moonraker
New Member
I have a 540 litre tank with mix of african cichlids, a couple of catfish, and a couple of bristlenose. The inhabitants are vigorous, and generally healthy. I currently have 4 females holding.
I bought a pair of Fossies at the start of the year, a male and female, each now about 8 inches long. The male is in full colour, and gives the female more attention than she wants. He seems to be thriving. However she does have a rock cave as a refuge from which she spends much time peering out. He ignores her when she is in her cave. None of the other fish bother her, at least when I am around.
At feeding time she comes out to join the scrum, but she seems only to go through the motions of eating. Fossies have very big mouths, and the male at least gets his fair share without trouble. When I first had her, she did the same.
The female gets food in her mouth, but very often it just drifts out again. She is not eating properly. Its almost as though she has forgotten how to eat. She is getting emaciated, with a very concave belly, and she generally looks skinny.
I feed my fish on a combination of medum sized floating, and small sinking cichlid pellets (to give the smaller fish a chance). The catfish clean up what gets to the bottom, so not much is left. They also sometimes get courgette on a skewer.
I've just bought some frozen bloodworms which I hope to tempt her with, but I am concerned that food type is not the problem.
Could it be stress caused by the old man - should I consider trying to obtain a second female? (They get to be big fish, so having three could cause other complications). Is it the food? - unlikely as the male does very well, or could there be a disease or parasite problem?
Kevin
I bought a pair of Fossies at the start of the year, a male and female, each now about 8 inches long. The male is in full colour, and gives the female more attention than she wants. He seems to be thriving. However she does have a rock cave as a refuge from which she spends much time peering out. He ignores her when she is in her cave. None of the other fish bother her, at least when I am around.
At feeding time she comes out to join the scrum, but she seems only to go through the motions of eating. Fossies have very big mouths, and the male at least gets his fair share without trouble. When I first had her, she did the same.
The female gets food in her mouth, but very often it just drifts out again. She is not eating properly. Its almost as though she has forgotten how to eat. She is getting emaciated, with a very concave belly, and she generally looks skinny.
I feed my fish on a combination of medum sized floating, and small sinking cichlid pellets (to give the smaller fish a chance). The catfish clean up what gets to the bottom, so not much is left. They also sometimes get courgette on a skewer.
I've just bought some frozen bloodworms which I hope to tempt her with, but I am concerned that food type is not the problem.
Could it be stress caused by the old man - should I consider trying to obtain a second female? (They get to be big fish, so having three could cause other complications). Is it the food? - unlikely as the male does very well, or could there be a disease or parasite problem?
Kevin
