Scared cichlids

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S

seraph

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 21, 2009
74
0
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Glen Ellyn, IL
so I started off with 45 cichlids in a 75g, quickly moved up to a 125 a year ago...
once they started breeding like rabbits, moved the fry into a 25g
then those fry started breeding
and the originals kept breeding
so then i set up a 75 next to the 125 and they are still breeding
then i set up the other 75 on the other side
they are still breeding!!!
now all 3 tanks are over crowded and still breeding

all the fish are happy and play and eat and breed
one day i noticed the fish in the right tank are scared sh*tless every time i come up to the tank...after a month, they don't mind my approach like before but
the fish in the left tank start freaking out and hiding in the corn when i go up to feed them so much so that they are beating themselves up against the rocks and each other,
now the ones in the 125 are scared out of their mind, the left tank is still freaking out and the right tank are starting to get skittish again...

any ideas why? i've been keeping cichlids for two years now and have never see this kind of action before...
 
ammonia 0
nitrites 0
don't have a nitrate tester...the "master" test kit didn't come with nitrate kit...but i did a water change last week...can't imagine it being high...
 
My guess would be, once one shy fish freaks out the rest forsee danger so they freak out also. I noticed this in my Corydoras tank, when I had 5 they never swam away when I approached the tank, but now I have 15 adults and 10 ~1 inch babies, the babies dash away when I come near, so then the adults do, and now all of them do it together. Im guessing because of the amount you have, you are witnessing what my cories did as the population increased.
 
hmmm...just fed them...my oscar...that big gentle soul...hungry for his koi pellets isn't phased...(i know people say that you can't mix oscars with Africans, but he has never eaten live fish for all 10 years of his life and the Africans leave him along, as far as pH levels, they are all tank bread in Michigan water) the ones in the 125 come up to eat and the right ones come to eat too...but only if you throw in the food from a distance...the left ones are still scared out of their minds...
 
should i take the decorations out of the left one so they have no where to hide?
 
they are all africans in the left tank. there is a leopard ctenopom aka leaf fish in there which was on of the original inhabitants when i got the cichlids from a person who was moving...he has always gotten along with the africans, just like the oscar. after sitting in front of the tank for 30 min, they started venturing to the front of the glass, but any movement causes them to run back...oh well...i guess they still love me...
 
I wouldn't be overly worried and it is likely that what probassfisher said is the cause.

Oh, and I'm in Wheaton, we are basically right next to each other!!! Nice to see a local person on here.
 
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