Timid Cichlids

[Fishy411]

ok, first of all, adding 5 or 6 dithers to a 55 with a sev and a parrot isn't exactly "packing in the fish".  C'mon, don't be extreme.




Patience works with fish.  I believe patience is implied when I mentioned spending a lot of time in front of the tank or even moving it to a high traffic area.  It is a known fact and a well-established practice that dither fish greatly help cichlids in overcoming shyness.  To suggest such a procedure is commonplace and good sense.  How can anyone state that dithers aren't necessary?


Severus are known for being very personable fish.  I've raised more than I can remember.  Never had any freak out them along, some of which I suggested.

what the heck is a dither?


And packing in fish is the best solution with cichlids so that no one fish can take all of the beatings

A dither is a fish or group of fish [ a school maybe ]put in the tank to hopefully make the " Cichlids" feel more relaxed [ less shy anyway], so maybe you'll see them more .
Dithers are not meant to be subjected to abuse .

A target fish would be what you described in your second sentence .

I wasnt saying to add a lot of Peaceful fish to a cichlid tank but With really aggressive cichlids if u only have a few then th emost aggressive fish will only have like 1 0r 2 fish to beat up and it may kill them but when u have a lot of them it can only do a little bit of damage to each fish.

Im sure u already know this but i wanted to explain myself

 

[lucky62]

Gotcha , fishy411 , just wanted to show [ anyone ] there's diff between dithers and targets .

[ some people may not realize ]

 

[dirtydogg]

yes, there are already some dither fish in there, though I did lose one tiger barb. But here is the update. All the dither are doing great, btw the tiger barbs are on the full grown size, like the same size as my young sev. The Sev is coming around, he'll stay around as long as there aren't any sudden moves or loud sounds. Like the squeaky lid to the tank, so he still goes into somewhat hiding while feeding, though not as bad as before. ie: he doesn't wait for me to leave the area to eat. But the Parrot is still being a wuss. Not only hiding in his cave but swimming sidways to flatten himself against the top. . . it's a large cave that I am hoping will last his life time. So I guess he'll come around to like the sev is, but I wanted to make sure that I wasn't doing anything wrong. As these are my first non-dwarf cichlid.

 

[Fishy411]

My sev definately hears the lid open because when i come over to the tank he comes to the top to wait for food. He will also follow me from one end to the other. Like an aquatic dog

 

[parker313]

My sev definately hears the lid open because when i come over to the tank he comes to the top to wait for food. He will also follow me from one end to the other. Like an aquatic dog

My sev and my angel are both like that

 

[Fishy411]

My sev definately hears the lid open because when i come over to the tank he comes to the top to wait for food. He will also follow me from one end to the other. Like an aquatic dog

My sev and my angel are both like that

heck he might even hear the food cabinet open in the other room