CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

Today I got a few new cichlids. One of them (batrochops - Crenicichla semifasciata) swam up to my oscar and bit its right pectoral fin off in one instant! Both fish are approximately 12" long (but the oscar is bigger).
I took out the oscar (he did not try to hide or resist), put a liquid called "tripaflavina" on the spot where the fin used to be and put him in a different tank.

Will he live? What else can I do?

This pike really is a very interesting fish, seems to be very intelligent. There are smaller simpilums in the tank but he does not touch them.

Shouldn't be fatal unless the wound site becomes infected. I don't know if I'd count on it growing back, though.

My new fish is a pike: batrochops - Crenicichla semifasciata, sorry...

The previous owner did not know, told me it was not classified and I was not able to identify it for a long time.
I apologize.
Most interesting fish, beautiful too.

The oscar does not seem happy but eats. Will he be fine without a fin?

If the fin root wasn't taken out, the fin will grow back. However if it was, then he will remain finless.
As Dan has said its not a fatal issue, but the Oscar will deffinatly have some trouble learning how to manovoure without the fin.
Keep us posted on the fish, I would deffinatly like to know both how it recovers, fin wise, and how it copes with the swimming.

Thanks.
The oscar spends more time on the gravel than before, but when I come in swims up slowly to the surface. He is not as well balanced as before, sort of tilted to his right a little bit. I feed him several times a day. Didn't put any medication on him.

The pike gets along with everybody else. He spits out the peeled shrimps I give him. The other guy fed him whole ones. Strange taste...

Some peolple recommended to put some stuff into
the tank to prevent infection.

The oscar seems fine, eats all I can afford, tries to bite me, chews on the air-hose, fights with the heater and the other oscar through the glass etc. If anything he got more agressive, taking it out on
anything he can.

There are two more fish in the tank ho would be medicated as well then. Should I still put some prventive stuff in the tank?

It's been a couple of days now since the wound was inflicted. I don't believe I'd add any medications at this point unless you see signs of infection. My guys take a lot of scrapes, chomps, bumps, and so forth -- mostly requiring no follow-up. Just keep a close watch to make sure everything's healing OK. Too often the medications can mess things up more than they help. Best to be sure you need them before using.

The stump is completely coverd with skin and seems to be growing. Well, it is to early to say what is growing there, btu it is protruding a few mm furthe out than after the bite.
One of my discus died though; probably starved competing for food with others. And one of my Juruparis also died from bites to his eye, side and anal area. I believe the angelfish did it.

Two tanks are arriving next week. I hope that will put an end to this.

Thank you everybody for your help.

I invite everybody to view my pics of my rare new pike cichlid. To see them - click here and then on each pic to enlarge.

Good to hear he's healing. Couple more tanks sound like a good idea. Sounds like a pretty rowdy group for discus to thrive in -- angels either, as far as that goes. How big is your jurupari? I somehow can't picture mine being mugged by an angel.

My discus do have a 65g for themselves, the only problem is - it is overstocked.( I have 8 tanks with fish at this moment)
The juruparis were staying in a temporary 30g with 4 2" JDs, an angel, pangasius, a bala and a few cats. They were only in there for about 4 days when I noticed that one of them didn't look happy and then died. I put the other one with the discus
first. But when they started circling around him I got worried and put him in a 10g by himself.
I don't know who killed the jurupari. It could have been the JDs of course. However, when I was looking JDs never even came close to him, but the angel was following him around picking on him.
I am not sure who could live with jurupari. When the last tanks arrive I will start to distribute everything and need advice.

One of my Malawi-cichlids died this morning. I cut it up and fed it to others. First it seemed fine. But now one Oscar still has a piece stuck in its mouth. One of the pikes had it stuck for a while and the other jut bit on a piece, spit it out and reacted as if it got scared.
Could eating fishbones be dangerous to fish?

Hey... I can understand your situation on having to play fishy roulette until your tanks get in... I am not sure I would recommend feeding a fish that died in my tank back to the fish still currently in it for fear of a disease that could potentially spread through injestion... but if you are sure the death was due to stress it may be just fine...

Fish in the wild normally swallow prey whole (Except sharks of course) The teeth are made more for grasping and holding on until it can swallow and not tearing and cutting... so if you choped the dead fish up and it had pertruding bones it could cause some problems upon swallowing! Not sure how to handle a bone stuck in a large fish's mouth though! Tough job, that one...