I recently purchased 4 T. Diboises, two have died from what I assume is bloat, will my other fish die?

Question

What I mean by other fish is, my calvus and my geophagus, I pretty sure all of the T. Diboises will eventually die.

Answer 1

Tropheus duboisi are strictly herbivorous fish. Feeding them anything other than plant matter or high quality/low protein food will usually result in bloat (which has a high mortality rate).

Their dietary needs conflict with the needs of your calvus (which is a carnivore requiring lots of crustaceans and other high protein foods). For the most part carnivorous african cichlids are more resistant to bloat than the heribivores and omnivores.

A quality food like New Life Spectrum cichlid formula will probably work best for the type of fish you have (it'll meet the needs of both groups of fish).

By the way, tropheus are highly aggressive towards their own kind, you need to have at least 12...any less and the strongest one will eradicate the others.

Answer 2

Wow! What very interesting and extremely awesome looking fish!

If I have this right - you have the following...

Calvus
http://cichlidpress.pair.com/photos/alt-calvus.jpg

Geophagus
http://www.djurportalen.nu/artarkiv/temp/509.jpg

I was not able to find anything on a species known as T.Diboises.

How are your water parameters are present, and how long have/had the fish been in your aquarium? How big is your aquarium, and is there any chance that the bloat was from overfeeding? What were you feeding them, and what was the temp of the tank? Do you have any pics of your tank with these guys in there?

Would love to see this one - sounds very interesting. Bloat typically is not contageous (I think), but just in case - here is a disease chart for you for your references.

Aquarium Fish Stress & Disease Identification & Treatment
http://www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/stressdisease.shtml

Best of luck to you, and if you could post some pics here or in email to me of your setup - I would be more than happy to help more if I can.

Answer 3

Do you mean Tropheus Duboisi?

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=1839

They're an African cichlid that are herbivores. I was told when I bought mine(African cichlid specialty store), that they need to be on a low protein diet, because they were prone to bloat. Recommended I feed them Spirulina flakes for their main staple. Try switching to that if you're not feeding that.