Milomo Abuse

Hey Folks,

I have been trying to replace a full grown Milomo that I lost a few months back.

Recently I bought two that I was convinced were males but as soon as they landed in my tank reverted to female colouration.

Last Friday I managed to find a STUNNING male of about 6cm showing full breeding dress all the time. I added him to my tank and immediately my other fish turned on him. My Polystingma, Steveni and Female Spilonutus started hammering this poor guy non stop like a gang attack. What I find odd is that despite this he did not loose any of his colour at all. Normally a new male will loose some colour until he fits into the pecking order and then colour up again.

I suspect that this fish has been injected with hormones to make him colour up more and be easier to sell, to me this would also explain the intense aggression that was directed his way. My tank has always been a little rowdy with male haps but never to this extent. Am I on to something or can you suggest another reason for this? I added a similar size compressiceps at the same time and he is fine.

Now on to the issue at hand. This little guy was about to pass to the big pond in the sky and in a sheer stroke of luck I managed to net him off the surface. I had a 100lt tank running with a few plants in and have put him in this tank and have started treating with bio elite heal all because his fins have been shredded and I dont want him to get an infection.

My main concern is that I cant get him to eat. If he doesnt start eating in the next day or so he probably wont make it and he really is a magnificent specimen. I have tried both of my regular granular foods and even tried him with an earthworm which my previous milomos could not refuse but no dice.

What else could I try with him? Cut up prawns perhaps?

He is very shy in this tank alone and I was thinking of maybe getting a few smaller tank mates to help settle him?

 

Hi.

I have Hurd when introducing a new fish to an aquarium one should rearrange the tank to avoid aggression. Not sure if this will work in your case. I do not have much experience with this kind of fish.

I would try to keep the water as clean as you can to avoid any further infection. Seachem makes a product called Entice. You soak the food in this stuff then feed. Perhaps you could increase temp? This should make him eat. Some of the more experienced guys should comment here as well as I am know expert. Hope this helps.

 

I have found that re-arranging the rocks only works with Mbuna because they claim rocks and caves, and by changing things around they all have a chance to claim new homes. With open water haps though, if they hate a certain fish they will continue to do so even after changing the tank around because their territory is essentially open water.

If I can save this little guy ill give him special attention to grow him faster than the others before putting him back, then im sure he will be fine. I just found it odd that they immediately targeted this guy with such extreme prejudice and he refused to put up a fight despite being a similar size.

Even stranger than that, the Borleyi and Venustus who are normally the upstarts ignored him completely.

 

Maybe add a very docile female or two with him so that he can be the 'main man' in the tank and he will not feel lonely.

 

How's he doing?

 

He is still alive this morning. I managed to net the small female i had in my show tank and put her in with him. He is still very timid and im not sure if he is eating yet but the food I put in the tank did disappear. Might have been only the female eating or both, cant really tell because he dives for cover when I go near.

 

Guys any ideas on how to treat this fish??? Besides increasing the temp and keeping the water clean. Can we dose some thing to fix those Fins etc.

 

Salt maybe???

 

Hi. How is the fish doing? I was just thinking you could add some seachem stress guard to the water. It aids in the heeling

 

He is still alive and last night he was actually looking pretty good. I have not seen him eating yet but he was dragging a number two behind him last night so I can only assume he ate something. He is still very skittish though and if I come near the tank he dives for his cave but he will probably settle soon.

The sections of his fins that were torn up have now dissolved away totally and i hope to see the fins start growing back in the next few days. I did see him giving the small female a bit of a chase around the tank last night too so he must be feeling a bit better

 

That sounds fantastic. Keep the water clean and you can still use the seachem stress guard as well.

 

Just an update. This litte guy has made a full recovery. All his fins have grown back and he is looking great again. The Milomo that has been in my tank that was bought as a male but took on female colours, is in fact a male and is now starting to colour up beautifully so this abused fish will be taking up residence in my brothers 1000lt tank.