# Cichlid problems: constipation .... and fighting!



## pyrofish (May 18, 2005)

*constipation....and fighting? Nope, mating cichlids (EDITED)*

I have a 16 gallon tank with 4 african cichlids.

One of them (the same one in each case) keeps getting constipated. He's *[as it now turns out, she]* an "electric yellow" african cichlid (don't know the scientific name) I have already ruled out overfeeding. I'm feeding him the best quality cichlid food the fish store sells. This condition arizes about once every two months, and the fish remains constipated for about 2 weeks each time. After this time, he usually starts to look pretty unhealthy as you could imagine. None of my other fish have had this problem, including one of the exact same type.

On to the boxing match...Just today I noticed that my electric yellow cichlids are chasing eachother in an endless circle. Is this normal? They are literally spinning around and around for minutes at a time. It is like a dog chasing its tail, only two fish chasing each other's tails! They have never fought before, this is the first time after nine months of having these fish, only excluding the first day I got them.

If anyone can help me out, I would greatly appreciate it.

*[So the initial problems are solved/ explained. LOL: maybe I should have posted this in the newbie forum]*


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## IloveCichlids (Jul 11, 2005)

They are in a mating ritual. I guess that you have the biggest brightest one (the alpha male) chasing around a smaller one (female). Pretty soon you should notice that the smaller on will have a bulge in the bottom of her jaw. This means that she is "holding" or carrying eggs in her mouth. Sounds like you have yellow labs. They are Mbuna, are you feeding them foods that are high in protein? If so stop. They only can handle vegitable based products on a regular basis. If you feed them a lot of protein they can get what is called Malawi bloat, and can kill your fish. P


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

isnt a 16 gallon too small for them also?


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## pyrofish (May 18, 2005)

IloveCichlids said:


> They are in a mating ritual. I guess that you have the biggest brightest one (the alpha male) chasing around a smaller one (female). Pretty soon you should notice that the smaller on will have a bulge in the bottom of her jaw. This means that she is "holding" or carrying eggs in her mouth. Sounds like you have yellow labs. They are Mbuna, are you feeding them foods that are high in protein? If so stop. They only can handle vegitable based products on a regular basis. If you feed them a lot of protein they can get what is called Malawi bloat, and can kill your fish. P



Everything that you said seems to match my situation exactly! In that case... the people at the pet store don't seem to get anything right. They said the bulge in the bottom of the jaw was caused by constipation. Does this mean I might end up with more of these cichlids swimming around my tank? If this is the case then I will definetely have to upgrade from the 16 gallon...

When I get back from school I'll check the label on the fish food.

Thanks guys!


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## IloveCichlids (Jul 11, 2005)

Yellow labs grow fairly slow and I have found in my own dealings with them they are a smaller African Cichlid. 16 gal I agree is a bit small, ad with fry on the way for sure too small. I would say no less than a 35. Maybe even a little bigger. You could definetely end up with little ones swimming around depending on the make up of your tank, ie. if there are hiding places or not for the little ones to hide in.


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## pyrofish (May 18, 2005)

So if I were to expand to say, a 40 gallon tank, would the actual process of transferring the fish from one tank to the other screw them up somehow?

I thought I'd also mention that occasionally, at night I hear a bunch of comotion, and in the morning I notice that my fish have re-arranged the decorations! Is this somehow related to the mating pair?


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## AshleytheGreat (Jul 24, 2005)

MIne do that 2, They just...like to dig lol but then again maybe it has to do with the whole mating thing?


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## IloveCichlids (Jul 11, 2005)

By nature cichlids are diggers, there is nothing you can do to stop it. a 40 gal. tank would definetely be better. The transfer should not bother them. just use you old water and keep your filter running in the new tank, in addition to a bigger one for the 40 gal. setup.


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## pyrofish (May 18, 2005)

This may be getting a little off topic, but I have two 20 gallon power filters and two 20 gallon heaters. Could I just use those as opposed to buying equipment for a 40 gallon tank? I'm just trying to find a way to make the transfer more economical.

One other question: I have this plastic mesh stuff glued to the bottom of my ceramic shark decoration to prevent fish from swimming into the hollow part of it and getting stuck. If additional fish are born, is it possible that they may get stuck in it? In other words, could they swim into the mesh, eat food, and then grow too big to fit back through the mesh?

Thanks again!


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## IloveCichlids (Jul 11, 2005)

As far as the deco shark and plastic mesh, anything is possible, I would not put it past fish not to explore, get in their and then get stuck. espessially fry looking for a place too hide. your equipment should be fine to begin with.


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