Jaguar Cichlid... gen., sys., food   03/04/2008
Hello,
I have recently acquired a jaguar cichlid. I'm not sure how old he is, but he's about 10 to 11 inches long. I think he is male.
<Lovely fish; difficult to sex.>
The lady I bought him from said he had killed his mate, and had been off his food for a week or so. She thinks he killed her because up until that time, the tank had been quite algae-filled, and the female was able to hide. The owner decided to scrub the tank down, and that is when the female became more visible and was killed.
<Doesn't really sound very likely, unless the algae were huge kelp-like things!>
The owner was an experienced fish hobbyist - in fact, I bought her entire collection: 25 years worth, mostly of African cichlids, along with a community tank and some South American cichlids. I have them in five tanks.
<Sounds nice.>
My jaguar cichlid is in a 35 gallon tank, with a little driftwood and a rock cave which he sometimes hides in. Tank dimensions are 3 foot by 1 and 1/2 foot by 1 foot. (This is the same size he was used to before I purchased him.)
<Ah, the plot thinnens. Simply too small. When I kept this species, it was in a 200 gallon system, and realistically you need to be keeping them in something "jumbo" sized, i.e., 75 gallons upwards; these are BIG, TERRITORIAL fish.>
Once he gets better I am looking to move him to a larger tank, but don't want to risk stressing him any further by moving him at present.
<Quite the reverse is likely to be true. Provided water chemistry is constant, and he isn't placed in a tank with a larger, territorial cichlid -- moving him is a great idea.>
I have had him for a couple of weeks now, and have offered him all kinds of food: frozen fish food that she had been giving him before he went off his food, freeze dried blood worms, flakes, pellets, ground beef, raw fish, live fish, but so far he has eaten nothing.
<Well, for a start, stop with the live feeder fish. Live foods generally, and feeder fish especially, appear to bring out aggressive tendencies in fish. Live fish are also parasite time bombs, unless you're breeding your own. One of the most idiotic things in the hobby is the use of Minnows and Goldfish as feeder fish. They are far to high in fat and contain lots of the Vitamin B1-destroying chemical Thiaminase. Bob Fenner (who runs WWM) has made the point in print and elsewhere that Goldfish are then #1 cause of mortality in captive Lionfish! The ONLY safe fish species that can be used as feeders are gut-loaded, home-bred livebearers. Anyway, Parachromis managuensis will eat pretty much anything when settled. Earthworms are a favourite. My specimen enjoyed squid and other types of seafood. Oily fish was enjoyed, by this wrecks water quality, so use sparingly and just before doing a massive water change. Once settled down they eat pellets, and these are truly the ideal staple, being safe and nutritionally balanced.>
I had a couple of smaller problem fish - a minnow that was killing its tank mates and a barb that was chewing the fins off its tank mate. I put them in with my jaguar cichlid, hoping he might be tempted to eat them. He does dart at them occasionally, but until this morning he hasn't killed them. Today I found the small barb dead, floating around the tank. The jaguar will look at it and just swim away. He might have killed him, but it's more likely that the barb died of stress.
<More than likely territorial aggression. In any case, this ISN'T how you solve aggression problems in community tanks. Tiger barbs for example become nippy when they're kept in too small a group. "Punishing" a specimen because it is doing what its genes are telling it to do is just plain dumb. It's a fish, not a naughty child. So, look at how many Tiger Barbs you have, and if there's less than six, add some more. Do also remember that Tiger Barbs are NOT GOOD COMMUNITY FISH. This is made plain again and again in the fishkeeping press, so there's no excuse for not being aware of this. You simply don't keep them in [a] small tanks and [b] with slow moving or long-finned tankmates. Fine with barbs and tetras, not fine with Gouramis and angels.>
The PH is 7.7; nitrites close to zero, ammonia close to zero, the water is not very hard (just above the 'soft' line when I tested it.) He has oxygen (bubbler stone), low lighting, the temperature is around 73 degrees.
<Parachromis managuensis needs hard to very hard water with a basic pH and LOTS of carbonate hardness. I'm guessing he's off colour and not eating because the water is all wrong. This is non-negotiable. The pH should be 7.5-8.5, general hardness around 15+ degrees dH, and carbonate hardness upwards of 7 degrees KH. Adding salt and other Mickey-mouse quick fixes are not an option. Raise the KH by incorporating lots of calcareous media in the filter. You can also add tufa rock and other calcareous rocks to the aquarium, but by themselves these have a marginal effect on KH. Crushed coral or crushed oyster shell in a nice big canister filter is the way to go. Water changes need to be generous: these are heavily polluting fish, and this means they produce the chemicals that acidify the water. See here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwh2oquality.htm
>
He seems very shy - not at all the aggressive guy I was told I was getting. He shies away from the walls of the tank if anyone comes near, if I stick my hand in he'll swim away, and he backs away from any food that is dropped into the tank.
<Wrong water chemistry, and absolutely normal behaviour under the circumstances.>
I've put salt in the tank and have done a 20% water change, but so far nothing has helped.
<For the seven billionth time for people who haven't learned this yet: aquarium salt doesn't raise hardness or pH. It is of no damn use in a freshwater tank! Carbonate hardness comes from carbonate and bicarbonate salts, and these are not to be found in boxes of sodium chloride! Also, water changes should be around the 50% mark, weekly.>
His water also stinks like dead fish, not strongly but it is there.
<Sounds like too much food, not removed quickly; perhaps under-filtered too and certainly not enough water changes.>
I'm concerned he is starving himself to death.
<He is.>
He seems quite active, swimming around and occasionally darting to the surface.
<Darting behaviour in stressed cichlids is a very bad sign.>
Do you have any suggestions about what I could do to get him eating again?
<Many many things. Please read my advice carefully, and then sit back and read the article about water chemistry. It is absolutely critical you understand this, because right now this fish doomed with a capital D.>
Thanks very, very much for your help and advice!
Dana
<Happy to help. These are gorgeous fish, and my specimen was a real show-stopper, but they are not "easy" fish, and Central American cichlids generally need very specific water chemistry conditions to do well. Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Jaguar Cichlid, sys.  03/04/2008
Thanks for your help! I'll get him in a bigger tank right away. I have a couple of empty tanks sitting around: a 70 and a 100 gallon, so that
shouldn't be a problem. I'll get the water hardness fixed right away too.
The jag is such a gorgeous fish, I'd have hated to have him die on me, so I'll be onto this today.
Thank you!
Dana
<Dana, all sounds promising. I hope things get fixed, and you enjoy many happy years with this wonderful fish. Mine was a sweetie, and in the 200 gallon tank not at all aggressive. Possibly was a female though. So difficult to sex. Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Jaguar Cichlid
Earthworms? Umm... This is Canada: the frozen North! To reach an earthworm, I would have to hire a bulldozer. I'll look up fishing stores and see if they have any.
Thanks again!!
Dana
<Hello Dana. Surely you're can't be much further north than I am here in the UK? But I guess those darned polar winds make a difference. In any case, yes, earthworms should be available from a bait shop. And you can actually grow your own! Earthworm "farming" is a hobby of sorts here in England. There's an excellent little book called "The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms" by Amy Stewart all about what earthworms do, why they matter, and at the end of the book, how to care for them. Fascinating stuff! Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Jaguar Cichlid 3/7/08
Hi Neale,
I don't know whether or not we're further North than you are, but the ground is frozen solid and we're expecting another 60 cm. of snow over the next 36 hours.
<Yikes!>
Happily, there are bait and tackle stores that sell worms for people who brave the elements and go ice fishing, so I'll be headed out there after work this afternoon.
<Very good.>
The jag is still digging and digging and attacking his bubbler. He sure doesn't look sick, though he is much thinner than when we got him. I have no idea how he stays alive after a month without food.
<He's a fish, and in the "dry season" likely has to make do with very little food.>
I'll let you know whether the earthworms do the trick.
<Yes, please do.>
Thanks again,
Dana
<Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Jaguar Cichlid – 03/10/08
Hi again Neale,
Here's the jaguar's dietary report: he pays no attention to food whatsoever, including earthworms. I tossed one of his rejects into a different tank for my smaller cichlids and almost started a war. The worm was gone in seconds. I have a fresh one hanging from a suction cup at the side of the jaguar's tank, but he ignores it completely. I thought if I hung it from the wall of his tank, he might notice it more, rather than having it hide in the gravel like the last ones did. He is still moving a lot of rock, swimming around and investigating everything, and ducking into his cave regularly, but he's just not going to eat. If you think of anything else that might help, I'm very open to suggestions.
Thanks,
Dana
<Hello Dana. I can't think of any "quick fix" here except to try as many different things as you can. If the fish is otherwise behaving normally, there may be something sapping his appetite. Bloating, constipation and Hole-in-the-Head all start with a loss of appetite, so consider those options, since all are quite common in cichlids. I'd perhaps treat for Hexamita/Hole-in-the-Head proactively, just in case. This disease is much easier to treat before the symptoms become established and obvious. I'd then run something laxative through the system, such as Epsom salts (see elsewhere on WWM for the details). If these don't help, then something systemically anti-bacterial like Maracyn would be a good idea. All this said, he may simply [a] not be settled and [b] not wild about the foods being offered. Time and variety will fix this. A risky option might be to introduce some other fish of comparable size but sufficiently durable they won't be harmed. Often fish that are reticent about feeding become bolder when they see other fish "take the bait". This is standard practise in marine communities for example, where damselfish fulfill this role admirably. Cheers, Neale.>