need help

i have a 55 gal freshwater tank with 6 cichlids and they have all started hiding in the coral i have in there. They never used to do this. The only time they come out is to eat. They have been doing this for about 3 days now. I have checked my water and everything is okay. I didn't know if this was normal and if not what do i do. Please help. Thanks, Heather :-/Please help

 

If your cichlids were not raised in a aquarium, and caught live then they would most likey hide alot more when people come around! It is best to keep them in a low traffic area.

Also if you have changed something in th tank recently, like the amount of time you leave the lights on or the period of time intervals the fish may become more spooked and not feel safe in their enviroment. It would be best to run the lights on a cheap $10 timer that automatically turns them on and off.

 

Nothing in the tank has changed. I leave the lights on for about the same amount of time everyday. They are still little and I have had them for about a month now and they just started to do this. Is there anything else I can do to help.

 

I would suggest them feeding them smaller food portions and just feeding them more often. Then stay there and watch them eat.

This will allow for the fish to get more use to people in their presence. Also if you feed the fish using a cup or somehting else, make sure it is the same container each day. They will become more use to it and come out at the first sight of the container.

This is how I got my wild saltwater fish to come out when people are staring at the tank. Just get them more use to their new enviroment and use to you or other people being around. You are pretty much training them to the sight of the cup.

 

are they african cichlids? if so and you have had them for a month, then most likely they have set up individual homes. africans do hide a lot in their homes so as to protect them, when you got them they did not have their homes set up so they had no reason to protect anything, given a month they have settled down and set up house keeping.

 

[smiley=angel.gif] thanks that makes alot of sense. they always go to the same spot. oh and yeah they are africans. thanks, heather

 

What kind of Africans are they? Most of my africans are very comfortable with people. You may want to add some dither fish to your tank, this will help.