# yellow tail acei fry



## islandlife7309 (Mar 21, 2013)

I was changing the rocks on the bottom of the tank and removed all fish, decorations, etc. I go to move my texas holy rock and baby acei came flying out and got eaten by my bigger fish. I had no idea any of my fish were holding. Is there a special way to tell besides them looking like they are chewing gum? When I spot a fish holding should I put them in a different tank or leave them be? I'm not a breeder and had no intentions of breeding, but I guess my fish had other ideas haha. If I have to put them in a different tank what size would be suitable? I'm also having issues with my yellow lab. She had ich and other problems so I put her in the hospital tank for about 2 weeks. I went to put her back in and the other fish were harrassing her and biting her scales off so I just put her back in the hospital tank. Any idea on how to make the aggression towards her die down? Should I just keep her seperate? Thanks in advance!


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

A fish has to be fully recovered before it goes back, fish will sense weakness and attack. And there has to be extra hiding places. Make sure you have enough even if you have to buy 12' of pvc and chop it in fish-length pieces. Then rearrange the decor and turn off the lights before you put her back. If you are wrong about sex and it is a second or third male, the abuse may continue anyway and you will have to permanently separate them. 

A 15-20 gallon "maternity' tank with a few tubes to hide in and some small rocks for fry to hide under is my favorite method. 

I can tell they are holding when a fish doesn't eat. It looks at food and holds back or sucks in a few flakes sideways but ignores pellets. Or just doesn't come out at feeding time. That is also a sign that a fish need hospital tank.

To leave them in the main tank, it should be a really large (150g) tank with lots of hiding places. In a small tank, a holding mother get weak from not eating and starts getting picked on. My acie would actually "bump" holding mothers and then eat any eggs she dropped.


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## islandlife7309 (Mar 21, 2013)

Thank you for replying! I'm pretty sure she's a female, but if I am wrong it shouldn't matter because she's the only one there I would think? It was a little 2'' Bumblebee nibbling on her tho. I'm still new to the cichlid world and trying to learn. The fish came with the tank I got at a garage sale and still trying to figure out who can go with who. The guy just seemed to buy whatever he could and threw it in the tank. I'll have to look for the signs and pay better attention. That's pretty interesting about your fish bumping them to get the eggs. Smart little things they are.


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