Stressed Africans? Why?

[konrad05]

Hello
I've had about 10 small african cichilds in a 40 gallon 3 foot tank for about 3-5 months now, tank specs are fine, I have rocks, fine gravel, some plastic plants and an eheim canister filter going. However about a month or 2 after getting the fish, they all began to hide and have frantic behavior, darting and hiding as soon as somebody entered the room. I then replaced them all, thinking something was wrong, and same thing happened again. For the first month, they would be excited and would come to surface as I'd enter the room. After a month or so, same situation, they would hide and act really stressed. Any ideas?
edit: I did enough research and all the species are compatible, varying from yellow labs to kenyi's, my LFS has no idea whats wrong either.

Thanks

 

[Ferris]

1 fish can very often cause this behaviour. I had an albino Socolofi that was very skittish and would dart around all the time, the other fish picked up on this and read it as danger and would also hide. The Socolofi eventually died and almost immediately the tank was much more settled.

With most Mbuna tanks i've had though, i can hand feed the fish, they are that unworried, particularly as thye get older and bigger.

 

[freddyk]

If there are no apparent aggressors and they otherwise look and eat healthy then I think the best thing to do is have patience and let them work it out. Also make sure you have lots and lots of rock cover - the more hiding spots they have the more they tend to stay out of them. Feeding them small portions often can also help bring them out.