# My Male Williamsi Blue Lips has been CURED! AMAZING!



## naturlvr (May 16, 2019)

My first purchase of cichlids in May, was with an online site. I ordered two male Williamsi Blue Lips along with other fish, not knowing that two male Cichlids of one strain do not get along usually. Then I learned that lesson! One male went after the other right away but not trying to harm him..just chasing him. I had a 240 gallon tank built to try to ease the aggression after trying many measures to keep the aggressor at bay. The new large tank made no difference and in fact the dominant male was chasing the other one even more.

After seeing many weeks go by and the non dominant male refusing to eat I knew I had a problem. It is well documented on its' own thread in this section. So I took the non dominant one out and put him in a hospital tank hoping he would eat but no. So then I really got concerned and I asked for help in here and got great advice. Finally nothing was working not even putting garlic on the small pieces of food. He was starting to get darker in appearance day by day and he never moved from behind the bubbler.

So I started a 3 day regimen of double the amount of Metro daily. on the third night..there was progress! He came out from under the bubbler but he STILL would not eat. This morning I got up and immediately went to see how he was doing and he was again out from behind the bubbler and I made an amazing discovery! "He" was immediately cured by having 8 small fry!!! LOL


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## naturlvr (May 16, 2019)

naturlvr said:


> My first purchase of cichlids in May, was with an online site. I ordered two male Williamsi Blue Lips along with other fish, not knowing that two male Cichlids of one strain do not get along usually. Then I learned that lesson! One male went after the other right away but not trying to harm him..just chasing him. I had a 240 gallon tank built to try to ease the aggression after trying many measures to keep the aggressor at bay. The new large tank made no difference and in fact the dominant male was chasing the other one even more.
> 
> After seeing many weeks go by and the non dominant male refusing to eat I knew I had a problem. It is well documented on its' own thread in this section. So I took the non dominant one out and put him in a hospital tank hoping he would eat but no. So then I really got concerned and I asked for help in here and got great advice. Finally nothing was working not even putting garlic on the small pieces of food. He was starting to get darker in appearance day by day and he never moved from behind the bubbler.
> 
> So I started a 3 day regimen of double the amount of Metro daily. on the third night..there was progress! He came out from under the bubbler but he STILL would not eat. This morning I got up and immediately went to see how he was doing and he was again out from behind the bubbler and I made an amazing discovery! "He" was immediately cured by having 8 small fry!!! LOL


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## naturlvr (May 16, 2019)

Next question...now what????? LOL


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## naturlvr (May 16, 2019)

Can the fry be kept in the small tank? What do I feed them?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

You need to remove the adult. Feed them crushed adult food in tiny amounts 4X daily. Keep the nitrates between 10ppm and 20ppm.

Fry tanks should be cycled, filtered and heated like adult tanks.


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## naturlvr (May 16, 2019)

DJRansome said:


> You need to remove the adult. Feed them crushed adult food in tiny amounts 4X daily. Keep the nitrates between 10ppm and 20ppm.
> 
> Fry tanks should be cycled, filtered and heated like adult tanks.


So they are in the 10 gallon tank...can it cycle with such tiny creatures? Do I need a filtration set up? Right now I only have a bubbler. I could put on the two filters on the bubbler. Would that be sufficient? I feel like the time I have devoted..I just don't want to let them die. Thanks DJ. You are a great asset to this board.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Keep in mind they have a high risk of being hybrids.

If you are going to keep them for their 8 year lifespans, they will need the 75G rectangle 48" x 18". Probably within one year.

For now you need to provide a filter (not just a bubbler) and a heater. Use some established media from one of your other tanks to cycle it...the toxins of going through a cycle on their own could kill them.

Plan to move them to a larger tank in 3-6 months.

Did your fish have a distended chin/throat? Look for that first when a fish stops eating.


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## naturlvr (May 16, 2019)

She has a very wide mouth like the male and no difference has been noted. I put her back into the 240 gallon tank and she appears very happy to be with her man lol. I am almost sure that there is no chance she bred hybrids because he was the biggest male, and still is, of my tank and followed her all the time. He has always been the dominant male but not aggressive to the point of injuring another fish. The 240 tank is very peaceful these days since the white Socolofi is out and I have just found a new home for her in a beautiful Mbuni tank! I am happy at the results of all the shenanigans I have gone thru with them. I am out of tanks though so the babies will have to be rehomed. I belong the the Raleigh Aquarium Society so it is not hard to find good people wanting fish.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

What is the male to female ratio in your 240G?


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## naturlvr (May 16, 2019)

32 to one...you have a PM.

Sorry I have 3 female electic yellows and one male in there too. I dont try to keep the fry.


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## naturlvr (May 16, 2019)

I put a whole stalk of Romaine lettuce in the tank and the female Wiiliamsi is eating for the first time in over a month.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Glad she is eating.

If you rehome the fry tell the new owner she was the only female in a tank full of males when she spawned.

Also in the 240G her presence may increase aggression among all the fish and her well-being could be threatened by the attentions of too many males.


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## naturlvr (May 16, 2019)

DJRansome said:


> Glad she is eating.
> 
> If you rehome the fry tell the new owner she was the only female in a tank full of males when she spawned.
> 
> Also in the 240G her presence may increase aggression among all the fish and her well-being could be threatened by the attentions of too many males.


Thank you.I will make note of that to tell anyone who gets a fry. I think they both have changed since this experience where they were in a dungeon for a month. He doesn't persue her like he did...he doesn't swim fast to catch her. The three females with the male electric yellow are also not bothering anyone in the large tank as they were in the 75 gallon tank. I think in this case the tank really helped them all....except for this pair of Williamsi until they were both taken out of the tank and put in dismal quarters alone with no other fish around. I am not a fish but it seems to have changed them and calmed them down.The male still looks for her but when he sees her, he doesn't chase her anymore. But he will follow her if she is around and she does the same. It is like they matured. Kinda sad they had to go thru that to change but good in the long run.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Give it a year to see how the mix works. It is unusual to have aggression right off the bat...they play and grow peacefully for a while until they all start spawning.


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## naturlvr (May 16, 2019)

DJRansome said:


> Give it a year to see how the mix works. It is unusual to have aggression right off the bat...they play and grow peacefully for a while until they all start spawning.


The three female electric cichlids carry eggs in their mouth so they are spawning but I never even notice a change until I look at their mouth full of eggs. I hope the peace continues for the most part. I have plenty of rocks caves and crevices to help them go to a safe place when needed.


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## naturlvr (May 16, 2019)

I'll tell you something funny when I looked at her this morning and saw what I thought was a tadpole zipping across the tank! I thought to myself...did swamp water get into the tank somehow ? Funny the things that cross your mind when you are trying to figure out what you just saw.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Last time that happened to me, it was Synodontis multipunctatus fry.


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## naturlvr (May 16, 2019)

DJRansome said:


> Last time that happened to me, it was Synodontis multipunctatus fry.


I bet! Would never think of a catfish. Can you actually hear them squeak? I have them and I never heard anything.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

They say you can but I have never heard them. Especially when you are netting them or otherwise causing them distress.


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## naturlvr (May 16, 2019)

I have made I think at least two threads about the "illness" r/t two males in the same tank bothering the other. I had two pairs that way.

In both instances the pairs ending up being male/female...not what I thought I was buying. Both pairs were advertised as all males. However the good news is...after sending one of each pair (the aggressive one) to the sump dungeon, they are all happily in the big tank together after a month of being apart. I can see now with their behavior that they are pairs of male female. The males are considerably tame and are acting like decent men around their ladies lol. They don't even trail them all the time like they did. I almost got rid of the Socolofi Snow White because he was so bad...but since I could not get a proper kind of person to take him, I put him back in the tank since the WIlliamsi had also became tamer. It was either that or the trash...I am so glad I couldn't bear that thought and I feel as happy as the fish must feel being back home in their 240 gallon tank.


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## naturlvr (May 16, 2019)

The Snow White male has forgotten his trip to the dungeon and today he is back to his old tricks.


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## naturlvr (May 16, 2019)

Mr. and Mrs. Williamsi. Mrs on left. I was so close to getting rid of one of them thinking that Mr. was harassing what turned out to be Mrs. They get along so great now. No harassing just togetherness and calmness. So so good to see. What a reward for patience.








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