# Skkittish Red Devils



## slh2099 (Nov 26, 2015)

Hey there. I have 2 red devils in a tank atm, only planning on keeping 1 of them.

Problem is they are very skittish and nervous when they swim around there tank.

At first I tried them in the 65 with cutteri, and they were getting beat on so I moved them too there own tank.

I am just wondering if its normal behavior for them to be this nervous?

As for food I am feeding them Mysis Shrimp and Floating pellets, but that wont even get them to come out.

Should I just be patient with them?


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## slh2099 (Nov 26, 2015)

Also there was some black skirt tetras in with them to try and help them be less nervous but they ate them over night.

So I am lost to what to use for dithers.


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## smitty (May 7, 2004)

Yes be patient with them. But I think the main reason I find with fish being skittish is because they are not use to your shadow. Alot of times it will go away the more you are in the room. But I had some Tetracanthus that stayed that way no matter how much I was in the room.


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## slh2099 (Nov 26, 2015)

Well they are no longer skittish LOL.

Its gone completely 180 in a matter of hours.

The larger of the two Devils has gone from hiding to terrorizing the other Devil and the Fire Mouth I put in with him to try and make him less skittish.

Its a completely different fish.


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## slh2099 (Nov 26, 2015)

OK so hes gone back to hiding a lot, the good part is hes digging.. yay?

I had this idea to try a few more dithers and well they just killed them all over night so sadly I am not going that route again.

Although I am loving their personalities, well what I see of them.

This morning I woke up to find a pile of gravel outside the bell that one of them occupies; its literally half the size of the bell itself, I have no idea how he moved so much
in such a short period of time.

I will add pics of the holy terror later if he ever decides to come out.


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## Sinister-Kisses (Jul 19, 2013)

How big are they?

Every RD/Midas I have ever owned (and that's a lot over the years!) - and even every fish that will grow into a large, aggressive fish regardless of species - has always gone through a skittish stage before they reach a certain size. If they're young, you have to remember that these fish are babies and need to grow into their "confident" attitude. If they're new-ish to the tank, that's a likely cause as well.


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## slh2099 (Nov 26, 2015)

The bigger one is probably around 3-4 inches, yah I guess I have been lucky in the past with fish whom dont have a skittish attitude.

The good thing is I am in love with these fish and getting rid of them is never going to be an option.


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## Sinister-Kisses (Jul 19, 2013)

Yep, they're probably just in their "skittish" stage. Usually about 5-6" in size they start to get over it and gain some confidence. But, having two in a tank together probably doesn't help.


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## slh2099 (Nov 26, 2015)

So should I get rid of one then?


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## Sinister-Kisses (Jul 19, 2013)

You will HAVE to eventually, or one will most likely kill the other. But until then, the dominant one will just bully the other one constantly. With only the two of them in the tank, there's no one else to help disperse the aggression.


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## slh2099 (Nov 26, 2015)

Update they have become more outgoing but the bigger one is starting to get blotches of orange on him.

Is that normal for them to change color like that?


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## Sinister-Kisses (Jul 19, 2013)

Yes, extremely common. It's referred to as "peeling".


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## Orang-E (Mar 7, 2016)

I have had a Red Devil cichlid for about 4 years now, he has been extremely healthy and active the whole time. He is in a 40 gallon tank (I know it is a little small) but he has been very happy the whole time. He has been about 13 inches for about a year now, but a few days ago he started acting strangely. Now he lays on his side most of the day and will only move around when I walk by the tank. Even then, he often tries to twist his body a lot and he won't eat anything. I don't think he has ich, but if you look really closely it looks like his skin is peeling a little bit. And he has been scraping against rocks a lot too. What do you think is the problem and what should I do?
I have been giving him the same diet of foods, no new fish in the tank, the tank was cleaned 2 weeks ago, the temperature has been stable, not sure what it could be? He seems to get worse by the day.


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