Pbass have extra fast metabolisms, they need a lot of food, filtration (and water changes), and aeration. Although pbass are aggressive feeders, a lot of imports are reluctant to start feeding on pellet or frozen, so I have always found it important to keep them in a separate tank untill thick, healthy, and feeding well on non-live foods.
I have keep near 4 pbass in the past, when I first got into them I had a lot of problems, but I learned a lot from my mistakes. Other things I've noticed are the following:
-Young cichla benefit from a well covered tank, I also used almond leaves and provided quite a few large plants for cardinals.
-Alot of imports come in full of parasites (internal and external). I'm guessing it's from being packed tightly in large numbers at the exporters.
- Since pbass have massive waste loads and fast metabolisms, a lot of exporters/importers starve them a few days before shipping, if they are making a long trip, they can be without food for the better part of a week. This means it is crucial to throw in a lot of live food right off the bat. I used to get groups of 4-10 cichla (depending in size and species). For the smaller fish I used guppies, cardinals or neons, put about 30-60 of them in and let them have at it. For the bigger ones I used local minnows that had been quaranteened and treated for parasites. Some used gold fish, I personally think they aren't a good enough food source to bring these fish back to health.
- On the contrary, if the fish haven't starved, they stink up the water quick, amonia levels in the bag can become quite high which can result in at least a very stressed fish.
- Small cichla are better cheap in a moderate sized tank while be acclimated (4 one inch cichla in a 100 gallon over doing it IMO). While big cichla benefit from the extra space, they tend to be jumpy and bash into the sides of the tanks a lot.
Idunno, just my experience, everyone is going to have a different one. Good luck they are great fish. If you can afford it, I have always had great luck with azuls. They are harder to get and a bit more expensive, but are aggressive feeders and I found mine always settled in right away.
Good Luck,
Justin Morash
