~ African Cichlids Prejudiced against Albinoes ~

Mimo was attacked!!!  Poor thing.... He has been in 3 different tanks already and with each transfer, we hoped for the best and ended with less fins and tail. 

So, here's the story.  Mimo is an albino Ruby Red, a type of African Cichlids.  When we bought him at the store, my husband's expert cichlid friend said to watch over Mimo.  In his experience, albino fish gets picked on a lot.  So, we put him in a medium size tank with fish that were smaller than him.  He was fine.  We noticed that he doesn't seem to see very well, but enough to eat and swim around.

But, we had an issue with the water quality and an ich (white spot) outbreak so my dad moved him to our display tank with the other adult cichlids.  We observed for a while, and things seem good.  But the next morning, Mimo just seemed so slow and tired.  He was just resting on top of the rocks and not really swimming and whenever he stops, a fish comes by and nibble at him!  See this black one?  He was ready to attack!

So, I guess this big tank was a little too much for Mimo.  He wasn't ready to be the only albino in this tank.

So, my dad put him in isolation for a few hours with ich treatment.  

My dad decided to put him in with the baby Ruby Reds.  We figured they are the same kind and Mimo is so much bigger that he should be fine.  See how his fins are already in a bad shape?

Those little babies won't hurt him right?  They did leave him alone for a while......  They just gathered into a little group and stared at him.  They don't look gangsta at all right?

But..... a day later, a big chunk of Mimo's tail was gone!!!!  These little bastards!  Trying to act all innocent but in reality, they are maniacs!!!  I should flush them down the toilet for hurting Mimo!  But, my dad likes them so I have to leave them alone.

So, my dad put Mimo in a even smaller tank with smaller fish.  He said he's sure they won't hurt Mimo.  But that's what he said about the previous 2 tanks!  I hope he'll be ok here.  If not, we will have to isolate him somewhere till we find more albino friends for him.

Now I feel bad. He had an albino friend with him in the fish tank at the store. Maybe that's why he was perfectly fine there with other adults fish. But, everyone is picking on him now even if they are 10x smaller than him! So, I guess I can confirm that fish pick on albino fish because this has never happened with any other new fish we have gotten. Poor Mimo!