first off thanks all for the tips. they worked great. here are some cool observations i've made:
the ornarte digs around any structure that is buried in the gravel. this is like a trap for food becuase he comes out of HIS log, goes to his "traps" and eats the large amount of food that actually gets stuck there.
Also, i've never thought of ornates to be aggressive. maybe there're not but they are very territorial and bite the heck out of anything that bothers them. mine has bit my curios parrot cichlid that USE to bug him. also, he switches hiding spots from a log and a cave quite frequently. well, my sun cat inhabits the cave and always get bit up by my ornate. i just moved my 2" sun cat to a temporary 10G aquarium while i set up my 50G for him. my ornate strikes very fast(almost snake-like) and can hit what ever he wants.
all around my ornate is feeling more comfortable around me and is out and about more often. very cool and good looking specimen.
