Firemouth Cichlid Hiding / Not Eating

[MandyH]

I bought 3 juvenile Firemouth Cichlids a couple of weeks ago. They were all initially doing really well, but one of them (one of the smaller ones) has since stopped eating and rarely comes out of hiding. The other two are thriving, are active, and eat like pigs. I haven't seen anyone picking on anyone other than the ocassional chase where not much if any contact is being made. All of the other fish in the tank are doing fine. I don't have a QT tank.

My water parameters are fine. The only different thing in the tank is that I got a new Rena air pump which is adding a lot more bubbles to the tank. Is it possible I'm over oxygenating the tank? I have the bubble wand going 3/4 the length of the tank and I had it on high (I turned it to down to see if it'll help) so there's a LOT of bubles. It's actually making the water look kind of cloudy because of the air bubbles.



Any other ideas? Should I treat the tank with Melafix/Pimafix?

[Lady Hobbs]

I would think it was more like a pair is bonding and it's the odd- one- out that will now end up being bullied by the other two.

[ScottishFish]

I agree with LH.

Firemouths are glutons, and when happy they rarely ever hide. Sounds to me like the other two have either paired up leaving the other as an outcast. Or the others have equal size and therefore are equally dominant and so are able to withstand eachother and still bully the other firemouth.

When people think of fish being chased, harrassed, or bullied, they often make the mistake of thinking that this has to happen all the time for this to affect the unfortunate fish. Wrong.

If your fish wanders out, and then gets chased it hides, it may decide to hide for 20mins? Then ventures out, gets chased, hides, and so on. This being the case your fish may only be getting harrassed 3 times per hour, but it is still enough as to make him almost permanently hide, so unless you sit and watch your tank constantly for several hours do not assume that the other two arent bullying the poor thing.

Try feeding him with a turkey baster and some brineshrimp/bloodworms, this over a week or two may beef him up a bit and give him some confidence.

Note: clean turkey baster afterwards

[MandyH]

Thanks for the quick answers. I do have another tank that I could move the little guy to, but it's a 46g with a pair of Angels. Would this make the situation worst for him or the angels?

He's actually out right now, but sitting near the upper left corner while the other two are towards the bottom. They're so young, only about 1.5-2" long, would they still form a bond so young? I have seen the other 2 chase each other around, nothing really aggressive as far as I can tell.

[ScottishFish]

Hmmm it would depend how densley planted the other tank was, along with hiding places etc.

Have you ever had anything else in the tank with the angels to see how they would act?

I dont know for certain if they are a pair from what you've said but if they arent then do not remove the little guy. Cichlids form a pecking order and it may be the case the other two are establishing who is most dominant. After this has been established top dog 1 can pick on lower guys 2 and 3. And if 2 is stronger than 3 then 2 can pick on 3 aswell but not on 1 as he is top dog. Removing 3 would mean that 1 could direct all of his attention on 2 and may kill him. Sorry if thats kinda confusing.

For this reason that is why many cichlid keepers either keep 1 of a species (Me I keep 1 firemouth) or keep several 3+ to minimise aggression. So depending on tank size and other tank mates getting 1 or 2 more juveniles may help the situation. Or oppositely rehome two of them and just keep one.

[MandyH]

The angels had been with other fish before so being with new fish wouldn't be a problem, but after reading what you said (which made sense to me by the way), I don't want to screw things up with the others. I'll try the turkey baster method, but I don't know that it'll work. It was out and about when I fed them this morning, food literally fell right in front of him, but he didn't even look at it.

I know it's impossible to sex Firemouth's based on color alone, but if it that does play a role in it, the other two would be male/female. The largest is more of a dull color which I'd assume were female and the other has a lot of red near it's throat which I'd assume is male.

[ScottishFish]

Sexing firemouths is a pain until they are pretty much adult, mines is 3inches and I am still in a mixxed mind, sometimes he/she flashes brilliantly red whilst othertimes that dull grey comes over it.

Remember the fish can only eat so much, so for a small fish 1 bloodworm is enough for a day. How much are you feeding the tank i.e how often and what is it your feeding?

To be on the safe side forget the option with the angels, they can be veeeery unpredictable.

[Lady Hobbs]

I found mine somewhat easy to sex because the male was more red and the females more pinkish. But in my 55 gallon, I had five. Two formed a pair and the 5th one become skinny, stayed in the floating plants at the top of the tank and he was not allowed to come to the bottom of the tank at all. He couldn't eat and couldn't even get into a cave or was chased out. He was picked on just terribly.

If you can move him, I would do so. With him being young, he will be fine (I believe) with the angels. Mine got along with everything but their own species.

You can see the distinct coloring between male and female in the pic below altho mine were somewhat older. Sparing with each other, of course. They spawn very young!

What may also work better if you don't want 400 babies to cull (as I had to do) is keep the females together and move the male.

[ScottishFish]

Real Healthy looking fish you've got there Lady Hobbs Here is a pic of mine, this was him/her showing off a bit, any ideas on what sex it could be? Sorry for slightly hijacking this thread.

Also that is a valid point LH made there, are you looking to find a pair and breed them? Or was three just a magic number

[Lady Hobbs]

Can't tell because others are not with him. He would be coloring up more if he was showing off and flaring his throat more. Female also do that but not as much. If I had to make a guess from what I can see here, I would "guess" a female but guessing is not helping you any. Now I'm wanting to get some again!