# MY FISH ARE EATING EACH OTHER



## ARMYWIFE

I am a new Cichlid owner, I admit I probably needed more research before I bought cichlids. But I am trying to fix that. So I have a a 55 gallon, all levels are good, but my fish keep dying. I think someone is attacking them. I have watched them and cant find the culprit. I need advice. Please help!


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## gnomemagi

What types of fish and what size are they?


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## imusuallyuseless

Can you be more specific w/the fish you have stocked, quantity, species, and sizes?


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## ARMYWIFE

I took pictures, I am not entirely sure what kinds I have. I know I am not off to a good start. I know that one kind is Tiger Oscar so that is why I posted here. I'll load the pics I have. [/img]


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## ARMYWIFE

Well it wont let me post pics until I have five post .. that is highly inconvenient .... uhm how else can i show you what fish i have???


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## TheFishGuy

Post two more times.


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## ARMYWIFE

Posting once more ....


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## ARMYWIFE

Posting twice more


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## ARMYWIFE




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## ARMYWIFE




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## ARMYWIFE




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## ARMYWIFE

OKAY -

First i am highly irrated with myself for not paying closer attention to what I was buying and just going off the petsmart guy ...

Second the more I am reading about the tiger oscar the more I am shocked they sell these at petsmart, I have three of the tigers, started out with five and two have been eaten.

I have two of the blue left and two orange. I have lost two blue fish as well.

I need to salvage this mess .... please any advice (dont yell at me for being an idiot please)


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## sisonek

The 55 gallon might be okay for one Oscar for a bit until he gets bigger, you might get away with 2 in a 75 if it is one male one femaleâ€¦might... but i would not try it . The blue fish is, Metriaclima lombardoi(common name is kenyi) I think, not a good fish to mix with anything. I have 7 of them 1m/6f in a tank all but they selves most people will tell you that these should not be kept in anything less than a 75 gallon and that they should not be mixed with anything else because they do not play nice. Idk what the yellow one is but I am sure it is not happy with kenyi and Oscars 
The moral of the story get rid of some fish or get more tanks bigger tanksâ€¦. I would go with the ladder but that is just meâ€¦good luck.


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## livewireumd

I would take all the fish back except for 1 of your Oscars. (seriously).

In a few months that one Oscar will have the entire 55g tank occupied by itself and it will remain a loyal pet for years as long as you keep up with the weekly water changes and don't overfeed it.

If you are determined that 1 oscar isn't enough and you would like an additional fish buy a common pleco to put in the tank with it. (they are the bowl suckers that you see in some of the fishstore tanks)

Keep us updated!


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## Strohs58

So they sold you a mix of African, and Central American cichlids. Not good. The Orange colored looks like a Midas Cichlid, Another pretty aggressive cichlid, much more so than your Oscars. And is probably the culprit in the deaths of the other Oscars. So decided what kind of tank you want. Oscars? get rid of the other ones. Midas get rid of all but the orange ones, or African tank, keep the kenyi (blue one)...

It being a 55g tank. My suggestion is go for the african tank. The others just get to big for it eventually. Kenyi are aggressive but there are other Mbuna that will coexist with them...Melanochromis auratus comes to mind and Synodontis catfish would be ok.

Good luck.


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## ARMYWIFE

Great ... I dont even know where to start ... my tank isnt big enough for the oscars, So I will take those back and prolly the midas, leaving me the kenyi ....


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## Strohs58

African tanks can be highly rewarding. So not a bad choice... :thumb:

Do some research...

Start here...

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/a ... allery.php

You'll find your Kenyi under the Heading Metriaclima.

*** got a 90g African tank, and have mixed in fish from the Melanochromis, Cynotilapia, Labeotropheus, Labidochromis, and Pseudotropheus genus' together with Kenyi's and experienced very little agression problems. Of course thats not to say it can't happen. 

Here's a bad picture of it...


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## steelers fan

so in a 55 you could do *one* oscar and it would have to be a *bare 55 *but they make great pets...playing with golf ballsetc. oscars usually have more personality than most other cichlids. the midas get pretty but have far less personality than the oscar and you might be able to do two in a 55 but will have to test male and female combos since just because theres a male and female does not mean theyll get along. the blue one looks like a young kenyi. they are african lake malawi mbuna(rock dwelling) and are very aggressive...maybe too aggressive for a 55. strohs mentioned aurutus...they kenyi and aurutus boths i would not recommend for a new cichlid keeper because of their aggression level and definitely not in a 55 maybe a 120. so if i were you and im not i would either go with a single oscar...i have had a 2 before and they are great...changing color with moods, sulking when they dont get what they want, playing with balls etc. or i would go with lake malawi mbuna which go great in a 55...a suggestion i would say is 12-15 demasoni, 6 yellow labs and 4 yellow or white tail acei, male to female ratio makes no difference with any of those fish ...there will be lots of color and action. check the profiles section and go from there or check out the 55 gallon cookie cutter in this site for ideas. good luck with whatever you do :thumb:


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## TheFishGuy

Welcome to the C-F 

I'd say you've been given some sound advice. I think the only thing I disagree with (and I'm not picking on anyone) is keeping two midas in a 55. They get bigger than oscars and tend to be way more aggressive.

If I were you I'd keep one oscar. But I've got 11 so I'm a bit bias... :lol:


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## steelers fan

i may be mistaken *** never seen a midas bigger than a big oscar. but thefishguy got around 10 or 15 years of hobby on me and deals with big fish more often so safe to say more sound advice there. *** been obssesed with the lake malawi variety so you can say im bias towards the mbuna...ill stop there since thats a different section...


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## imusuallyuseless

I'd personally keep a single oscar or just take everything back and start completely from scratch deciding first what type of tank you want. As mentioned oscars have great personalities, but they do get quite big and messy to add to the problem. If you're prepared to do a good deal of maintenance then the single oscar in that 55G is doable and be quite rewarding. However, some people find that just having one fish is boring. You can create a tank around malawi mbuna as has also been suggested, or go back and look at some of the smaller growing CA/SA cichlids such as convicts and firemouths. There are others out there, but that's just an example. No matter what you're leaning toward, I would definitely do research before purchasing any more fish. This site is an excellent source of information, so you're lucky to have found it. So step one take back all your fish, unless you're planning to keep a SINGLE oscar...


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