Keyholes

[msmolly]

Hi I am new to the group and to American cichlid world but do have some knowledge on African which I find to be different....(blush) I have 2 keyholes that are great but today they seem to be turning alot of black-more marble-it seems to be normal and then marble. My levels say all good but I am kinda worried and cant seem to find much info on them. I did move 2 long rosie tail barbs out of there tank cause the keyholes fins seemed to be picked at but that is all that has been done. If someone has any information or advice I would take all that I can get :)!!!!

[skullduggery1]

What sized tank?How is the water quality?Keyholes are tough fish and can handle acidic to neutral.A good candidate for most community aquariums that should be fed some veg based high quality flake,cichlid pellets,and suppliment some krill,as they eat some river shrimps in the wild.(Or use ghost shrimp)I do not believe that the rosy barbs would nip fins,but not all fish are the same.People do succesfully keep roseys in warm aquariums,but they are actually from waters that barely get above 72 degrees.

[msmolly]

At the moment in a 20 gallon-I know it should be larger, coming soon, long story short(early mothers day present) LFS told hubby that they would be fine in the 60 gallon with our African but that was not the case. I do feed them the cichlid flakes and pellets also bloodworms, frozen and dried. I was told they could be mates and wanting to breed. With the rosey's out now the keyholes color is back to normal more and less marbly. All water levels are normal. Where I live we have hard water.

[FinalJenemba]

My keyhole changes his color drastically throughout the day to represent his mood, this is probably what your seeing. At feeding time he's very light, with one spot on his side. if he's stressed out at all, or sleeping, he gets a very dark marbling all over his body. He's also quite the drama queen, and gets stressed out over nothing.

[toddnbecka]

Keyholes are a relatively shy, unaggressive species. Give them plenty of cover (real or artificial plants) to make them feel more secure and relatively mellow tankmates for best results. Hard water shouldn't bother them too much.

[msmolly]

Thanks for the input and I do know have to agree. Figuring out how the keyholes personalities are and have noticed what FinalJenemba says.
They are now in a 75 gallon tank with lots of hiding spots and fake plants(no real ones atm). Their tank mates are comet goldfish- 7.5", Bala Shark- 5", Beta, Red Tail Shark, German Blue Ram- tiny, and 3 small plecos. all is going well, just having a hard time with the water temp now that the weather is getting hot. Poor goldfish cant handle the heat. If it isnt one thing its another...lol..but think I have a handle on things...

[toddnbecka]

Goldfish really don't mix well with "tropical" fish for a number of reasons, their preferred temperature difference is only one of them. Bala sharks are schooling fish, and grow entirely too large for most people to house properly. Keeping fish alive isn't the same as keeping them properly...

[eroc1085]

oh that poor ram :(

i'm suprised he hasn't had heart faliure yet from mr. HUGE comet-pants.

also, hope you have beefy filtration. Can you post what you have for filtration?? The large comets and pelcos are very messy, poopy (literallY) fish... and once the bala reaches two feet long he'll have lots of waste too... and he'll need about four more two foot friends... but the concern is suffocating the ram in large fish wats

oh that poor ram