I bought 10 very nice black Calvus from Ed in TO a few months ago. They were all doing very well. They had a 55g that the shared with some Aul. Ngara that I am growing out. All seemed fine, I did my weekly 25% Wc and the next day I had 10 floating black calvus. I did nothing out of the ordinary. I used the same water and dechlorinator that I always use so I am puzzeled. I'm wondering if they all decided that they hated the peacocks so much that they all took cyanide pills..... None of the peacocks were affected or even remotely stressed. No clue what happened.

Any thoughts?

Ziggy.

That's really strange!

Are calvus more sensitive to water conditions than most fish? The only thing I could think of is that something was different about the water this time and they were more susceptible to it than the Aulonocara. Hmmmm

Sorry for your loss - how awful to lose them all.

tx man. Ya it really sucks. I bought them at a reasonably low price, and I wont be as fortunate this time around.......

No wisdom to share here, just wanted to say "That sucks!" and that it seems like evry so often the best aquarist is just gonna have his/her number come up.

Had there been any construction in your area? Esp. working on pipes? I have had losses due to the city blasting the pipes with chlorine to clean them out. If this were the case your usual dose of dechlor wouldn't be enough.

I'm very sure water change killed them all. Altolamprologus fry are very sensitive to water change.
Best thing is to age water for them
Adult Altos may take bigger water changes but with Fry you have to be very careful.

There's a bummer. Hopefully Darius is right there!

'ziggy",,,you didnt say how small they were so I am assuming they were about 1-1.5"???? (or smaller)????

It sounds to me that it definately has to do w/water changes. I have kept and bred Calvus and Comps for a few years. Calvus and Comps,,,in my exp. are probably one of the most sensitive to water changes as fry, even if it is only a 25% every time. When I had them as fry,,,,,,I did a 25% water change maybe once a month,,not weekly. IMO,,,I think any species as fry dont need 25% changes. To me,,,they cannot possibly dirty the tank that much in that little time.
(AGAIN,,, I dont know how bid they were)

Also, the temp of the water change could have played a big part in the deaths as well???

How big are the Ngaras,,it's possible they were stressed by them too?

HTH,

I had the same thing happen about a year ago with a group of whites that i was growing out. Now with mine i only do a 10% water change weekly and have had no issue.......with this lots of filtration is key IMO

So Ziggy,,,have you concidered trying the Calvus again. And if so,,,will you be getting them a little bigger than last time??

Hey Ziggy,sorry to hear they all died. When I do a 25% change I use Prime but all the fry still get a little shocked.They lie around the bottom for a few hours.Haven't lost any though.
I just bought a big rubbermaid 'brute'garbage pail to age my water.Works great. I filled it,added the Prime,and salts and let it sit overnight. After the change none of the fry are acting any differently. Maybe the dechlorinator needs a little time to work.

sounds as if the same happend to me,I thought my large calvas killed them off but after reading all of these posts that had to of happend to me, because the night before they died I did a 25% water change (I always age my water at least 4-5 hours)so it looks like I might have to lessen my amount of water to 10%,I don't want to loose the other two

I had 4 Yellow Calvus and one day they all were fine in the morning, dead that night. I am not sure that I did anything different. I think they are very fragile..
I want to get a group and start breeding. I am worried about tring them again.

You know,,,in my exp. with these fish. I think we/I tend to forget that we DO NOT know exactly how old they are. We always tend to believe that our fish die because of something we did. (I am talking of course about getting these fish as adults). Usually when we get these fish as adults 4-5+",,they are WC or very old tank raised fish. These fish are also very sensitive to water changes. Adults/fry,,,no matter. IMO. idunno
Not to mention the fact that they take years to grow to adulthood.

We always jump to blame ourselves for doing something "different", when in fact it COULD have been age related???

CICHLIDMAN,,,You have had one of my favorite Calvus,,,,the Yellows. UNFORTUNATLEY,,,,,I cannot find them around here!!!!!!! dumb dumb


AP.

I made this mistake once, and only once. When small do a small of water changes as possible. If at all none from fresh water. Age it!!!!!!!!