honda237;3653967; said:
I like to come here to see what all the "know it alls" have to say. Sometimes they are more amusing than my fish. lol.
Chocolate cichlid beats himself up in the mirror!
- Thread starter FishDorkMike
- Start date
I like to come here to see what all the "know it alls" have to say. Sometimes they are more amusing than my fish. lol.
it's something alot of agressive or bad behaved cichlids do.plus it makes the bulb on there head grow (depending on what type you have).i had a synspillum (died 5 days ago at 6 yrs old god rest his soul),dont know the common name i'll post a pic soon maybe someone can help me out,but he'd attack his reflection,and my shadow on the glass all the time,never hurt himself,but he had a massive bulb,even the local aquarium dude and his customers were impressed.
You say the purpose of the mirror is to keep the fish out of hiding u can acheive this goal by dither fish you can add a shoal of rainbow fish or another fast moving variety like giant danios and instead of a mirror background put a black background up and it really brings out colors in the tank and it fish
honda237;3637430; said:
no doubt a lot of people with a god complex very funny to watch actually
lateraldisposition;3655130; said:
I tried a group of 6 (originally 4) diamond tetras, the tetras were instantly happy in the new tank, the chocolate stayed in his clay pot or under the filter outlet, and wouldnt eat. After a week when that did no good, I gave the tetras to my daughter as the first 4 were hers anyway. I tried a female convict, he would chase her from time to time, but would just go back to hiding and still not eating. He would also look that sickly green color with his fins tucked in...sometimes would be laying on his side under the filter outlet. I put him in the mirrored tank and he generally looks to be doing better. Atleast he eats. The tank he obviously did not approve of is now just holding some jewel cichlids I just purchased and a 8" sailfin pleco. The water conditions in both tanks are almost identical ph, nitrate, nitrite, same substrate and decorative rocks...etc... much within the acceptable ranges for chocolate cichlids. The water temperature in both tanks both stay pegged at 76 degrees, also within acceptable range.
Could it be he was just spooked from you removing his original tankmates, (the oscars), then slowly warmed up during the time you installed the mirror?
FishDorkMike;3654510; said:Oh yeah, I do enjoy seeing my fish eat. Eating is usually a good thing right ?
Well if you were properly housing him, using correct filtration, and providing him with a stress free environment, you wouldn't have to provoke him in such a way to make him eat correctly.
