Hello from Brooklyn, Ny

[Flippynips]

Hello everyone, obviously I am very new to this site as well as caring for Cichlids.. My husband does care for cichlids in his own tank but I have bought myself a tank and have 5 very young cichlids.. I do ask myself questions but I rather have a more then one opinion, lol.. I want my fish to grow big and healthy!!

I do have a question that even baffles my husband hopefully some of you might be able to help me figure this out!..

I have my young cichlids in a 10 gal tank. with a AquaClear 20 filter, filled with sand, a heater temp fluctuates from 70-75. Amm. reading is 0 , Ph is 8.0 , Nitrates is 0 , Nitrites is 0 . Everything seems to be ok when it comes to the water and filter.. my problem began a few days ago.. I bought my first young cichlids, acclimated them of course before putting them in the tank and like always they hid in a corner for about an hour then they were swimming around like normal from when I saw them in the fish shop. I've always had a 15w lightbulb and only turn it on for a few hours a day at first everything was fine.

Then from one day to the next all of a sudden I turn on the light as usual and they all went into hiding inside the skull decorations I have for them. They come out of their hiding spots when the light is off or unless they can race from one hiding spot to the next without staying under the light for more then a second.. them lil'critters are fast swimmers, lol and will only eat with the light off as well. I've begun to call them my little vampires since they will only come out when its dark.. but even when out they do not swim mid-tank like they did the 1st week and swim no higher then the decorations they'll stay low on the sand leveled with the decorations.

They do look ok, other then this strange behavior, I came up with the idea of getting a blue light, its a lot dimmer then the white bulb I was using.. they seem to like it better they chase each other when one is occupying a spot.. and they are starting to dig holes in the sand but they still tend to hide.. why is this happening we didn't have this problem with our first 45 gal. tank.. I don't understand why my lil'vampire fish act this way.. can anyone help? please i'd appreciate it so much!!

Thanks in advance!!
Michele & her Vamp. young Cichlids..

 

[Reel Addiction]

Welcome to the forum, I have fish that still hid a bit at times. Im sure everything will be ok. I assume you had a cycled tank.

 

[Tony]

Welcome to the forum. Yeah, some fish will naturally hide a bunch. Depending on the species, you might be able to add some smaller "dither fish," whose presence will make the cichlids feel more at ease. Do you know what kind of cichlids you have (Malawi, Tang, Central, South American, etc...)?

 

[verbal]

welcome to the forum

 

[MarkK]

Welcome to the forum, Michele!

What kind of Cichlids do you have? That information would be helpful in providing answers.

Depending on the type of Cichlids, as others have mentioned, sometimes putting other fish in the tank, non-cichlids that are more prone to just swim around and not hide, can send the psychological message to the cichlids that "everything is okay" and the Cichlids come out from hiding.

Also, are you sure your temperature fluctuates from 70 to 75? That is a wide range and can stress the fish. If you already have a heater in the tank you might consider buying another. I have stopped using heaters manufactured in China and will only buy heaters manufactured elsewhere. Hydor is a quality product made in Italy and Jaeger is German. There are others.

Hope this helps and since you are in NY you may want to check out East Coast Cichlids group, http://www.eastcoastcichlids.org/

 

[hollyfish2000]

For those who mentioned dither fish -- note that she has a 10 gallon tank.

So the first question is: What cichlids do you have? A 10 gallon is not going to work for most cichlids unless they are very tiny babies and then only for a short time.

Second -- water parameters are important. The pH of the water for an African cichlid, for instance, is very different than one for an apisto.

Also -- you shouldn't have 0 nitrate if you have a functioning biological culture. So you should retest -- making sure you shake the heck out of your testing bottles. If you have no nitrate, then I"m guessing you don't have a cycled tank and are in for some trouble for your fish.

how you landscape a tank is very important. Mbuna, for instance, need lots of rocks and caves to feel safe. If they have the caves, they are more likely to come out and swim around.

So the bottom line is you probably need to give us more information, as well as do some research to make sure you're providing the appropriate environment for your new fish.

good luck

 

[Flippynips]

Hmmm thank all of you for your advise I see I have a lot of research to do... I will get to work on finding out what types I have in my tank... and I will speak to my husband in regards to the temperature.. once I have all the information requested of me and lil'vamps I will repost more information... once again thanks so much

 

[Flippynips]

Ok I've done my homework and have been able to find out what little vamps are.. they are all from Lake Malawi and are in the Mbuna family I have one: Yellow lemon lab, a golden Mbuna, Mainganos, Ice blue zebra and a Blue Johanni. We did a 25% water change yesterday and I just re-tested the water again using API water test kit my readings are: Amm. 0.25, Nitrate 0, Nitrite 0, Ph 7.6, High Ph 7.4.

Temperature in the tank is leveled at 78.. again I'll remind all I have them in a 10 gal tank a AquaClear 20 fliter and yes a water heater. The tank is filled with sand I have a skull head they all love hiding inside of a decorative log they love to race through and a small gray rock with a wide opening they also love to swim through. They have been a bit more relaxed and are coming out more but this is in the dark, I installed a blue light since it seems white or yellow is to bright and they hide. Once I turn on the light they hide and until I don't throw food inside the tank they wont come out once they're out they'll stay out swimming around but still they rarely swim mid-tank they stay close to the lower half of the tank just above their decorative items. But at least now they come out with the blue light but again I have to bribe them with food.. any advise, any idea is welcomed thank you all in advance

Michele & Lil'vamps

 

[turfboss]

Hi Michele - welcome to the forum - I think the more experienced breeders will be telling you that you are soon going to be in trouble with the mix of fish and the size of the tank. Holly was right on with the testing as well - your tank is probably not cycled yet and you are likely to experience some spiking - watch those Amonia levels and keep doing frequent water changes - also you probably need a lot more rocks for sight breaks and hiding places for the Mbuna, Maingano and Johanni - do you know the sexes of the fish - if they are all males you may be OK but if you have females in this mix I think you are soon going to see some aggression between the various species.

 

[gravel_digger]

Welcome to the forum