Hey guys,
Over the last few days my Cichlids have been on and off 'freaking' out whenever anyone goes near the tank. As soon as they see any movement they will stop moving, and if I move closer they will dart rapidly around the back of the tank, sometimes ramming into the glass or rocks like they're incredibly scared.
Nothing in my tank has changed, other than I've replaced the lids (Which I don't want to take off now as these 'freakouts' could cause a fish to jump out of the tank), and I've stopped dosing Seachem Flourish Excel. It started occuring about an hour after I fed them some Blackworms a couple of days ago, is this a possible cause? Needless to say I haven't fed them those since. When they realize I'm at the tank to feed them they'll come up to me and eat and act perfectly normal (sand sifting, tiny bouts of aggression, the usual) whenever I'm not around.
On the first day it occured I did a 30% waterchange in case there happened to have been any nasties introduced to the tank but the fish are healthy and behavior is fine, they're just freaking out when there's a figure standing in front of the tank or theres any movement. This bothers me because a) they've never been like that, in fact they usually follow my arm around during water changes and beg for food whenever they see me, and b) I'm a photographer and they're my main subject.
Their behavior almost indicates to me that they've been absolutely shocked by something and they're worried it's going to happen again. I can't say anything unusual has happened near the tank other than it being rather window the last few days and the curtains were moving in front of the tank until I closed my window. They seem to slowly be getting better but it's still a worry.
Anyone else had experience with this? Plan of attack? Wondering if I should try something new to try and settle them down or just let it all get back to normal naturally over time, with minimal movement in front of the tank unless needed?
Over the last few days my Cichlids have been on and off 'freaking' out whenever anyone goes near the tank. As soon as they see any movement they will stop moving, and if I move closer they will dart rapidly around the back of the tank, sometimes ramming into the glass or rocks like they're incredibly scared.
Nothing in my tank has changed, other than I've replaced the lids (Which I don't want to take off now as these 'freakouts' could cause a fish to jump out of the tank), and I've stopped dosing Seachem Flourish Excel. It started occuring about an hour after I fed them some Blackworms a couple of days ago, is this a possible cause? Needless to say I haven't fed them those since. When they realize I'm at the tank to feed them they'll come up to me and eat and act perfectly normal (sand sifting, tiny bouts of aggression, the usual) whenever I'm not around.
On the first day it occured I did a 30% waterchange in case there happened to have been any nasties introduced to the tank but the fish are healthy and behavior is fine, they're just freaking out when there's a figure standing in front of the tank or theres any movement. This bothers me because a) they've never been like that, in fact they usually follow my arm around during water changes and beg for food whenever they see me, and b) I'm a photographer and they're my main subject.
Their behavior almost indicates to me that they've been absolutely shocked by something and they're worried it's going to happen again. I can't say anything unusual has happened near the tank other than it being rather window the last few days and the curtains were moving in front of the tank until I closed my window. They seem to slowly be getting better but it's still a worry.
Anyone else had experience with this? Plan of attack? Wondering if I should try something new to try and settle them down or just let it all get back to normal naturally over time, with minimal movement in front of the tank unless needed?
