatly.

 

[snowflake311]

Your tank is over stocked. If cichlids don't have enough room they will make room. If you want cichlids get a larger tank 40 gal or more.

What's your water stats??? With that many fish in a 20 gal tank your ammonia could have spiked.

 

[erk628]

I agree with the others. The only way your tank could have cycled that fast is if you had either had mature filter or added mature media to a new filter. I really dont think its the fish killing one another but very likely could be but I think its more of the water conditions are doing the killing. Either way even if you get your tank cycled before long it will be world war 3 in your tank. I would suggest you get a good liquid testing kit most of use use API master test kit which tests for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and ph. Dont get the strips there to inacruate. In the mean time I would be doing 50% water changes and be trying to find most of those fish a new home

 

[fishnovice]

If you want to save your fish you MUST
1.Do big regular water changes, maybe 30% every day to keep toxic ammonia and nitrite levels down -otherwise your fish will be poisoned by txins from their own waste.
2. Get that molly and swordtail out NOW before teh cichlids kill them. Take them back to lfs ot offer them for rehomig in tgeh Classified sectin of this forum
3. Get a bigger tank. As others have already said your fish will soon grow big. Most cichlids are aggressive killers and helpless livebearers like swords and mollies won't stand a chance if they are attacked by cichlids. Don't be fooled by their small size -cichlids are cichlids as I learnt to my cost. I put 1 inch jewel fry in my community tank thinking they were harmless babies. Within 2 days they had killed and eaten my male swordtail.

 

[GAB99]

hi,

heres what most likely is happening to your tank

ammonia/nitrite poisoning combined with aggresion and crowded conditions and lots of stress

if i was you, return all the fish minus the sword tail and angelfish and do fish-in cycling with or without mature media

or return all the fish and do fishless cycling with or without mature media


here is more detail as to why your fish wind up dead.

the tank is way overstocked and there is allot of stress

these conditions also cause alot of ammonia being produced and since your tank isnt cycled it stays there, and when it reaches past .25 ppm it poisons fish.

these conditions also create very small territorys for the chiclids which heightens aggresion

 

[erk628]

Ok first off it depends on what you want to do. One if you want to keep the tank size you have now then this is what needs to be done.
1 Male Neon Swordtail (keep)
1 Jewel Cichlid (get rid of to agressive need special water parmeters)
2 Electric Yellow Cichlid (get rid of to agressive need special water parmeters)
1 Featherfin Catfish (get rid of need a 40 gallon)
1 Black Lyretail Molly (not sure about)
1 Angelfish(you can keep but it would prefer a taller tank)

If you want to go bigger like a 55 and have a african cichlid tank then keep the cichlids and get rid of the rest. Regardless what you wanna do big water changes about 50% a day is a must.