# peacock not eating/sits on bottom



## joker76 (Dec 4, 2007)

i have a chiwindi peacock in a 100g tank with other male malawi cichlids,it was active and very colorful,but i since have added a ngara flametail male that is the same size if not a bit bigger.i have noticed the chiwini neon sitting at the bottom in the back of the tank.has lost some color and stopped eating.i had this happen to another one of my peacocks before i added the ngara so i don't think its the ngara. unless something else in the tank became dominant and stressed out the other fish as well,i put him in a med tank but it died a week later,it didn't bloat up or look sickly.so im wondering if its the stress of the tank and if i move the chiwindi to a 55g calm tank where he would be by far the biggest fish in there would it help him get better.


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

Well the tricky thing here is to determine whether the fish has stopped eating simply because it's being harrassed by the new fish or if the fish is sick with something. I would remove the neon to a hospital tank and see if you can interest him in eating. It may be that he got beat on by the new fish and just needs some time to recover but it may be that he's sick so I wouldn't move him in with other fish until you have a better idea what's wrong with him. Could be contagious.

In the meantime test the parameters on the main tank, (ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate)--always a good idea when there's 'something' going with your fish and then do a couple of back to back 30% water changes spaced a few hours apart. Spend a few extra minutes watching the behavior of all your fish. Make sure all are eating and swimming normally. If the new fish or even one of your other fish is being overly aggressive then you may be able to catch it by careful observation. Sometimes a new fish will cause a previously non-aggressive fish to become aggressive.

Please post back when you've had the chance to observe the neon in isolation so we can figure out if he needs medication.

Robin

BTW, how long has the neon been sitting and not eating?


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## joker76 (Dec 4, 2007)

i moved it to a 10g tank,i added a tbls of salt.its been about a week ,5 days


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

If the fish hasn't eaten in five days then chances are it is sick, not just harrassed. Without more information it's hard to say what it might be sick with but bloat is a possibility.

Any marks or growths on its body? 
Is the fish gasping?
Does it attempt to swim up off the bottom? 
Has it shown any interest in food since being moved to the ten gallon?

Robin


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