# Fish on Fish Violence



## Dirt Diggler (Jun 26, 2013)

Picked up an albino red top zebra from my lfs, and I was given his tank mate for free. The reason is because the one I bought had beaten the brakes off of this other fish and it looked rather weak. While I have the healthy red top in my tank with my other fish (and it's doing quite fine), I have the beaten up one in a hospital tank that I dosed with Prime (just because), and a double dose of Seachem Stress Guard. He's alone, and under low blue LED night lights. Is there anything else I can do to help this fish survive? All of my fish that I've found in this state I haven't been able to save, and I'd really like to save a fish for once.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Good food and clean consistent water.Clean water is very important to recovery.


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## Dirt Diggler (Jun 26, 2013)

coralbandit said:


> Good food and clean consistent water.Clean water is very important to recovery.


I'll give him some NLS to see if he's eating. I'll do a water change tomorrow if he survives, unless you think I need to do one now. This is pretty much a new setup. It had a bubbler filter on it, heater, and the light hood. The water is couple weeks old, but there hasn't been any fish living in it.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Change some tomorrow.He's already been through enough lately.
Good luck!


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## Dirt Diggler (Jun 26, 2013)

coralbandit said:


> Change some tomorrow.He's already been through enough lately.
> Good luck!


If he makes it through the night, I think he'll be ok. He's not eating right now, but he's responsive I guess. We'll see how it all works out. Thanks for the advice.


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## graybot (Apr 24, 2011)

I wouldn't have taken the tank mate. Two mbuna of the same species in one tank will lead to death, unless you have a sufficiently overstocked tank to dither the aggression. If the ratio is 1M 1F then the M will hound the F to death trying to mate. If you have 2M then the dominant fish will kill the lesser one. Zebras are prone to hyperdominance as well, meaning they will attack all species with gusto rather than just conspecifics.

Also, "red top zebra" could refer to many different species, some more workable than others. For instance, if you have a greshakei, expect him to wipe out all competitors.

Don't you have a 40g tank? WAY WAY WAY too small for most any kind of zebra. Those fish reach 6-8" and even the odd dwarf species will still need more room.

Change the water on your hospital tank daily, it sounds like it is not cycled.


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