Plec in trouble maybe

[Gill Passman]

Over the last couple of days I have noticed that my Snowball Plec in my
Malawi tank is getting picked on by his Mbuna companions. By picked on, I
mean they are going in there and trying to take a nibble. At the moment he
is getting a bit cross and scurrying off to hide but I am concerned about
his long term future in the tank....

Should I tear down the rocks and get him out of there while he is still
healthy and happy or allow that his natural defences will keep him safe and
leave him be? Of course tearing down the rocks will result in another Mbuna
war. I'm a little concerned that in spite of his natural defences he will
get stressed and not feed....until now he has been very confident and often
seen in the middle of the tank but not since the bullying has started. I
don't want to leave it too late if he is getting bullied....

Then if I do move him I'm not sure where the best place would be. The
options would be:-

The 200L Community Tank which already has a Queen Arabesque that is running
short on algae and so therefore living on a suplemented diet (these algae
eaters do too good a job). I'm not sure whether they prefer to be solitary
or could cohabit

Matt's 30 gall tank that has no algae apart from Green string algae so the
diet would need supplementing anyway

The 15 gall tank that currently is just housing 2 Dwarf Gouramis and no
algae...but at least I could keep an eye on him

The other problem, of course, is that the Malawi tank has Ocean rock and
coral sand which will have made the water harder. The other tanks have
driftwood...so competely different environment.

Any thoughts please????

Gill

[Cichla]

I would get him out of the mbuna tank myself. Although it would require some
acclimatising to the different water params as you have mentioned. I have
two snowballs in with two clown plecs and they give each other no aggro at
all so I would go for the 200l community tank. He should be out and about in
no time and you can keep an eye on him no probs.

--
Cheers

Rick

http://www.aqua-maniac.co.uk
http://bmw.aqua-maniac.co.uk
"Gill Passman" <gillspamattaylorpassmanspam.co.uk> wrote in message
.. .
> Over the last couple of days I have noticed that my Snowball Plec in my
> Malawi tank is getting picked on by his Mbuna companions. By picked on, I
> mean they are going in there and trying to take a nibble. At the moment he
> is getting a bit cross and scurrying off to hide but I am concerned about
> his long term future in the tank....
>
> Should I tear down the rocks and get him out of there while he is still
> healthy and happy or allow that his natural defences will keep him safe
and
> leave him be? Of course tearing down the rocks will result in another
Mbuna
> war. I'm a little concerned that in spite of his natural defences he will
> get stressed and not feed....until now he has been very confident and
often
> seen in the middle of the tank but not since the bullying has started. I
> don't want to leave it too late if he is getting bullied....
>
> Then if I do move him I'm not sure where the best place would be. The
> options would be:-
>
> The 200L Community Tank which already has a Queen Arabesque that is
running
> short on algae and so therefore living on a suplemented diet (these algae
> eaters do too good a job). I'm not sure whether they prefer to be solitary
> or could cohabit
>
> Matt's 30 gall tank that has no algae apart from Green string algae so the
> diet would need supplementing anyway
>
> The 15 gall tank that currently is just housing 2 Dwarf Gouramis and no
> algae...but at least I could keep an eye on him
>
> The other problem, of course, is that the Malawi tank has Ocean rock and
> coral sand which will have made the water harder. The other tanks have
> driftwood...so competely different environment.
>
> Any thoughts please????
>
> Gill
>
>

[Gill Passman]

"Cichla" > wrote in message
...
> I would get him out of the mbuna tank myself. Although it would require
some
> acclimatising to the different water params as you have mentioned. I have
> two snowballs in with two clown plecs and they give each other no aggro at
> all so I would go for the 200l community tank. He should be out and about
in
> no time and you can keep an eye on him no probs.
>
> --
> Cheers
>
> Rick
>
> http://www.aqua-maniac.co.uk
> http://bmw.aqua-maniac.co.uk
> "Gill Passman" <gillspamattaylorpassmanspam.co.uk> wrote in message
> .. .
> > Over the last couple of days I have noticed that my Snowball Plec in my
> > Malawi tank is getting picked on by his Mbuna companions. By picked on,
I
> > mean they are going in there and trying to take a nibble. At the moment
he
> > is getting a bit cross and scurrying off to hide but I am concerned
about
> > his long term future in the tank....
> >
> > Should I tear down the rocks and get him out of there while he is still
> > healthy and happy or allow that his natural defences will keep him safe
> and
> > leave him be? Of course tearing down the rocks will result in another
> Mbuna
> > war. I'm a little concerned that in spite of his natural defences he
will
> > get stressed and not feed....until now he has been very confident and
> often
> > seen in the middle of the tank but not since the bullying has started. I
> > don't want to leave it too late if he is getting bullied....
> >
> > Then if I do move him I'm not sure where the best place would be. The
> > options would be:-
> >
> > The 200L Community Tank which already has a Queen Arabesque that is
> running
> > short on algae and so therefore living on a suplemented diet (these
algae
> > eaters do too good a job). I'm not sure whether they prefer to be
solitary
> > or could cohabit
> >
> > Matt's 30 gall tank that has no algae apart from Green string algae so
the
> > diet would need supplementing anyway
> >
> > The 15 gall tank that currently is just housing 2 Dwarf Gouramis and no
> > algae...but at least I could keep an eye on him
> >
> > The other problem, of course, is that the Malawi tank has Ocean rock and
> > coral sand which will have made the water harder. The other tanks have
> > driftwood...so competely different environment.
> >
> > Any thoughts please????
> >
> > Gill
> >
> >
>
>

Plec has been out and about foraging again tonight with no sign of being
attacked....the Mbuna have been very restless today - picking on one another
with very little excuse - perhaps it has been the high temps that has been
bugging them. After the storm tonight everyone is a lot more placid and the
Plec has been out in the middle of the tank with no signs of attack. He
actually seems to have grown quite significantly since I last got a good
look at him (usually he is in the rockwork). He's not the biggest fish in
the tank but not far off....
Maybe I was just panicking...
Gill