need help with Cacatuoide...

[JasonC]

Hi folks,

New here and still relatively new to fishkeeping, so looking for some expert help... but please be gentle:wink:..

I have a male cacatuoide in my community tank (seemed like a good idea based off of research at the time...) that seems to be either scared for his life, or generally unhappy. I lost his fem. companion a week ago due to dropsy.

The fish had been in the tank for a month before the loss, and even before she died, both fish spent 90% of their time in hiding, and it was near impossible to get them to compete for food w/ other tankmates. I am pretty sure the fem got the dropsy due to starvation compromising her immune system.

After a few days of spending more time then usual out of hiding, the male cac is now almost exclusively staying hidden in a back corner in his "camoflauge" colors (loss of any blue, and stripe gone)

The tank... 20Gal, with 4 zebra danios, a dwarf gourami, a BN Pleco, and 6 ammano shrimp. Tank sits at about 76F, ph of 7.4, 0 ammonia, 0 nitItes, and 10-20 NitrAtes. 25% water changes once per week. has gravel substrate and medium heavy coverage of plastic plants (i know... dont tease too much... I am going to change over, but i'm scared ;P). There is also a driftwood and a 3"d terracotta pot w/ a small entrance hole for hiding places.

So... the litany of questions... is he still gun shy cause the surroundings are too new for him after 5 weeks? Should he be more aggressive feeding, or are Cacs pretty non aggro when it comes to food hitting water? In general, is this tank way too inappropriate for him? Should I consider removing to my 10g Quarantine tank for a while? Permanently? If he is okay to stay in the tank, is there anything else I can do to make the habitat more comfortable for him, and get him to perk up a bit?

I have really gotten into Cacs and consequently Apistos because of him, so I would really like to get this right... I feel terrible I was not able to save his she, and would like to be able to introduce him to some future harem candidates someday... but not until I am sure that I am going to get it right.

Thanks in advance for your help!!

 

[Mike Wise]

Welcome to the Apisto Forum. The tank & tankmates should be fine, although danios are highly active (manic?) fish that can disturb other species at first. I do have some questions. What are you feeding your fish? Apistos tend to be more "choosy" about what they eat. Do you have anything like floating plants? These usually make apistos more outgoing.

 

[Gillie]

I would say the danios are the problem. I used to use them as dithers for my apistos but found them to be terrible tankmates. They are very aggressive feeders and can be quite nippy when it comes to apistos with longer finnage like cacatuoides.

 

[JasonC]

ha! I think Manic is an excellent description of those lil buggers!

As for food, I am rotating between flake, freezedried bloodworms, and a floating granule, then about once a week will toss in a frozen brine shrimp cube. feeding twice a day. No floating plants at this time, though would be happy to add though I would need to upgrade lighting. Any suggestions on good plants for this?


If I end up needing to replace the danios, what would be a good replacement schooling fish that would occupy the same space in the water column, but not be so aggressive or high octane?

This is all great info... thanks!

 

[viejo]

I would recommend some of the smaller species of rainbow fish M. praecox, Mccullochi,etc.). They are peaceful,hardy, active & not shy. I have used the a lot over the years for dither/targets.

 

[Gillie]

Tetras or pencilfish are good choices. As far as floating plants go you can should be able to get away with your normal lighting, because the get the light before it dissperses through the water. I use watersprite and water lettuce under stock lighting with no problem.

 

[JasonC]

Thanks for the fish recommendations, and for the advice.

I am going to see if I can find some watersprite at my LFS in the morning and see if that does the trick... but that being said, i am still a bit concerned for the Cac... unless he was out while I was at work today, he has not emerged from his pot cave all day. Should I consider pulling him and putting him into QT? Hiding all day for about 48 hours was the first symptoms that the female exhibited so I am getting a touch concerned.

thanks again

 

[Gillie]

If you are that concerned about him then go ahead and pull him there would be reason for concern if he is showing the same signs as the female did.

 

[leamos]

I'd up the volume and/or frequency of the water changes, i do at least 50% a week. My cac's will eat just about anything i give them flake, frozen brine, frozen bloodworm, granules, bbs, daphina.

As for schooling dithers, i have endler livebearers with mine; hardy, active and provide extra protein at least once a month of the cac's

 

[JasonC]

So quick update. I went ahead and pulled the Cac to quarantine... mostly cause I couldnt get those darn danios out of the tank... that is going to be a *chore*.

He hasnt shown any more signs of dropsy which is good... so I am keeping him there on a vacation. I have added a bunch of watersprite to the QT which he is ignoring

Foodwise, the only thing he has accepted is frozen brine. and only a little of that. I have also been doing about 50% partial water changes every day since this is not a cycled tank.

I am still concerned about him because of his lack of appetite, and his coloration. he used to have vibrant blues, and now is just pale.. even after waking up and getting his stripe back in the morning, he is just pallid. Also, while he is not staying in his pot full time, he is still a little lethargic. can anyone think of causes for this and what I may be able to do?

Oh! and pardon the ignorance, but is hovering face down at a 45-degree angle a normal swim position?


thanks!

 

[leamos]

Soak some frozen food in some garlic juice for 5 mins, stimulates appitite, good for their immune system too apprently

 

[JasonC]

great idea... you have any clue where to start on a search for garlic juice? Not exactly something I would think of as yummy enough to sell in a grocery store

 

[leamos]

I either just smash up/ bruise a whole clove or crush some garlic and squeeze the juice out using a piece of musin, cheesecloth or a new chux and add to the water your defrosting the frozen food in. DON'T use pre crashed garlic from the jar, contains preservatives and god knows what else

my other trick to get a relutant fish to feed is to dye the food pink/ red, one drop of natural food dye is added at the same time as the garlic (leave for 5 mins) then i just strain, rinse and feed. Something about the colour red that gets them going

 

[Bev N]

There are a number of products out there for just this.

Click on the link on the left for ThatFishPlace then scroll down till you see fish food listed on the left of the page. Then click on appetite enhancer. There are a number of them there.