FishProfiles.com Message Forums

I have a cichlid that I do not know what it is. It has a nice purplish body with thick dark stiping, and yellow fins, as well as a yellow dot on his lower most caudal fin. Also slightly yellow under his chin He seems even tempered and was kept in a community tank with 3 adult gouramis, corys, an algae eater and barbs. I would perhaps like to own another, but I cannot identify this species.

Thanks

How large is your cichlid? If it is a smaller one, then I think it might be a ram. Probably a Bolivian ram, but the size would be really helpful in figuring it out.

---

And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Can you provide a pic for easier identification? If not, you could try 'the krib' website for pics.

I have looked at the Bolivian Ram, it is not it. The body was a thick body, and purple not white, the base fin also had a yellow dot, which I have seen on other cichlids, of which I do not know what they are.

Just a guess but could it be an African Peacock? If its a juvenile, then the temprament may not have fully developed yet.

Thank-you I found him!

Jacobfreibergi peacock

Northern populations have a blue body and bright yellow fins. This variety is known as "Mamelela" or "Undu reef" and sometimes goes by the common name of "Lemon jake"

Glad I could help. I wouldn't put another in as Africans are very aggressive fish.

Is he still in with those fish? If so he shouldn't really be kept in there. Rift lake cichlids need a higher ph and hardness levels than most other fish, they are best kept with others of their kind. I would either get another tank and get some other peacocks, or take him back to the LFS!

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. - Oscar Wilde

Actually I got ich in that tank, and in an attempt to rescue them with a salt water bath, I most terribly lost him. I will never try that again. It was terrible advice. I lost all of my fish in that process including the tank master an enormous kissing gourmai, who kept that cichlid in place by staring him down everywhere he went It was quite something unexpected to see. The Kissing Gourmai protected his little group of assorted gouramis and his nearby tankmates, and the cichlid just backed away, and even would hide if he saw him coming silly fishes

RAISE TANK TEMPERATURE to above 84 for a few days then slowly take it back down to 80 and keep it there, also make sure the other parameters are good and you should never...repeat never have as case of ich again. Most people forget most freshwater fish are TROPICAL... requiring warm tanks, Saltwater is not Tropical, requiring in some cases to add a water chiller to keep the water temperature down 74~76...I have even seen 68 for salt! I am not picking on you but I have seen many people loss their fish over ich. Here is a list of why..
1. Over crowded tank
2. New cycling tank
3. Incompatable species (ex: shy fish with aggressive fish)
4. Wrong parameters for species (pH, hardness, etc...)
5. Tank with no heater (because the house is heated...this doesn't work)
6. Heater not set high enough (Most freshwater fish are TROPICAL) requiring temperatures in the 80's most of the time).
7. Buying fish without quarantining them (I can't recommend this enough... and it only takes a couple weeks).
8. Buying already sick fish (because you fell bad for it!) You will be feeling really bad and out the bucks as well.
9. Lighting, keeping the lights on all the time or different times every day.
10. Just bad luck...power outage, heater gets unpluged, there is electric current in the tank from a light fixture or shorted pump, heater, etc....
11.***Almost forget...children and pets... thats right some fish are easily spooked or frightened by children running around or slapping the tank, a dog or cat running in front of the tank, jumping at the tank or on the hood.

Advice:
1. Buy as large a tank as you can because larger tanks usally stay more stable, especially the temperature.
2. Cycle your tank and do not over stock it, larger tanks take longer.
3. Set-up a Quarantine tank...keep it cycling.
4. Water changes bi-weekly of at least 20%, weekly is better.
5. Buy timers for your lights and cycle them every 12 hours, also add a nite light to allow some visability at night.
6. Ground your tank with a Titaninum probe.
7. *** Place the tank out of a walking path, tanks above four feet height usally do better than waist high tanks as well. Of couse cleaning the tank is a little trickier...
These things work for me and can work for you. Later


[span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-07-30 22:55][/span]

You cant do saltwater dips for freshwater fish, it'll basically cause blood cells of the fish to either shrivel or explode.

You can only do saltwater fish in a freshwater dip.

I have heard of saltwater dips for freshwater fish before. But of course some freshwater fish don't tolerate salt at all, some can handle it better.

I'm sorry to hear about your losses Rohan Don't let it stop you though! What size tank is it? Maybe we can help you pick out a good selection to start over with, and hopefully keep them illness-free!

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. - Oscar Wilde

Wow, thank-you everyone for your comments. The tank prior to the ich was at about 84 degrees, and it was a old tank, with established fishes, the cichlid actually being the newest addition along with some barbs, and a dwarf blood red gourami. I don't know where the ich came from, I suspect the new fishes, the gourami and two barbs. I know I made the mistake of adding conditioner to the tank while i was medicating, I thought I was protecting the open lesions from fungal or bacterial infection, but I read later on that water conditioners can inactivate medications. I am quite confident that the cichlid and the adult gouramis would have survived, if I had not dipped them.

After my loss, I cleaned the tank, I bought new gravel, cycled the tank with a new biowheel filter which was better then the old filter, and the tank now houses a solitary
pseudotropheus demasoni juvenile. I have tried to introduce other cichlids (Electric Yellow juvenile) but it wasn't very successful, I returned the yellow lab the same day I bought him, as my litte p. demasni wasn't going to share any of his 20G with anybody else. I have read about cichlids that are shy, but this guy is certainly not shy. He patrols his caves and rocks, and comes to the front of the tank to greet anyone who comes up to the tank, he will hang out beside us all afternoon, while we read or watch TV. Funny little man, we all have come to like him! We named him "Pombo" which isn't too originial, but I don't know anyone else who has one, so it is original for me. The good news is, he is easy on the system of the tank, very small, very little food, very little mess, and less worry about who is dominating who, and hopefully, no worry about disease. His water conditions right now are
78-80 degrees, nitrate 20, nitrite 1ppm, Hardness 70 ppm, total alkalinity ]300 ppm,
pH 8.4 I am on my way to see if this is acceptable to him. I took his picture earlier today, his is so dark and beautiful.

Thank-you everyone. I hope you will continue to reply to my posts, it is very helpful to hear all of your advice, especially if you can think of a suitable friend or two, or how to provide some mental stimulation or fun toys to my little Pombo