Pelvicachromis Taeniatus "Dehane" problems?!

[gex18]

I have recentley added a pair of wild caught Pelvicachromis Taeniatus "Dehane" to a 60 litre tank. These fish are on their own exepct for 1 queen arabesque catfish. However, they are breathing really rapidly, and the female is jyst sitting on the bottom of the tank today. I have seen the male attack her on occasions. Here goes with spec;
24 x 15 x 12" tank
Temp 26.5 C
Filtered by eheim ecco 2236
Ph 6.4
GH lesss than 3
Kh less than 3
Ammonia 0 mg / l
Nitrite 0 mg / l
Nitrate 0.2 mg / l
Water changes twice weekly with 75% RO and 25% tapwaterI am realy getting stressed out with this tank as the firts fish i added were 4 queen arabesques, of which i lost 3 a fortninght later (but that was down to immature water), i than added 6 rams and these died 3 days after being added, these kribs have been in the tank since sunday and eating like pigs, are the teaniatus more delicate than pulcher. I swear, my discus are easier to keep than the buggers in this tank


Next Topic >>

 

[Cichlid Junkie]

How long has your tank been established?

 

[tjudy]

I am not familiar with the eheim ecco filters, but I am assuming it is a canister filter. What are you using for media in it?

Teaniatus are more sensative than pulcher, but I would not say that they are very sensative in general. I would increase aeration if they are breathing hard. Separate teh male from the female if he is beating her. I once had to keep a male P. t. 'nyete' in a breeder net for a month while the female healed and established the tank as 'hers'.

Your losses of the araqesque and rams are a concern, but IMO rams die and oddball plecos are a crapshoot... so I would not immediately blame the tank. You may be changing the water too often... but that is a stab in the dark. I have had better luck breeding/rearing taeniatus with less frequent water changes.

 

[Mike Wise]

Wild caught dwarf cichlids are often shipped 'heavy' (very crowded). This can lead to ammonia erosion of the gill filaments, causing labored breathing. Only time, clean water, and optimum O2 levels can repair the damage. Another possibilty is gill parasites.

 

[anakonda]

Hi, i bought 2 pairs of taeniatus "Lobe". One female started that heavy breathing, did it for two days and died. I gave away the extra male and i kept the pair in 92L. They are breeding and there is 15 1,5-2cm fry with them now.
Just recently the adult female passed away like the one in the beginning. Sudden heavy breathing and the fish was dead in two days. My weekly water change routine was neglected that time and it had been two weeks since last change.
Water changes didn't help and i tried also medicine against gill parasites but none of this had any affect on the sick fish.
All the fry and male were completely fine and still are. There is also a pair of A. baenschi with the fish now.
I have a feeling these wild taeniatus carry often some kind of parasites and a change to worse in water quality can trigger something.

A

 

[Xanathos]

Got the exact same symptoms with mine...

I heard they eat a lot of vegetal matters in the wild, so maybe adding some spirulina to their diet would help... It's a guess

Phil

 

[anakonda]

I think the only way to avoid this is good water care, weekly water changes being most important. Would be very nice to know the exact cause for this problem though. It's hard to believe it's JUST the water quality, for example nitrate above 30 or 50mg/l, but who knows...