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I've just introduced 6 brichardis (just under 2" each) into my 5' tank. Other fish in there are 3 x 2" petricolas.

I put them in last week (Wednesday I think) and they've been fine ever since. For the first day or two they explored and established teritories with the petricolas and they seem to settle down ok.

Last night we had a power cut for about 2 hours and since then, one of the brichardis has been swimming near the surface, not gasping or floating at all, but just hovering. When I fed them it joined in and fed eagerly, but then went back to its own position near the top of the tank.

Ammonia and nitrite are 0, nitrate is <5
pH is 8, GH is 8.
I've also added some Bactozym to tackle any bad effects of the powercut.

Any ideas what the matter with him is?

I don't think that a 2 hour power cut will make any difference in your tank. 2 hours isn't alot of time, just give it more time to settle.



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Thing is, they all seemed quite settled before, then he/she started to swim at the top...

He hasn't been so separate today though so I wonder if maybe it was just a territorial thing and now he's fighting back!

How's the tank set out?
It's probably just last in the pecking order.
Most species of rock dweller(Neolamprologus sp. Altolamprologus sp. Julidochromis sp. etc) will rise to the surface if they can't get a suitable territory.

It looks like this:


Also there are some largish shells along the front. Do you think I need more rocks?[/font]

Grrr
skinny attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/409754.jpg"]

Tank looks like a good setup for the fish. The fish may just be a bad specimen, or have internal problems which are not visible.

I would put him in quarantine to figure out what is wrong first, leaving him in the large tank will make it stressing for him/her, and other fish can pick on him/her

The tank looks fine..
I'd move him to another tank for a while or just let them sort it out.
If he's eating well and has no physical problems he should be ok.

Well, I added a few more rocks today and built the wall up a bit more and he seems a bit happier. He seems to have picked a holey rock to live in and is guarding it well.

Thanks for the advice

- remember that by segregating a fish like a brichardi will typically create problems if reintroduced to the others at a later date, especially if it was the underdog to begin with.

x

Update:

When I added the extra rocks in I seemed to disturb the existing territories and they all seemed to shuffle round a bit, and the lonely one ended up quite well off with a couple of rocks to call his own. However, since a couple of days afer that I haven't seen him at all.

I've searched high and low for him (peering round the sides) but there's no trace. If he had been picked-on-to-death would they have eaten him that quickly (and neatly)?

Alternatively, could there be another explanation for the mystery disappearance?

P.S. the tank has a lid so he couldn't have leapt out!

If it died, your petricola's probably got to it before you could.

The only other explanation I can come up with is that it was a female, and that it's guarding a clutch of eggs somewhere. But from your posts, it doesn't seem likely.