Freshwater Dolphin Fish

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daleteekz

Gambusia
MFK Member
Oct 27, 2011
205
0
16
Sydney, Australia
I have had a small Freshwater Dolphin Fish for about a month now.

I have noticed it eating and acting normal.

Out of nowhere today, even after eating, he started to act funny. He looks like he can't control his swimming, and was spinning upside down and no just sitting on the bottom on his side.

I did a water change yesterday, but seems strange timing for it to happen now after eating.

The only other thing different about the tank is I removed 3 25cm Berneys Catfish and added an Elephant Nose.

I was assured the Elephant Nose should not be a problem with the Dolphin. Is the the likely culprit?

It is a 4x2x2.
Other fish include Raphael Catfish, Tandanus Catfish, Hoplo Catfish, Ghost Knife, Clown Loaches, Chain Loaches, Paki Loaches and Zebra Loaches.
 
The freshwater dolphin and elephant nose are both Mormyrids. they utilise an electric organ to navigate,keeping multiple species or fish in an aquarium together can have bad outcomes as the fish get confused by eachothers electric signals. but to me it sounds like a swim bladder infection, which is when the fish looses buoyancy and control. there are medications taht will cure it, but you might want to make sure the medication has no copper in it, as mormyrids aswell as knifefish, inverts and clown loaches react very badly to copper based medications
 
could be ammonia or nitrite spike as well.. or something in the water from the water change.
 
Yes, Mormyrids are very delicate fish in general.. and do not do well with PH/GH/KH swings more so then other species ime. I would suspect water chemistry issues first, If i ruled that out I would look at IPs or other pathogens as they are wild caught and if not dewormed ect will be fine.. then suddenly keel over for no apparent reasoning.
 
There are many reasons why a Mormyrid might die, I think you know most of the basics now. It is a real shame they are amazing fish but require a lot of care. If you do ever feel like going for Mormyrids again then I suggest you start with Peter's Elephantnose its the most hardy and readily available of the species so it should be a good starting point
 
Bryanfish11 said:
Hi guys I'm new here and I am wondering what's a dolphin fish can anyone help me out??
Click to expand...
It's a mormyrid related to elephant nose fish. If you YouTube freshwater dolphin fish a bunch of vids will pop up of them playing with ping pong balls and rings. I loved mine!
 
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