Cichlid behavior question
- Thread starter Americancichlids
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What fish did you add? If you don't mind me asking.It's basically a completely different tank to them now. Depending on how it takes it, it may take a couple weeks as others mentioned.
If you added other aggressive fish, they'll have to establish new territories.
Depends on each fish too...have a pair of dovii and any small change in the tank....they sulk for a couple of days...
In another tank , I have some red terrors , decor changes , hiding places shifts , water changes , just dont matter....I walk around the tank and they are back doing the best they do...beg for food
In another tank , I have some red terrors , decor changes , hiding places shifts , water changes , just dont matter....I walk around the tank and they are back doing the best they do...beg for food
Actually the Mbuna is at the low end of the totem pole! Flowerhorn is 4 inches and mbuna and Texas are 2 inches and Texas chases the the mbuna like hell but he can't catch him. I guess the new enviorment is stressing him out because he is KING of the tank. He is a lot larger than the others too
He has lived with a small 2.5 inch carpintis (raised her from basically a fry). The Flowerhorn is 4-4.5 inches and I took in a 2 inch Mbuna and two convicts. They are all smaller than him but I changed the tank around when I added them
Actually speaking of that, I noticed today when I was up early working on summer school work he was swimming around the glass already up hours before I turn the lights on. And I've noticed some bites and torn fins on the others. I think he is playing games with me. Cause now he's hiding now that the lights are on
That would tell me it's me that's the problem and not the new fish. Some fish react this way when you rearrange their tank. Basically they're telling you after that last episode (your rearranging their world) they don't know what to expect of you and in their 'mind' who knows what you'll do to them next. There's no time table someone can tell you-- it takes a week or it takes two weeks or whatever-- because different species are different and individual fish are different. Some fish go into a funk and it's hard to bring them out of it. Some species are hardly bothered at all, some species (or individual fish) would be fine after the next time you fed them and some are more sensitive in this way.
And then it comes down to the individual fish and its personality and in some cases their relationship with you. 'Relationship' might sound funny but if you've had the fish a long time, made tank changes before, known how to handle it afterward, some fish can be quicker to get over it than a fish of the same species that you haven't had that long and now suddenly you come crashing into its world like some giant alien being and wreak devastation and mayhem (sometimes you have to think like a fish). Yeah, might sound melodramatic and a bit anthropomorphic, but it's more or less how they're responding to you.
Now, how do I know any of this? I've kept cyphotilapia for many years, another fish that can easily get skittish, and also had enough wild fish to see all this in action with more than one species. So it's based on studying their behavior.
What can you do? What works with fish I've kept is pretty simple. Just spend some regular time sitting right by the tank without doing much of anything, read or just sit and watch the fish, all until he settles back down. After a while they decide they can trust you again, in effect you're taming them to you. This works with cyphotilapia because they're a naturally curious fish and at some point, even if they're hiding, they tend to come out to see what you're up to. Another thing you can do is not feed them for a while-- which may or may not be a good idea with a predator like flowerhorn.
A long time ago I read somewhere that hunger is a good tamer of a wild animal and turns out it's often true of fish ime. Cyphotilapia can get jumpy for no reason you're aware of, shadow spooked them one day when you weren't around and they all bolted. Now as soon as they see you they're bolting around the tank and you've done nothing out of the ordinary at all. If mine start to do this, and I don't have time to sit at the tank for a while, all I have to do is let them go without food a couple of days and, considering they know me pretty well, know that I'm the guy that feeds them, next thing is they're coming to the top of the tank wanting to get fed.
They've done studies and found with some fish species there are both extroverts and introverts. Explains why in some species you can do almost anything in the tank of one individual and it could care less but another one turns skittish afterward. Fish may not have the same sort of minds we do but it doesn't mean they don't have a psychology you can understand if you're observant and study them long enough.
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I agree with neutrino.
there is a book by George W. Barlow (if you're really interested) called
The Cichlid Fishes, Natures Grand Experiment In Evolution,
that deals with such things as the sounds cichlids make, how they speak to each other by changing colors, other territoriality issues, etc you may find very helpful.
Of all the many great cichlid books out there, I find it to be one of the most comprehensive and useful.
there is a book by George W. Barlow (if you're really interested) called
The Cichlid Fishes, Natures Grand Experiment In Evolution,
that deals with such things as the sounds cichlids make, how they speak to each other by changing colors, other territoriality issues, etc you may find very helpful.
Of all the many great cichlid books out there, I find it to be one of the most comprehensive and useful.
Thank you guys! I do spend about 30 minutes to an hour watching them a day. As long as it is not something I should worry about then I'm okay with him being a bit skittish for awhile. I have noticed their personalities though, now that you mention it. Like my Carpintis is very outgoing and checks everything out, even my dog, and could care less what I do. When I do WC sje tries and nibble on the siphon lol! I'm not to comfortable not feeding them for a few days at this point. I don't trust my Flowerhorn to much because before his episode he was a pest attacking the Pleco and plants a lot but strangely he has never gone after the Carpintis.
