Fish Acting Weird

[toebash17]

well first i will start off and saying i have a 125 gallon fish tanks. and what i have in it is
2 Labidochromis caeruleus
1 Sciaenochromis ahli
1 Cyrtocara moorii
1 Pseudotropheus lombardoi
1 Nimbochromis venustrus
1 Cyphotilapia frontosa
1 livii stone i really can not remeber the name ( yes i know horrible) it is mostly brown with white spots on it.

I took readings of my tank everything seemed up to par. The water temp was perfect. Now the problem. The one Labidochromis caeruleus is shaking like something is the matter. the Cyrtocara moorii keeps rubbing its body up against rocks. this is the weirdest thing of all they are swimming in like groups of 2 or 3. The fish arent fighting. Maybe i am going nuts but i have never seen this behavor before. And yes the tank is cycled. It has been cycled for like 3 years now so that option is out. and im pretty sure the tank isnt over stocked. and my filter styem is two penguin bio wheels. so help. nothing has died yet but im trying to prevent anything from happening?

thanks andy/

 

[chishnfips]

The shimmying is to do with either two things, its either breeding behaviour or dominance behaviour, its very natural behaviour for either reason.

Aslo cichlids are renowned for flicking of rocks, not sure why, but I wouldn't say its anything to worry about.

 

[toebash17]

would the fish still breed together if they are not the same kind of breed. becuase i only have two of the same kind of fish in there?

 

[chishnfips]

they can cross breed yes, but I think only when two species are similar in appearance eg yellows labs and red zebras, but I would think probably not. I am only familiar with two types of cichlid you have in your tank, but I would say its a dominance thing you are seeing.

Someone else will probably give better info though.

 

[dthoffsett]

If there aren't enough females present, a male will try to breed with any female he comes across. Fish that look similar will cross breed more easily, but that doesn't always matter. I have a female l.caeruelus (yellow) that bred with a male m.callainos (blue), and there are plenty of the opposite sex for both species in my tank, those two apparentely just liked the looks of each other.

Your tank is pretty under stocked, are you planning to add more? The labs especially to better in groups of 6 or more.

Chishnfisps was spot on about the flicking and shaking, the shaking scared the crap out of me when I first saw it. I had read about it, but it still looked like my fish had epilepsy, I still laugh when I see it.

 

[toebash17]

yea i know my tank is way under stocked right now... im just trying to figaure what else to put in it... i dont want to put a fish in there that will screw up the rest of the tank... but right now i am tight on time... im taking a week off of work soon. so i figaure i will put more fish in there. but how many more do you think i can put in there. depending on how big the fish get... i dont wanna over stock.

 

[dthoffsett]

Well, like I said, I'd up the labs to at least 6. As for the haps I really can't help there, I know you don't want to overstock them like mbuna, but that's about the extent of my knowledge. You might PM Ferris, or wait for him to come along, he's good with hap stocking.

 

[Ferris]

You're are going to have some pretty big fish in there when they reach adulthood including a true giant in the Frontosa. Based on the adult sizes, i certainly wouldn't say you are understocked - i personally wouldn't add anything else other than maybe another couple of labs.

Bear in mind the Ahli will reach 7", the Venustus and Livingstonii will both reach 10-11", the Moorii will hit 9" and the Frontosa could get to 15"- add a couple of Mbuna to that lot and you've got a pretty good stocking for a 125 gal.