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Pet Forum / Aquaria / Cichlids / May 2005Electric Blue Johanni missing part of it's tail
One of my Electric Blues has lost part of her tail. There is no sign of infection but she is keeping pretty much hidden. She also had an assignation with one of the males in a cave this afternoon, quite fascinating to watch. Should I just leave her be and monitor her progress or should I be more proactive and possibly move her although I'm not sure where to (my QT tank is currently housing a Betta). Water tests out at 0 ammonia and nitrites, around 10 nitrates and pH of 7.5 Any thoughts would be appreciated? Thanks Gill > One of my Electric Blues has lost part of her tail. There is no sign of > infection but she is keeping pretty much hidden. She also had an assignation [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > Thanks > Gill Cichlids are sturdy, and usually heal well in good water like you describe. I used to dab cichlid injuries with mercurichrome to be sure they didn't get infected, *if* I could catch the fish without ripping the tank apart. You can supposedly also use Neosporin cream, although I haven't tried it. The ones that got badly beat up and needed treatment the most were usually pretty easy to catch since they'd be up at the top of the tank trying hard to look like an innocent bit of debris. ;-) If the tail loss was from suddenly severe aggression that is ongoing, you'll probably have to get her safe and away from the stress to heal. You can use breeding nets for small Africans, or for the betta. Then the problem becomes reintroducing her to the tank without her getting beat up again, so hopefully that's not an issue.  SignatureElaine T __ http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__>< rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com > > One of my Electric Blues has lost part of her tail. There is no sign of > > infection but she is keeping pretty much hidden. She also had an assignation [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > the problem becomes reintroducing her to the tank without her getting > beat up again, so hopefully that's not an issue. Thanks Elaine, She seems to be keeping herself pretty well hidden - only coming out at food time - haven't noticed her actually eat though. The agressor is a male Electric Blue - the same one who had the assignation with her in the cave yesterday - so I wonder if it has something to do with this. All of the others seem to be leaving her alone. It's not going to be easy to catch her without dismantling the rock work which would be a major operation so I guess I'll just leave her be unless the situation gets worse. Gill >>>One of my Electric Blues has lost part of her tail. There is no sign of >>>infection but she is keeping pretty much hidden. She also had an [quoted text clipped - 47 lines] > > Gill I wonder if she's refusing food and hiding because she's holding eggs. Cichlids.com also says the males are very aggressive during courtship so that could explain the tail damage. If she's holding eggs, her mouth and throat will look a bit enlarged. http://www.cichlids.com/wiki/index.php/Melanochromis_johannii Do you have only one female in the tank? I've not kept this particular fish but Cichlids.com and Mongabay say to keep several females for each male. The male's aggression gets spread out that way. SignatureElaine T __ http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__>< rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com > >>>One of my Electric Blues has lost part of her tail. There is no sign of > >>>infection but she is keeping pretty much hidden. She also had an [quoted text clipped - 57 lines] > fish but Cichlids.com and Mongabay say to keep several females for each > male. The male's aggression gets spread out that way. I was wondering the same thing....however I'm now officially confused.... The three fish I have were sold to me as one male and two females. All of them are blue. Only one has egg spots. The injured fish is a very much paler blue. The other "female" has darkened over the last few weeks to much the same colour as the male but without the egg spots and has a yellow stripe on the dorsal fin. Just sanity checked myself on some photos taken around 6 weeks ago and the "females" were more of a powder blue....they also appear to have fewer stripes... Now from just doing a quick bit of "googling" it would appear that the females should be yellow, but I did see a couple of times that they can also be blue but paler. All 3 of them are now almost 3 inches long - as I said I am now officially confused.... Gill > I was wondering the same thing....however I'm now officially confused.... > [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Gill Getting less confused. More Google searching (while procrastinating homework ;-)) reveals that there is a fish sold as "Electric Blue Jonannii" that was first named Melanochromis sp. "Maingano" and reanamed to M. cyaneorhabdos. They have little dimorphism, with the females usually but not always being lighter in color. The males also have longer pelvic fins and the females sometimes have a yellow border to the anal fin. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/m_cyaneorhabdos.php http://www.tropheus.info/riftlakes/cichlids/melanochromis_cyaneorhabdos_e.html has a pic of the dark male and lighter colored female. Melanochromis jonannii always has the stroing dimorphism with females solid yellow, or rarely yellow with a brown stripe. So, I think you have M. cyaneorhabdos and I hope it's not two males and a female! SignatureElaine T __ http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__>< rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com > > I was wondering the same thing....however I'm now officially confused.... > > [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > anal fin. > http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/m_cyaneorhabdos.php http://www.tropheus.info/riftlakes/cichlids/melanochromis_cyaneorhabdos_e.html > has a pic of the dark male and lighter colored female. > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > So, I think you have M. cyaneorhabdos and I hope it's not two males and > a female! Spot on. In fact the female in question is a bit paler blue than that. The other one now looks very similar to the female in the picture but was originally the same pale blue - definitely no egg spots though....I'll wait and see but there is no noticeable agression between the two. The male is the spitting image of the picture. She has come out of hiding again. The other "female" was quite aggresive toward her but the male is going over to her and quivering at her and wrapping himself around her rather than attacking or chasing. I'll keep a close monitor - looks to me that it might be a mating that has gone wrong.... > > > I was wondering the same thing....however I'm now officially > confused.... [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > > anal fin. > > http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/m_cyaneorhabdos.php http://www.tropheus.info/riftlakes/cichlids/melanochromis_cyaneorhabdos_e.html > > has a pic of the dark male and lighter colored female. > > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > close monitor - looks to me that it might be a mating that has gone > wrong.... She was feeding again this morning. Although there is an increase in the number of fry that I can see in the tank I think that would be a little too quick!!! I think the fry are probably more of the Lab fry that are now starting to come out of hiding - only time will tell. Gill > She was feeding again this morning. Although there is an increase in the > number of fry that I can see in the tank I think that would be a little too > quick!!! I think the fry are probably more of the Lab fry that are now > starting to come out of hiding - only time will tell. > > Gill That does seem a bit quick for a mouthbrooder. I'm glad to hear she's feeding again, though. She may have swallowed eggs if there was a failed mating attempt and they weren't fertilized for some reason. SignatureElaine T __ http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__>< rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com > One of my Electric Blues has lost part of her tail. There is no sign of > infection but she is keeping pretty much hidden. She also had an [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > Thanks > Gill Out of curiosity, what size is your tank? Tim www.fishaholics.org > > One of my Electric Blues has lost part of her tail. There is no sign of > > infection but she is keeping pretty much hidden. She also had an [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > Tim > www.fishaholics.org 47.5UK gall - 200Litre |
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