So here's the story behind this.
I had a pair of cichlasoma sp. 'rio esmeraldas gold' in a 10 gallon.
I got them from Jeff Rapps at the big fish deal this year. he said they'd be fine in the 10 gallon but might need an upgrade later, depending on how big they got. They spawned a couple of times, each time the fry died off. Then the pair got internal parasites. I treated with metroplex, and the male recovered. As soon as he recovered, he wanted to spawn, doing all of his mating dances and his breeding tube was starting to show... Since the female was still sick and couldn't spawn, the male didn't like that, (as I'm sure you know male cichlids will sometimes kill their mates if they will not spawn or don't do a good job at it) and was just non stop attacking her. Now she was dealing with bad injuries and internal parasites, so I moved her to what was supposed to be the fry tank, just a 10 gallon I had set up. About a month later she recovered, just on the metroplex. The male however sat alone in the ten gallon. All he would do was hide, and sometimes come out to eat or attack at my finger. He didn't like any company while he ate, so I'd leave the food with him, not paying attention to what he looked like or how much he ate. Either way the next time i checked on him there would be no food left.
Today some troubling news. I found my male motionless, breathing heavily. He came out of his cave, extremely sunken belly, clamped fins, and flared gills. no signs of anything else other than that. I tried feeding him, he didn't eat. Spirulina brine shrimp has always been his favorite... he just ignored it. I did water tests and a water change, but no significant readings of ammonia or nitrate. I could not see anything leading up to this, before he was fine, he would eat and all but he'd always hide. He's always been skittish. Now is too late to do anything... right now he's breathing less and less, gill still flared out and all that... I could try to treat him but at this stage it's just really bad.
Anyway, my female. She's ok, all plump and happy in her own ten gallon... it's pretty boring in there, just a thin layer of sand and gravel and a small cave that she's always had. Problem is she always hides, and comes out when she sees me close to the tank, thinking I'm going to feed her. (even when she is fed.) When she does come out she's pretty friendly and personable, just a cute little pinkish gold acara that I taught to take food from a straw. (I suck up her brine shrimp or whatever in a clean straw and she sucks it right out)
back to her hiding, I've been reading about dithers and know that they help bring fish out that are normally shy or aggressive. To help bring her out I want to get some dithers... She's not aggressive at all, only when she had fry, even then she has a tiny mouth and actually like the company of her mate when they were together. Any suggestions on dithers for a 10 gallon?
my water is usually hard and has a lot of iron, with a ph in the tank of 7-7.5.
I also do 25-50% water changes about once or twice a month.
the acara is also about 3 inches long.
I just want something that won't end up getting eaten or nipping her fins, that brings activity to the tank and brings her out.
I had a pair of cichlasoma sp. 'rio esmeraldas gold' in a 10 gallon.
I got them from Jeff Rapps at the big fish deal this year. he said they'd be fine in the 10 gallon but might need an upgrade later, depending on how big they got. They spawned a couple of times, each time the fry died off. Then the pair got internal parasites. I treated with metroplex, and the male recovered. As soon as he recovered, he wanted to spawn, doing all of his mating dances and his breeding tube was starting to show... Since the female was still sick and couldn't spawn, the male didn't like that, (as I'm sure you know male cichlids will sometimes kill their mates if they will not spawn or don't do a good job at it) and was just non stop attacking her. Now she was dealing with bad injuries and internal parasites, so I moved her to what was supposed to be the fry tank, just a 10 gallon I had set up. About a month later she recovered, just on the metroplex. The male however sat alone in the ten gallon. All he would do was hide, and sometimes come out to eat or attack at my finger. He didn't like any company while he ate, so I'd leave the food with him, not paying attention to what he looked like or how much he ate. Either way the next time i checked on him there would be no food left.
Today some troubling news. I found my male motionless, breathing heavily. He came out of his cave, extremely sunken belly, clamped fins, and flared gills. no signs of anything else other than that. I tried feeding him, he didn't eat. Spirulina brine shrimp has always been his favorite... he just ignored it. I did water tests and a water change, but no significant readings of ammonia or nitrate. I could not see anything leading up to this, before he was fine, he would eat and all but he'd always hide. He's always been skittish. Now is too late to do anything... right now he's breathing less and less, gill still flared out and all that... I could try to treat him but at this stage it's just really bad.
Anyway, my female. She's ok, all plump and happy in her own ten gallon... it's pretty boring in there, just a thin layer of sand and gravel and a small cave that she's always had. Problem is she always hides, and comes out when she sees me close to the tank, thinking I'm going to feed her. (even when she is fed.) When she does come out she's pretty friendly and personable, just a cute little pinkish gold acara that I taught to take food from a straw. (I suck up her brine shrimp or whatever in a clean straw and she sucks it right out)
back to her hiding, I've been reading about dithers and know that they help bring fish out that are normally shy or aggressive. To help bring her out I want to get some dithers... She's not aggressive at all, only when she had fry, even then she has a tiny mouth and actually like the company of her mate when they were together. Any suggestions on dithers for a 10 gallon?
my water is usually hard and has a lot of iron, with a ph in the tank of 7-7.5.
I also do 25-50% water changes about once or twice a month.
the acara is also about 3 inches long.
I just want something that won't end up getting eaten or nipping her fins, that brings activity to the tank and brings her out.
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