red devil not eating   1/15/12
Hi i have currently had My red devil fish (Chester)  for nearly a year now.
I'm not actually sure whether its a he or a she, Chester was a baby when i bought him from the pet shop. He is around 4-5 inches long. He has always been in a tank
<How large, filtered?>
by himself and since we got to know each other he has been quite happy in his tank, and interacting with me when i came close to the glass. I have never fed him fish, just cichlid pellets and blood worms daily.
<Do cut down on the last... sewage fly larvae have been implicated in metabolic disease in recent times>
 He has Always had a healthy appetite and came to the top of the tank to get his food from me. i clean his tank out around every month and a half.
<... Better by far to do partial water changes, w/ gravel vacuuming weekly... and filter maintenance at these times>
 i recently cleaned his tank and filter and got him a new heater due to the old one starting to die and not keep the right temperature. after the tank clean his water was at 7.5 PH
<What re ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?>
and temperature was 25-26 degrees Celsius. But he has not eaten since the water change and has been hiding all day in his little cave. He is getting very pale as well. its been about 10days since he has eaten anything and is not interested in any food which is not like him at all. he refuses to come out of his cave. i took the cave out to see how if that would change anything but he just hides near his filter and behind his fake plants. he still spits his rocks around like always but not when anyone is watching.
When i go close to the glass he will swim away and hide which also is not like him. Other than being more pale than usual his appearance hasn't changed. no cloudy eyes or spots anywhere. Please help i am getting very worried about him not eating. what else can i do?
<Please answer the questions above and read here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/reddevdisf.htm
and the linked files above.
Bob Fenner>

Gizmo our Red Devil... health... env., nutr.   12/28/09
Hi
I have a 8 Year old red devil that has not had no trouble at all during his life in the last couple of months we have noticed him slightly losing appetite and sinking to the bottom of the tank and laying sideways.
<May be getting old, though this species should live a little longer without problems.>
PH is 7 Tank temp is 30 degrees Celsius, tank size is 270 Litres.
<The pH is too low, and the temperature a bit too high. Indeed, if it's been at 30 C all its life, it may well be "old" before its time. These fish do need hard, basic water -- you're aiming for 10+ degrees dH, and pH 7.5. I mention these specifically because tanks that rely on coral sand and Tufa rock for hardness may be fine for a long time, but eventually algae and bacteria so encrust the sand and rock that the buffering ability drops to zero. Replacing some/all of this material will help. Otherwise, simply add something like a Rift Valley salt mix at 50-100% dosage to provide the conditions required.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwh2oquality.htm
>
We had our filter not running efficiently by the time we realised the water quality wasn't very good over the last 2 weeks
<Well, that's one possible cause of problems.>
I have done a 2 x 50% water changes, cleaned the filters re leveled out his Ph level and put some live fish in their for him.
<Why have you added live fish? Let's be clear here: one of the silliest things any aquarist can do is use cheap, store-bought feeder fish. Goldfish and minnows contain too much thiaminase and fat, and over time will cause chronic vitamin deficiency and degeneration of the internal organs.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_6/volume_6_1/thiaminase.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/goldfshfd.htm
Cheap feeder fish can also internal parasites, some of which can infect predators that eat them. The information about thiaminase is increasingly widely known now, but the problems with fat and parasites have been known for years, which is why no aquarium book advises aquarists to use live feeder fish.>
We went away for 4 days came back and he had no colour at all but he would come out and say hello then go hide in his log again. When he swims it sometimes is sidewards then when he stops he hits the bottom fairly hard.
What can I do to help him?
<See above. Optimise water chemistry, check water quality, use a proper diet. Amphilophus labiatus evolved to eat small invertebrates from the mud; that's what its thick lips are all about. It also eats things like algae and organic detritus. I mention these because aquarists often assume feeding their cichlids feeder fish is good for them. Almost all cichlids are omnivores that feed primarily on algae, organic detritus, invertebrates, and plants. Very few are "predators" in the sense of eating smaller fish, though to be fair, Amphilophus labiatus does occasionally eat small fish. So once you have water chemistry and quality optimised, concentrate on things like cooked peas, earthworms, wet-frozen krill, insect larvae, etc. Good quality cichlid pellets are extremely useful, perhaps augmented with things like Spirulina flake and Sushi Nori. Small portions of thiaminase-free fish fillet (e.g., tilapia) can be added, perhaps once a week.>
Regards
Kurt
<Cheers, Neale.>

Frelling Red Devil! Hi!  I was wondering if you could help me with an issue that I am having with my Red Devil. He is an adult male, and approximately 10 inches in length. About a week ago I put him in a new 60 gallon aquarium and now he has not eaten in a week. The pH is set proper and so is the temp. I have tried all the foods he normally eats and then some. He still won't eat. I thought that it may be because he is still getting acquainted with his new surroundings but I don't feel like it should take this long. What do you think and do you have any answers that may help me save my fish? He is active and still moves his gravel around. How long can he go without eating?  < Cichlids in general are territorial and seem to be more shaken up by a change in surroundings then most other fish. A couple of things come to mind. If the tank is in a new location then additional foot traffic may make him more reluctant to come out. Brighter colored gravel may make him more obvious and once again more reluctant to come out. Try some washed earthworms to get him going. If the temperature is around 80 then he can probably go a couple of weeks without too much suffering.-Chuck>  Ron Sankary

Red Devil Cichlid Hello once again Bob, My name is Courtney and I have a RED DEVIL CICHLID and, well, it doesn't seem to eat anything that we put in the tank. What would you recommend as we have two other little cichlids about 2" in length and out RED DEVIL is 7-8". What should I do, I mean, maybe he eats when we are not around but it always seems to be the little ones that eat and not him. What could be wrong and what could I possibly do?  Thank you once again.  I hope that you are able to answer my questions. Courtney <Mmm, what had this fish been eating? Is it new to your tank? What were the people feeding it before...? It may be conditioned to eating a particular food/format... like pellets, or specialized food sticks... I would not worry much re... as these cichlids will eventually come around, eat most any/everything... I am concerned re your other fishes... as the Red Devil... can be a devil! Please read here re Cichlids: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwlivestkindex.htm Bob Fenner>

Re: Red Devil Hello again Bob, <Courtney> Well the Red Devil is new to our tank. Same with our other little cichlids. Now the Red Devil used to eat pellets, and sticks when the pet store had him. Our other cichlids eat fine, but the Red Devil seems to not eat, now, whether he eats when we are not looking is the other question. The rest of the fish in the tank never and I mean never get picked on by the Red Devil. They are getting along fine. The ones that do the picking are the little ones and they pick on each other. But they have not hurt one another. It's like they are both saying to each other, NA NA Boo Boo. It's rather funny. But the Red Devil watches them, but never goes after them. Now, we had a ship in there for him to go behind and well my boyfriend took it out of the tank and now he swims around more and we are maybe thinking that's the problem. Now that he is out in the open we think he well start eating, but we still left rocks in the tank for the little ones to him under. Thank you for your time. Courtney <This fish will eat eventually, no worries... and it is VERY likely to be trouble with these smaller fishes. Read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/reddevils.htm  and the linked files above.  Bob Fenner>

Loui, the Red Devil... not feeding   11/14/06 Hi: <<Hi, Daniella. Tom here.>> I'm wondering if you can help me.   <<I'll give it my best effort.>> Loui Lucifer is our red deviled cichlid. <<Red Devil Cichlid. Just a little help. :) >>>> He is a 10' male in 47 gallon tank. <<10' (inch), not 10' (feet). My apologies, again.>> He used to have a lot of energy and was very temperamental. (I couldn't keep anything in my tank or else he would kill and eat it).   <<Definitely a Red Devil Cichlid! Not unusual for this fish at all.>> Within the last week he has changed.  He does not eat and he stays in one corner in the side of his tank.  He hasn't touched his feeder fish.   <<Too many feeder fish isn't recommended. They're not a good part of a Cichlid's diet. They're not nutritious and can introduce disease(s) into the tank. Yes, Cichlids do feed on fish in their natural habitat but these aren't the same fish we buy at the store.>> I can't notice anything unusual about his appearance except he has turned a much brighter range in comparison to before. He's much paler.  We have tried feeding him blood worms thinking that he might need a change in diet. <<A variation in diet is excellent  but I don't think this is the problem.>> He hardly swims and appears extremely depressed.  We have done a 25% water change.  The pH level is about 8 and I'm not sure what the nitrites are but am taking a sample in.   <<Very good! Ask them to check ALL of the parameters including ammonia, nitrite and, particularly, nitrate levels. Cichlids are not very tolerant of nitrate levels over 20 ppm (parts per million). We, in the hobby, think of levels up to 40 ppm as being 'safe' but this isn't necessarily true for Cichlids. The lower the levels are, the better.>> The feeder fish we bought 2 weeks ago are still alive and had appeared to have ich on them. Would this have an effect on Lou and why he is not eating?   <<Hopefully, Lou will not eat a fish infested with Ich. (I wouldn't!) Unfortunately, the fact that the 'feeders' have Ich means that Lou is liable to get it, especially in the state that he's in. Please, research our site regarding the use of aquarium salt for treating Ich. Much as it bothers me to say this, your Cichlid comes first. Treat your tank with Lou in mind and forget the feeders.>> Could he have an internal infection from these fish?   <<Again, Daniella, this is entirely possible. Without more information, it's very hard to say what might be wrong with him. There are many good foods available for your fish. Stay away from 'feeder fish' for the time being. There are just too many problems associated with them.>> Help. We are really worried and don't feel he's going to make it. <<Keep doing regular water changes to reduce possible high nitrate levels. Use aquarium salt and heat to get rid of the Ich problem. Make sure that you vacuum the bottom of the tank, or substrate, during water changes. This will help in ridding the tank of Ich and nitrates. It sounds like Lou is big and, otherwise, healthy. Hopefully, what I've suggested will bring him back to his 'usual' self. Good luck, Tom>>

Red Devils natural diet? And fat lips? Chuck's Take - 02/11/2007 I have a 7' Red Devil cichlid, his name is Marmalade. He currently is the only fish in his 55 gallon aquarium. <And likely to be the only fish tolerated...> The tank is filtered by two <Good> AquaClear 500s, with weekly 25 to 50 percent water changes. <Also> Water parameters: pH-8.2, ammonia-0, nitrite-0, nitrate-always under 10ppm, and temperature 79 degrees Fahrenheit. Marmalade's tank will be upgrading to a 150 gallon in May. He deserves more tank space to destroy. <Heeeee!>   I am wondering if anyone can tell me what would make up the majority of their natural diet. <Mmm, you can take a look on fishbase.org: http://fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=4786 here for the most commonly named Red Devil Cichlid (there are a few other species so-named). See the notes under "Biology"...> I can find gut analyses for many Amphilophus cichlids citrinellus, xiloaensis, Amarillo, '¦ but not labiatus. < http://fishbase.org/Summary/speciesSummary.php?ID=28238&genusname=Amphilophus&speciesname=labiatus> I want to raise live foods for treats. I currently raise cherry red shrimp (Neocaridina denticulata sinensis), snails, and swordtails (Xiphophorus Sp). In the summer I also raise red worm. <All accepted greedily> I also need to know if anyone has suggestions on fattening up Marmalade's lips. The only info I can find about their fat lips says it is callus buildup from their feeding practices in the wild. I want to replicate Marmalade's natural environment as well as possible. My plan is decorating the 150 with 100+ pounds of honeycomb limestone. My hope is that he will excavate the rock for his live treats and fatten up his lips. Any other suggestions? <Mmm, really just time going by... May "fatten up" or no...> I guess I need to mention that I don't know Marmalade is 100% red devil. I purchased him from a pet store, not an importer. I think he shows mostly labiatus characteristics. His nuchal hump is relatively small. When viewed from overhead his jaws come to a point, not rounded like Amphilophus citrinellus. <Am going to place this note in our resident Cichlid expert's in box as well... Chuck Rambo will likely have much more input here. Bob Fenner> <(Chuck's Take). In the wild these guys feed on all kinds of invertebrates like snails, crustaceans, insects as well as small fishes. These prey items are found in between the cracks of the rocks in their natural environment. The large lips on these cichlids are used like a gasket over the openings so they can suck out the prey out between the cracks. When these fish are brought into the aquarium they stop doing this technique and the lips soon go back to a normal size.  There are many Lake Malawi cichlids that have the same large lips in the wild. So far there has been no documentation of any captive cichlids developing these massive lip structures.-Chuck>