Hi yes the tank is only about 6 months old but fish came from my previous tank that started leaking yes some of the fish look stripey sometimes
Cool ok, do you have like some long term goals from this tank? Like I say I think you are pretty overstocked even in two 240 litres I think its too many fish and especially cichlids and a couple of tank size issues for the bigger guys in there.
I think if you stick with what you have now you are going to have really stressed fish that are susceptible to diseases. If the fish are showing bars like this regularly that is a stress thing. It can just happen sometimes when they are about to be fed as they get excited but outside of breeding they should be quite a solid colour, maybe with a stripe before the tail depending on species.
Do you know what your nitrate levels are like before a water change?
And also just to check do you know your hardness? A lot of London members say its quite hard water (and high nitrate out of the tap) and nearly all of these cichlids are softwater fish, this is important in some of the species you are keeping as again it can make them quite sickly and susceptible to things like hold in the head which is not a nice situation to be in.
Wills