Scared Cichlids

[fishyfreak]

Now that my cichlids are getting older (8-10 months) they seem to be getting very shy or freaky, darting around the tank trying to hide at certain times. At feeding time in the evenings they're fine with just my wife and I, they're practically jumping out of the tank and we usually have to stand back a couple feet to avoid a shower. But Sat. evening we had company, and wanted to show them off but they were extremely cautious and wouldn't come anywhere near the top half of the tank, even for dinner. Is this just a natual instinct? It's quite a change from a few months ago when they had no fear and spent most of their time yelling at us from the surface for food, no matter who was in the room.

 

[Soaup]

They are likely maturing and its possible they are establishing dominance. What kind of fish do you have? Do you know the M/F ratio? How big is the tank? When it comes to feeding i dont know very much with the whole company aspect but i would say i am a believer that my fish know who i am and when im around they know they are getting fed lol. Maybe they were honestly afraid of company. My best guess would be that your fish are now starting to get very territorial some fish may be bullying others, Have you noticed any of this?

 

[rocknurworld2006]

what kind of cichlids?

 

[fishyfreak]

African, it's a 180 gallon so I've stocked it with several different species. It's not an aggression issue, because it's fairly heavily stocked and the aggression levels are very low. It's pretty much the entire population. I've housed and bred African Cichlids for years, I'm not an expert but I am familiar with their territorial and aggressive behaviours but I'm unfamiliar with how they're acting right now. All my water parameters are good and there's no ammonia, but for some reason I still suspect something to do with the water. The reason for this is that they are regularly scratching against the rocks, I had Ich a few months ago and that was taken care of but even 3 months later they're still scratching.

Or...maybe I'm just the paranoid one!

 

[Ace Of Spades]

Most have had this happen, I tend to see my fish itching more when the water needs changing, but I havent seen it in ages as im doing lots of W/C.

For the scared Cichlids Id spend time just sitting still infront of your tank then moving around for a while then they will get use to shapes moving around.