3 afican cichild dieddd

Hi I had 3 small african cichilds and they died one after another , I had my water tested and it was a lil low in ph so I bought a buffer made for cichilds. And they still ended up dieing, so I said I'm done with african cichild and today I bought 2 south american cichilds, one a jack dempsey and a green terror . The jack has beeen chasing the terror for a lil bit now and when I got home my terror was on the bottom not dead but he looks closee ! Can anyone help me out !

 

Just as I posted on your other thread.

First off welcome.. I'm only saltwater now and I haven't had a cichild tank setup in over 12 years, but I did retain some knowledge.. A few questions:

Cichilds are not freshwater. They are brackish water (saltwater & freshwater mix), but there are different regions (Tanganyika, Malawi, Victoria as for examples) of cichilds & the salt mixture is different for each! Even though your water may test fine, it may not have the correct mixture for your fish.

Are you acclimating your fish? If not you are shocking them.

When adding new fish I always used Stress Coat. It helps the fish with it's natural slim coating on it's scales. Making it less stressful to the fish.

What are you using for water? If tap, you must add a water conditioner. Again, Stress Coat has this built in..

Also, you are running carbon filter right?

Hope this helps..

 

What size tank? How old is the tank? four fish at once is a bit much to add to a tank. How long was your other cichlids in there?

Jack Demsey is called a Jack Demsey for a reason.

 

He has a 20gal, not sure how long he has had it though..

 

O he added two fish. oops I should have read it better.
I would say it's a none cycled tank.

 

Though green terrors are mean, jack damseys are worst. Eventually your green terror will outgrow the jack damsey, until then, try moving around things in your tank often so your jack d can be occupied exploring new territory then defending what he's already establish. Or take out your jack d and wait for the green terror to establish itself then add the jack s back in. Its like intoducing a 6lined wrasse last cuz its so mean.

Ps. Now that your have south americans, your water should be softer. Take out whatever can buffer your water pH up and add drift wood.

Umm computerjohn I'm gonna have to disagree with you on cichlids being brackish, the salts refered to in these rift lakes are minerals like magnesium and stuff not the actually sodium salt. They are not brackish but can tolerate some salt. I do add a cup of salt per 60g to keep their wounds if they have any from getting infected or grow fungus.

 

Yeah I have that freshwater salt in my water and I use tap water but I never used the stress coat. And I put my fish in my tank forlike 10 15min and take them out . Yes I am useing a marineland bio wheel filter 200. This morning my jack is looking n doing greatt and my terror looks like he's a lil shy or scared of the jack but he seems to be fine . Also today I just added a convict cihild to my tank less then a hour ago, do you think they will all live in peace?

 

I would slow down on adding fish.

 

convicts breed easily and will get very mean during, but singly should be docile

 

Alright I will , how long should I wait to add more ?