ok so i have a 55 gallon tank with 4 cichlids, a pleco and a bala shark in it. ive had all 4 cichlids for a long time now and never had any problems until yesterday. i did a half tank water change and noticed last night that 3 of the 4 (the "followers" ) were all just hanging out at the top of the tank and today i noticed that only one of the 4 is still at the top. on closer inspection i saw that most of her tail fin along with her bottom lower fin is half way gone! i watched awhile and all 3 of the other cichlids are picking on her and chase her if she doesn't stay at the very top of the water. anyone know what caused this and how i can fix it? they won't kill her will they? i thought maybe i mixed up their territorial hiding places when i cleaned the tank but im not really sure if thats it?
Cichlid HELP please
- Thread starter valeria87
- Start date
No, changing that was probably not it but, You can try to mix up the territory lines as this will keep them occupied, but if you leave it in there it will most likely die from the others. Cichlids will target the weak ones its just what they do. If you can keep the others away it might pull through but its best to put in a hospital tank if you can.
what is a hospital tank? will her fins grow back? i've tried moving stuff around and last night i put back in 2 decors that i had taken out to make more space....but she's still stuck up top. it's mostly the leader of the tank that's keeping her away from the bottom. but he's a male.... i have a smaller waterfall tank but it has a red tail shark would it be safe to put the injured cichlid in there?
Redtails can be aggressive too, so its hard to say for sure but it might be better. A hospital tank is used to put sick or injured fish into to heal. Its a small 10 gallon-ish tank usually set-up and cycled with a small cheap fish or two in it to keep it cycled. Usually it has no substrate just something for the fish to hide behind to feel secure. What kind of fish is it? My brother has African cichlids with a Redtail.