P. Taeniatus male that won't eat

["Pat Bowerman" <bowerman@specent.com>]

> Pat,
> Some questions:
> how big is he relative to the females?

He is nearly twice their size. I believe that he is a fully adult male.

> What other fish are in the tank? (an important question)

The other fish in the 75 gallon are 6 juvenile Angels, 1 agassizzi female,
3 SAE's, 2 Otos,2 pencilfish, and of course, the 2 females.  

> are his feces stringy and white?

I'm not sure, but I lost the Aggie male with stringy white feces. This was
after keeping him for several spawns. The aggie male died maybe 6 months
before the  P. Taeniatus were added to the tank.

> I kept Moliwes for several generations, and have seen a lot of males
> waste away (rarely females), and those questions generally point to why.
> - -Gary
> 
Gary, thanks, and please share your thoughts. Feel free to e-mail me
privately if you don't feel that this is interesting enough for the whole
list.

> From: Mike Downey <windwalker@uky.campuscw.net>

> If these are wild caught for sure use a good parasite control food like
> Tetra has for 5 days

He's going to be moved to a hospital tank if I do this. No medication goes
into my plant tank.
 
> Drop the pH to 6.5 and use some water conditioner with tannins:
> peat--Black Water Tonic--Waters of the world --- Weiss's Instant Amazon

I hate monkeying (is that a word?) with the ph. Blackwater extract won't
hurt my plants, but it would dim the lighting.
 
> Offer some live foods 2 or 3 times a week--baby brine shrimp or white
worms
 
I'm not sure how much he would be able to get due to the females and the
other fish, but it might be worth a try.

> Put one teaspoon of pure salt for each 3 to 5 net gallons of water

Nope, not in my plant tank. we're talking hospital tank again.

> Add some dither fish like cherry barbs for a little compitition and
security

Security doesn't seem to be the issue. He will come out and swim around,
but he just seems really lethargic. The females display and dance in front
of him, but they don't beat him up. He just isn't very interested in them
or food. 

> Hope this helps
> MikeD

Thanks to everyone who replied. I've been keeping aquariums for 15 years,
and these are the first P. Taeniatus that I have ever seen in one of our
LFS's. So, that's why this is a pretty big deal to me. 
Thanks again, Pat Bowerman.





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