Unpleasantries of playing Hide and Seek

[FishingOut]

Water quality is fine.
Do you turn the lights off at night to allow them to sleep?
You may want to start looking into freshwater diseases and parasites, Shyness and lethargicness are being caused by something.
Keep up with 25% water changes twice a week

 

[guitardude87]

Water quality is fine.
Do you turn the lights off at night to allow them to sleep?
You may want to start looking into freshwater diseases and parasites, Shyness and lethargicness are being caused by something.
Keep up with 25% water changes twice a week

At night the lights are off. The lights are on for maybe two or three hours a day (minimum). Usually when I wake up they are all together at the front of the tank waiting for me to feed them but more often than not when I turn on the light or approach the tank too quickly, they run and hide...they eventually come back out in a couple of minutes to feed though. are there any known diseases in particular that are tied to shyness and lethargicness that anyone can point out for me? I had done some research on this but was never able to find anything on this matter.

 

[FishingOut]

Externally check for anything that shouldnt be there. Check for white dots on body or any irritations around gills. watch for signs of them itching their bodies on decor. Make sure there is enough oxygen in the water. Make sure feces are coming out solid and dark in color.
IME a shy fish is usually a sick fish. Most cichlids have outgoing personalities. "MOST"

There is a chance all your fish wont come out because the others wont come out. Like the opposite of the dither effect. They hide because others are hiding, and that becomes their safe zone.
I cant suggest getting some dithers because the tank is already overstocked. But as long as they keep eating and growing, they should become more personable.

 

[VRWC]

they are still tiny though. My plan is to upgrade to a 30 long that my neighbor's going to give me and then I'll use this 20 long for breeding.

Just FYI...a 30 long isnt going to be big enough to house those fish (blood parrot, firemouth, jack dempsey, convict) properly by Dec 1st. You will have all kinds of territory disputes, high nitrate levels and an overall lack of swimming room, especially with any tank decor.

 

[thedarkone]

pH: 7.0
ammonia: 0.25 ppm
nitrite: 0.25 ppm
nitrate: 10 ppm

If you still have ammonia in your tank you need to do daily water changes until your tests read 0 ppm. Ammonia is very lethal to fish. Probably isn't why they are hiding but maybe a factor in the equation.

 

[guitardude87]

Externally check for anything that shouldnt be there. Check for white dots on body or any irritations around gills. watch for signs of them itching their bodies on decor. Make sure there is enough oxygen in the water. Make sure feces are coming out solid and dark in color.
IME a shy fish is usually a sick fish. Most cichlids have outgoing personalities. "MOST"

There is a chance all your fish wont come out because the others wont come out. Like the opposite of the dither effect. They hide because others are hiding, and that becomes their safe zone.
I cant suggest getting some dithers because the tank is already overstocked. But as long as they keep eating and growing, they should become more personable.

there's no ick in my tank...no white spots on any of the fish, no heavy breathing...nothing strange looking in or around their gills. and what exactly are these dithers you speak of? i'm confused

 

[guitardude87]

Just FYI...a 30 long isnt going to be big enough to house those fish (blood parrot, firemouth, jack dempsey, convict) properly by Dec 1st. You will have all kinds of territory disputes, high nitrate levels and an overall lack of swimming room, especially with any tank decor.

this is true. the scenario at this point is that the 30 long is going to be free. i've wanted to get my hands on a 55 gallon tank. my neighbor would let me have his sump filter that he is no longer using for his salt water tank..but getting my hands on a used 55 gallon tank and a stand for it haven't been the easiest of tasks...plus i'm on an extremely tight budget with school and typical monthly expenses.

 

[guitardude87]

If you still have ammonia in your tank you need to do daily water changes until your tests read 0 ppm. Ammonia is very lethal to fish. Probably isn't why they are hiding but maybe a factor in the equation.

i'll keep doing water changes daily until I notice the ammonia is at 0 ppm. thanks.

 

[Chrisplosion]

So the fish have been in the tank for 6 months? In that amount of time your parrot should have grown at least an inch to two inches and the dempsey should have grown at least 3 inches. I noticed my first parrot and my dempsey (no longer have her) would hide a lot when I had them in my 20 gallon. Then I upgraded to a 55 gallon and got 2 more parrots and they stopped hiding. When the dempsey hit 4 inches she stopped hiding as well but I gave her away. Maybe adding some dither fish would help, get some mothion going in the tank.

 

[thedarkone]

and what exactly are these dithers you speak of? i'm confused

A dither is a schooling fish that is free swimming. Like Tetras, barbs, silver dollars, danios, and tons of other fish.

The way it works is you get a shoal (4-5) to a school (5 or more) of these fish for your tank and they swim around all day long. Your cichlids see the dithers swimming around and not getting eaten or attacked and they realize that it is safe and come out. I would suggest small tetras or danios for your tank, both barbs and Silver dollars will get way to big for your current tank.