Interesting cichlid habits?

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my oscar would dash over to eat silver dollar poo, then spit it out and repeat this 3 or 4 times till it was mush; I guess he was kind of doing his bit for breaking down waste lol
 
convict360 said:
my oscar would dash over to eat silver dollar poo, then spit it out and repeat this 3 or 4 times till it was mush; I guess he was kind of doing his bit for breaking down waste lol
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im tellin' ya....they think they're friggin DOGS - what else eats crap, plays with balls, begs for food, follows your every movement, .....


....and farts?
 
Have
LogiBear said:
What are some cool things youve noticed that cichlids do?

My fish, for example, all eat from hand. I find this interesting because i can get fish to start taking food that im holding from just a few days after i get them, provided the other fish let them come out and try. My "TexX?" Hybrid is even better. He will jump nearly all the way out of the water to grap a shrimp from my fingers, and sometimes if i tease him he will headbutt the lid of the tank trying to get to my hands.

I know some people have dish that play with toys and stuff like that... Im interested in what your fish have learned or what youve taught them.
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LogiBear said:
What are some cool things youve noticed that cichlids do?

My fish, for example, all eat from hand. I find this interesting because i can get fish to start taking food that im holding from just a few days after i get them, provided the other fish let them come out and try. My "TexX?" Hybrid is even better. He will jump nearly all the way out of the water to grap a shrimp from my fingers, and sometimes if i tease him he will headbutt the lid of the tank trying to get to my hands.

I know some people have dish that play with toys and stuff like that... Im interested in what your fish have learned or what youve taught them.
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Were your cichlids always that outgoing? Did you do anything specific to bring them to where they are now? Any Suggestions?
 
Dylan Miller said:
Have




Were your cichlids always that outgoing? Did you do anything specific to bring them to where they are now? Any Suggestions?
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I dont do too much special, honestly. I would recomend a few things though.

1) Make sure the fish know that you feed them. When youre about to feed them try to get then to see your hand as it drops in food
2) Notify when feeding. This helps with the above suggestion. Shake the bag of food around, tap the lid a few times, etc. so they recognize that when that happens they should move to the surface to eat.
3) Hungry for a while. After you get them trained, you cpuld try not feeding for a day or two so they will be more excited when they are getting fed again. It may help them be more open to grabbing from your fingers.

And the last one will sound kind of odd but these are smart fish so it does make sense.

4) Make sure they trust you. These are smart fish, if they start associating you with fear or pain they will not be very willing to get close to you. With smaller fish i actually liked to just use my hands to play with them, so that they can see that im not trying to eat them. By playing i mean just invading their terriotry and then having them try to bite me... Not sure if that did much but... Dont try with big fish. They hurt.

Usually fish will only eat from your hands if they are naturally bold, at least somewhat. My fish are, so they didnt really need much of this, but my old male Texas needed it because he was very cautious. But he learned to eat from my hand and bite me and "play"
 
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