Why does he act scared?

[yeroc1982]

Iv noticed that my male gt, which is about 6-7 inches long, always swimming erratic when i walk up to the tank. Its like its scared when i walk up. Iv had him since he was like 2 inches and never any problems. Hes in a 50gal, water is about 80f, gets fed well and weekly water changes. An help would be appreciated! Heres a pic of him.

 

[balton777]

What do you mean by 'swimming erratic'? He starts swimming crazy all over the tank? To me, scared means he goes and hides from you.

When I go to my Dovii tank, he swims erratic and bangs the glass....but he's definitely not scared.

 

[fox3794]

my dempsey does it too, and ive been wondering the same thing. some times if i walk to fast infront of the tank he swims into the glass and u can hear it hit...

 

[RLHam3]

yeah that sounds like he's pissed if he's swimming erratically. but maybe not if he's just looking for a hiding spot. my GT would always bully all my other cichlids but if i ever got near the tank he'd go hide

 

[aqua-nepz]

Fish are scared to the hard noice from foot tapping,slamming doors,etc.Mine GT doesn't swim erratically unless I make such noices.

 

[fishnoob]

I have had a male jd for 1 year in a 55gal by himself. He is so skittish that he does the samething. If I get near the tank when he isn't hiding he will swim so nuts and crash into everything until he gets in his cave. He won't come out to eat either, only if the lights are off and i'm out of the room lol. I even bought him a female and he don't care. Haha

 

[Otherone]

From the looks of the picture the GT seems to have limited space to turn around and maybe is tired of bumping into stuff and errtically swimming to aviod them - perhaps hes out-grown your 50.

 

[Dillingerescaped]

maybe he sees you and is excited for food? cichlids do that

 

[Diverite]

All good answers above. Sometimes , as much as I love them, fish are just crazy. Some days my JD's (7x 6-9 inches) will swim up and almost want to talk to me, other times I enter the room and they dart all over the tank knocking things everywhere.

 

[Pyramid_Party]

I have the same thing happen in a tank I have. I have some juvi- sub adult cichlids. And whenever I approach the tank or walk by they freak out and get scared. Its annoying cause it all started by one of them acting this way and when it freaks out the others do too.


Im hoping as they grow they grow out of it. I started sitting by them for about 15 mins each day, hoping if they see me and get used to me they may stop freaking out and fearing me. But I really dont know what to do besides this. I was thinking about throwing some dithers in.