I have a 125 that has some new peacocks that I got a few days ago. One juvie male sunshine that is starting to show color and one 4-5" mature aulonocara stuartgranti mbenji. I added them three days ago, and the larger male has been hiding and barely showing any interest in food. I havent seen any stringy feces, but he has been spitting out food. The lady I got/him from fed him Walmart flakes 
, AND had him in a 30 gal tank with a 10" bumblebee.
Just in case he has an intestinal bug, I have been soaking NLS cichlid pellets in Epsom salt, which I usually do for new additions. I also have NLS hex shield, but The other fish have already been dosed recently after a new addition two weeks ago, so I want to hold off the hex shield for a while so o don't do any unnecessary harm to his established tank mates. He is the big dog in the tank and there has been no fin nipping. He hides in a cave most of the day and I am/was a bit worried about his health. I'm starting to believe he is just super timid and afraid of humans, and just hides while I'm feeding and walking by tank etc. I decided to sneak up on the his tank this morning, walking down the stairs real slowly lol. I have my tanks in a carpeted basement, but even so, my fish hear me coming down the stairs and are usually going nuts to be fed by the time I come around the corner.
When I peeked my head around the corner, he was swimming about, seemingly like he was really enjoying his new space. Sure enough, when I came around the corner, he started darting around and headed back to his cave. So the plan now I guess is to keep soaking the pellets, feeding and then walk away? So you guys think he may be just used to flakes and not liking pellets? Or is this just a new home adjustment phase?
, AND had him in a 30 gal tank with a 10" bumblebee. Just in case he has an intestinal bug, I have been soaking NLS cichlid pellets in Epsom salt, which I usually do for new additions. I also have NLS hex shield, but The other fish have already been dosed recently after a new addition two weeks ago, so I want to hold off the hex shield for a while so o don't do any unnecessary harm to his established tank mates. He is the big dog in the tank and there has been no fin nipping. He hides in a cave most of the day and I am/was a bit worried about his health. I'm starting to believe he is just super timid and afraid of humans, and just hides while I'm feeding and walking by tank etc. I decided to sneak up on the his tank this morning, walking down the stairs real slowly lol. I have my tanks in a carpeted basement, but even so, my fish hear me coming down the stairs and are usually going nuts to be fed by the time I come around the corner.
When I peeked my head around the corner, he was swimming about, seemingly like he was really enjoying his new space. Sure enough, when I came around the corner, he started darting around and headed back to his cave. So the plan now I guess is to keep soaking the pellets, feeding and then walk away? So you guys think he may be just used to flakes and not liking pellets? Or is this just a new home adjustment phase?
