Should I restock?

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PEANUTBUTTER

PEANUTBUTTER

Gambusia
MFK Member
Jun 18, 2014
127
14
18
Canada
I have a 125 gallon tank with
1 male jaguar
1 male jack Dempsey
1 male convict (it's a hybrid, I'm not sure with what but I saw his size and had to buy it)
1 Lima shovel nose catfish
1 Senegal birchir
2 fire eels (1 is a little over a foot long and the other is around 5 inches, I've had them for two months and haven't witnessed them eat at all I'm surprised their still alive)
7 silver dollars
now my problem is that for some odd reason my fish don't ever want to swim around I keep my water at 84 degrees (Fahrenheit) I have plenty of artificial plants with plenty of driftwood, 2 emperor 400 filters and a marineland canister filter (c-360) and sand as substrate my brother has a aquarium identical to mine the only difference is his is 150 gallons we have the same exact fish and keep it at the same temp yet his fish actively swim around and mine always hide in the corner, even my silver dollars all hide at the bottom of the tank and as much as I do love my fish I can't stand looking at a empty tank with "ornaments" as fish so I have decided to get rid of everyone except the birchir unless any of you can solve my problem. So I obviously want a tank where fish swim everywhere, always active so I was thinking of possibly African cichlids but at one point I did have a 30 gallon with 30-40 yellow labs and they would all hide under the rock I swear if I didn't know any better I would have thought it was an empty tank and that's what I'm scared of all the fish just hiding all the time, I was thinking about community fish but I really don't want them I like cichlids and I'm sure my birchir will find them as a easy snack, but at this point I just want to see fish swim around in my tank, so any suggestions? Should I go with Africans,community,or stick with my current stock?
 
How long have you had these fish, do they swim around normally when you are not around/at a distance, and how large are your fish? Also lower the temperature to 80 degrees Fahrenheit, more oxygen in the water at lower temperatures.
 
IME, if a fish in a tank gets aggressive, sick, crazy, or just kinda off....the rest of the fish in the tank will notice it, and they'll lay low. I had a Lyonsi, biggest fish in the tank but younger than the rest, get sick one time. He started acting crazy, he dug a big hole under a stump in the middle of the tank, and after a few days he thrashed about and died. Every fish in the tank found a hiding spot and stayed in it until he died. Once he died, I took him out, and everything went back to normal. Mabye that's what's going on in your tank. Is a fish in the tank more assertive than he used to be? Any growth spurts? Any recent change in the pecking order in your tank?
 
the Dempsey and jaguar are 10 and 11 inches, the convict is about 8 or 9 inches all my fish act more or less the same. The pecking order is still Dempsey ,jag,convict like it always was I tested my water and I pass with flying colors but I noticed when the lights are off and no one is around they are so much more active
 
PEANUTBUTTER said:
the Dempsey and jaguar are 10 and 11 inches, the convict is about 8 or 9 inches all my fish act more or less the same. The pecking order is still Dempsey ,jag,convict like it always was I tested my water and I pass with flying colors but I noticed when the lights are off and no one is around they are so much more active
Click to expand...

So your saying that your fish have switched from being Diurnal to Nocturnal? That typically results from the times of feeding, leaving the lights on, or having stress within the aquarium. For instance, when a dominant fish becomes dormant (sleeps) the other fish feel less constrained and will move around. I would look at these three potential issues first and if it resolves anything, if not, you may have yourself a bigger unseen issue.
 
Are Bichirs and Fire eels aggressive? Nocturnal? And when you say your water test looks good, what were the measurements? Let's put a number on it?


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PEANUTBUTTER said:
the Dempsey and jaguar are 10 and 11 inches, the convict is about 8 or 9 inches all my fish act more or less the same. The pecking order is still Dempsey ,jag,convict like it always was I tested my water and I pass with flying colors but I noticed when the lights are off and no one is around they are so much more active
Click to expand...

Looks like you solved your problem. Your lighting is too bright for them.

I noticed this with my silver dollars and dempseys. They were pretty skittish and shy, with a dual T5NO light fixture. They completely froze in a corner when the timer would turn them on. They'd stay like that for 30-60 minutes, and even after still wouldn't swim around much.

I bought a LED fixture (Current USA LED+; GREAT fixture btw) and it solved everything. I played with the settings, and ended up going with a preset mode that simulated rolling clouds. Fairly bright, but dims every 10-20 seconds, still enough to see all the colors of my fish. It was a night/day difference in their activity. It was really weird. Messing with the presets, then click one button, and they just started swimming around.

Look into subduing your lighting somehow, or getting a new fixture before removing them. Americans are much better than africans anyway IMO, more personality.

Btw, you say your convict is 8-9 inches? I'd love to see a picture, that's massive!
 
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