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Post by murdock6701 on Nov 3, 2008 20:52:11 GMT -5
when I left for work this morning I had 3 harlequin rasboras - when I came home I had 2 - found what was left of my "dither fish" in the corner where the german blues hang out.....is this normal - am I not feeding them enough? flake + mini HBH cichlid pellets + dried bloodwoms or frozen brine shrimp twice a week....
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Post by brenda on Nov 3, 2008 21:14:57 GMT -5
I'm sure you are feeding fine. They may have picked at the body I have seen my fish do this before...even mollies.
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Post by jonv on Nov 3, 2008 21:21:20 GMT -5
My guess here is this really isn't a food issue. As you've mentioned a few times what you feed and how often John, I don't think this is related to lack of food. However, and Bill or John (8) could chime in maybe, you mentioned these were mature Rams you got, and possibly, with a mature group here, there's a chance I think that should breeding be comming on, aggression in many cichlid species, probably higher in egg laying types, becomes much more pronounced. That is one possiblity.
Another is you, hate to say this, have a homocidal Ram on your hands. It does happen at times in many different species. I swear to God, you'd never think it, but last year I had a small group of glofish, and something whittled the group down to like four or five. EVERY, and I do mean every time I tried to add more into this group, the new commers always were found dead within a week or two. The only possible explanation for this had to be aggression. I tried isolating new groups for a couple weeks, I tried buying from different stores, made sure they were from different groups etc...always the same result. You'd never think of a glofish as an aggressive type either, but for some reason, this group just didn't tolerate anyone new being added to it. On a funny side, I kind of mentioned I thought maybe they were taking cichlid lesson from the other fish in the tank ha ha. Wasn't the cichlids either. I whittled the groups down to the most mild of them, the ones I sent you, Electric Yellows, and then eventually, to none at all, just left them in the 20 by themselves, and they still destroyed any new additions. Just an odd group of homocidal maniacs I tell you. In the end, I gave them some poetic justice and housed them with my Arowana, and maybe a couple weeks later, glofish kind of just disappeared mysteriously ha ha!
It's still early to tell with your Rams John, and my incline here is to think you just have a very aggressive male on your hands, but time will tell. I can almost say I doubt it's from the food source.
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Post by murdock6701 on Nov 3, 2008 21:23:00 GMT -5
thanks Brenda - wondering what did him in? the 3 always schooled together and every day I check them thoroughly - this is new to me so I'm somewhat anal - do you have blues Brenda?
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Post by goldenpuon on Nov 3, 2008 21:33:41 GMT -5
Maybe it's hiding. I had a guppy dying fo old age a few months back and he hid and I could not find him fro the life of me even with the tank being sparsely planted. Look everywhere you can, especially with small fish, you're bound to find it provided it was not eaten. I also lost a guppy once to jumping. You may want to look around your tank. I hope all goes well and you find the fish!
Good luck with your rams!
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Post by jonv on Nov 3, 2008 21:39:53 GMT -5
Renee...."when I came home I had 2 - found what was left of my "dither fish" in the corner where the german blues hang out"
Hiding isn't an option, John is looking into what might have caused this.
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Post by goldenpuon on Nov 3, 2008 21:44:34 GMT -5
Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't read that right. Sorry Jon V and Murdock. Sorry about that.
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Post by murdock6701 on Nov 3, 2008 22:23:35 GMT -5
thanks Jon - the yellows are mellow and friendly and stay close to the glass right next to me - maybe the rams are jealours they're 4 feet away - will be catching up w/ you soon!  |
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Post by brenda on Nov 3, 2008 23:32:56 GMT -5
No I don't have blue's John...They are awesome looking fish though. I'd have to get more tanks to keep those. Which I would like but the husband doesn't!!! I'm still going to sneak in another 10 gallon at the beginning of the year.
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Post by Carl on Nov 4, 2008 10:29:15 GMT -5
There is not much I can add here other than my own experience with Rams and similar "dither fish" as you call them John.
I have had no problems keeping Rams and many smaller fish from cardinals to Rasboras. Generally any aggression I have seen with Ram Cichlids is towards other Cichlids or Gouramis.
My guess is that the Rasboras was weak and after "expiring" was simply "cleaned up" by others.
Most fish will "sense" a weak individual and often harass it more, which is why weak fish will often hide.
Carl
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Post by bikeguy33 on Nov 4, 2008 19:13:23 GMT -5
I am in agreement with Carl. the rams are the hippy of the cichlid world and want little to do with violence....especially if they are fed well....
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Post by 8 in the Corner on Nov 5, 2008 17:39:12 GMT -5
when I left for work this morning I had 3 harlequin rasboras - when I came home I had 2 - found what was left of my "dither fish" in the corner where the german blues hang out.....is this normal - am I not feeding them enough? flake + mini HBH cichlid pellets + dried bloodwoms or frozen brine shrimp twice a week....
The rasboras are fast fish and it would take quite a lot of chasing and attacking by the rams to kill one of them. If you have watched the tank and not seen any aggression by the rams toward the harlequins, they probably did not kill it.
Any fish will try to take advantage of protein (a dead companion qualifies) that is available to them. Dead bodies are picked over and lots of times they look like they were damaged extensively before death, but that typically is not the case.
I doubt very seriously if lack of food was the cause. It sounds like you are giving them plenty and a good variety. Chances are it just died of natural causes or stress related to handling, acclimating or other factors. I would replace it and not worry about the rams until I actually saw them attacking the other fish.
John |
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Post by murdock6701 on Nov 6, 2008 7:52:37 GMT -5
I'm beginning to think Jonv is right - am down to the one dominant ram! the 2 that I got last Wednesday are gone - found one body - NO SIGN anywhere of the other! as in the case of the rasbora, I think he ate it! so now what do I do? beautiful or not, I am not going to replace them w/ more blues...do I find a fish thats a little more aggressive as a tankmate? or do I just get rid of this little bastard? I am so bummed - all week they swam together and shared the same hang outs, mild chasing, but no aggression - I even altered the decor a bit every other day - the only other big fish I have in there is a 4 year old blind in one eye silver dollar! any suggestions or comments?
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Post by demfish on Nov 6, 2008 8:23:26 GMT -5
Sorry to hear this John, I know how badly you wanted to keep these fish. I have no advice, I'm still working out the platys and swords. Sorry again!
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Post by murdock6701 on Nov 6, 2008 10:02:30 GMT -5
thanks D - really need to hear from Carl and Jonv and John8 and Eve! help!
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Post by eve on Nov 10, 2008 13:16:46 GMT -5
I don't even know if that is still actuall but don't change up the decor every day they're not like the mbuna's they need their territory, and changing it up is not really good with them do you have any plant cover for them to hide in yet? even if you have a dominant male, it still shouldn't kill the smaller one sorry, if i'm a bit of track here, but i need a memory refresh  |
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