First Attempt with Cichlids

Over the weekend, I bought 9 cichlids from QianHu to replace the goldfishes we had lost. Judging from their appearances, they should belong to the Mbuna Cichlids species, residing in Lake Malawi, Africa.

After some research, the species that I have now are Auratus (Melanochromis auratus), Electric Yellow Labido (Labidochromis caeruleus), but the plain white cichlids are still unidentifiable.

Even though mine is a 2ft tank, I decided to overstock the tank a little to spread out any possible aggression. Also, since their natural habitat is rocky with little plants, I try to setup a rockscape similar to it.

Went down to Aquastar this evening to buy some rocks. In the end I only bought two rocks, with the rest picked up from the roadside, which looked safe enough to be used:

I then scrubbed and washed them before putting them in piece by piece, trying to create as many hiding places as possible while making them look natural.

The plants were already in the tank prior to the cichlids, so I decided to include them in to provide some shade and greenery. Although the fishes are plant eaters in nature, so far they haven’t been eating off any of the leaves.

So far here’s the simple rockscape created for them. Looking forward to some algae growing on the rocks so they will look more natural, and the fishes can graze them for food.

Goldfish Wipeout

Sad to say, all of our three goldfishes rested in peace just few days back, starting from the two newcomers followed by our resident Xiao Wu.

Apparently, one of the newcomers was infected with some fungus infection and passed it on to the others. All died with white spots all over their bodies.

Feeling guilty for Xiao Wu for not quarantining the two goldfishes first and indirectly caused his death. Hope he is now resting in peace with his previous fellow goldfishes.

Following that, I did a 100% water change and cleaned the filter, hopefully clearing up all traces of any undesired bacteria/virus/fungus in the tank.

After filling up the tank with new de-chlorinated water, the tank is ready to accept its new occupants.

Blood Streaks on Goldfish’s Tail?

Last night, I started noticing that there were blood-red streaks on the tail of our Oranda goldfish ‘Xiao Wu’:

I can’t help but wonder if it’s some kind of disease or injury…