Fish Behaviour

[SensesFail]

Well I got some fish today, African cichlids.

I created many little hole and hiding places and many of the fish have settled into certain ones. On watching the fish they seem to chase each other around and the rusty cichlids seem to chase any fish from time to time. Fish circle with each other then go their separate ways.

Is this normal in a new aquarium or is it signs of bad things to come? Some of the fish even shake next to other ones them swim off happily s

Male to female ratios for certain species were unknown.

Fish in the tank at the moment as advised by LFS as initial compatible fish.

4 yellow labs
4 rustys
A male and female Labeotropheus trewavasae
And 2 sets of 3 other cichlids which I can't remember what they are called l I have posted pictures of them on the forum.

 

[hillmar77]

African cichlids are aggressive by nature, that's why you need a few in there to spread the aggression. So yeah its normal.

 

[MikeO]

The "Shaking" is them "showing off" to try and attract a mate.

i.e They are trying to pull.

 

[SensesFail]

The "Shaking" is them "showing off" to try and attract a mate.

i.e They are trying to pull.

Little flirts.... go on son!

 

[Rynofasho]

Did you introduce all those fish at once? I'd keep a very close watch on your water stats in the near future to make sure you dont have any ammonia / nitrite spikes. Can never be too safe

 

[SensesFail]

Did you introduce all those fish at once? I'd keep a very close watch on your water stats in the near future to make sure you dont have any ammonia / nitrite spikes. Can never be too safe

I did added quite a few so im watching the stats like a hawk with a bucket or 2 on stand by. I just hope if it does not happen but im walking a tight line i think! I added them on friday not feeding them till this the AM for the first time. I tested the results last night this AM and about 12 hrs later which was tonights test and so far 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate and 0 ammonia so im hoping it stays like this but since they have just been fed today im guessing things may happen soon l ill get up really early in the morning to test before work least then i can change water if need bed. will be a few hrs before the 12 hr period but better to be safe. Id epect nitrate to start appearing soon.

Whats the max nitrate i should have before rushing for the bucket? i intend to change 50L maybe twice a week in the 190L tank or 3 times if you guys think thats best? Was expecting to do a few but the LFS said once a week would be fine?

The synos are small and seem extremely lively getting chased now and then they seem to be full of energy or still trying to find their place in the tank.

 

[waterdrop]

SF's filter should (now, after a watched and measured ammonia fishless cycle) easily handle a full bioload, but it's true that you always want to watch it - it's a change for the bacteria too. The fish waste will now put more organics in the water, allowing many other species of heterotrophic bacteria to increase and that always carries the possibility of the environment being a little different, more in the direction we want it, but a little different none the less.

Most of us are very pleased with ourselves when we are around and responsible enough to carry out our gravel-clean-water-change on a steady weekly basis. That is a great baseline habit for beginners to be starting with. Of course during these very first couple of weeks, SF will want to still be watching the biofilter performance and standing ready to change water if there are any blips, but a 12 hour check, easing to a daily check of ammonia and nitrite should be fine for this.

Water changes and nitrate(NO3) are not something one decides by someone else's prescribed percentage formula. Instead you must read the trend in the aquarium's notebook over time. You start with good weekly substrate cleans, where it should almost seem incidental how much water comes out of the tank because you are concentrating on getting a good clean around the tank. Who cares if 50% or more comes out? By now most beginners know that conditioning and rough temperature matching will allow a change like that to not only be safe but to refresh things like calcium and magnesium via the fresh tap water.

Anyway the important point is that each individual aquarium will establish (during say, the first 4 months) a pattern of nitrate(NO3) at some ppm level above whatever the tap water NO3 level is. Ideally, you'll look back at your NO3 result entries and see that it stays fairly steady. If, over time, you get more lax with your maintenance and you also notice the NO3 level creeping up, that's the sign to you that your maintenance needs to pick up. You just never know, a 20%, 30%, 50% or whatever might turn out the be the comfortable water changing percentage that satisfies all these considerations.

And it must always be remembered that NO3 itself is not the point! It's a "canary in the coal mine" for you. It is your sign upon which you suspect whether all the other unmeasured things in the tank are going up and down: heavy metals and all sorts of organics - 100's of things collect in the water, especially in the pre-catch area of the filter prior to the media and the substrate and less circulated water. NO3 is just our standard way of keeping ourselves reminded that we want to keep a tank that is ultimately at a good balance of these things and that we're not letting them build up excessively, is my opinion.

~~waterdrop~~