Jack The Builder

[eatingleg4peanut]

I have an adult 8" Male jack. I put him in his new permanant home a little over a month ago, which is a 55g. I have(had) about 3" ove big river pebble gravel in the bottom, a few faux plants and his cave. Before he was in a bare bottom tank, and before that a tank that had sand. Well he has built a castle, he has somehow managed to create a giant oval bare spot baring almost the entire bottom of the tank. The corners of the tanks look like giant spikes made of pebbles and are piled so high that they are only about 5" down from the surface and are all nearly exactly the same in appearance. He has moved his cave to the center of the tank and stuffed the plants behind the filter. He hit the 2 circle a

Is this something normal in adult solo male jacks? He never did that in the sand tank but then again that was about 2yrs ago and sand was probably to hard to build with.

 

[Cookie*]

This is most definitely normal with cichlids. My Jack (R.I.P.) did this, and my new Chocolate cichlid does this too. I've caught the Chocolate carrying a single stone from one end of my 55g to the other side and placing it on top of a large rock. He has also made a stone pile/sculpture surrounding the thermometer lol. And like your tank, there is a oval spot of bare glass. It's fun to watch them build, I just feel bad when it's the end of the week and it's time to vacuum the gravel and I mess it all up.

 

[Sab_Fan]

my Carpintis always did this . . . he would spend days building up a little substrate fortress around his favorite flowerpot . . . it's typically a preparation for breeding

and you're right, it's much tougher to do with sand . . .

 

[gravel_digger]

this is completely normal behavoir from these guys... i have a large red devil that rearranges his tank sometimes 2/3 times a day. as a matter of fact that is where my mfk name comes from sitting there watching this guy the day i registered here.... look at him at work

 

[eatingleg4peanut]

its really funny, he builds all night, my gravel is big enough where he cn only fit one peice in his mouth at a time, all night i hear *ping *pang *tink. He started doing this out of nowhere, I woke up to the sound one night and was scared to death because I though my tank was cracking, and I got up and he was looking at me like "what?". I did put a small female in with him around that time, but she was only about 3.5" so he beat the crap out of her and seemed like he he hated her so I took her out (her fins where shredded, but shes back to 100% now and a complete hottie)

 

[freebyrd]

My Nicaraguensis does this lol. He looks so serious placing rocks just right. I feel bad for him...wish I could get him a mate but I don't want the aggressive attitude with it.

 

[Cookie*]

Yep, same here, *ping-pang-pong* most of the day/night. Between the cichlid, pleco and loach, there can be a symphony going on in there at times. I wouldn't have it any other way tho, I at least know they're healthy and active.