Just thought I’d share some interesting behavior from my mbuna. I decided to switch from haps to mbuna and I had two mbuna that I already had that I decided to keep. So I removed all the haps and peacocks and left those two while I shopped and then waited for delivery. That was about 10 days total. During that time, the two mbuna, which before were very boisterous and outgoing, became extremely scared and nervous. They wouldn’t come out of their hides, would barely eat, the slightest movement would send them back and forth bouncing off the glass. When my delivery arrived, 24 mbuna, and I added them, this behavior stopped immediately and they went back to normal. I guess they act like dithers for each other. I just find it interesting that a fish that’s so aggressive that we have to overstock to prevent them from killing each other goes into total melt down without those numbers.
Interesting behavior
- Thread starter Joshuakahan
- Start date
These fish lived in a crowded tank with lots of other fish, and what little I know of African cichlids in the wild shows them living in crowded colonies and communities centered around rock piles. Animals living in close proximity like that depend upon not only their own senses, but also the senses of all those other individuals around them, to detect predators.
I think that when those two fish suddenly find themselves in a deserted tank, their natural instinct will be saying the equivalent of "Where the hell did everybody go? Do they know something I don't? DANGER!"
I think that when those two fish suddenly find themselves in a deserted tank, their natural instinct will be saying the equivalent of "Where the hell did everybody go? Do they know something I don't? DANGER!"
Haha, true and I changed the scape up too, went from a couple rocks to the entire bottom 3rd becoming a rock pile. But that’s a good explanation!