# New fish - 4 days later.



## Dadwith2boys (Mar 3, 2014)

We have a 120 gallon tank and we added our first set of 9 fish 4 days ago. The water is all 0's and the Ph is at about 7.6. We have a lot of water movement.

Now the interesting thing to me and not sure if normal, is the fish are hiding under and behind the rocks at the bottom of the tank 95% of the time. When they do come out and swim around or eat and we walk by the tank they go darting and hide.

Is this normal or should I do something?

Thank you!


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## chopsteeks (Jul 23, 2013)

Yes...

Give it a week or so to get familiar with their new home/tankmates....they will start coming out more.


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

Dadwith2boys said:


> We have a 120 gallon tank and we added our first set of 9 fish 4 days ago. The water is all 0's and the Ph is at about 7.6. We have a lot of water movement.
> 
> Now the interesting thing to me and not sure if normal, is the fish are hiding under and behind the rocks at the bottom of the tank 95% of the time. When they do come out and swim around or eat and we walk by the tank they go darting and hide.
> 
> ...


it should not be all 0s if it is cycled. there should be nitrate present. also what type of fush are they?


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## Dadwith2boys (Mar 3, 2014)

Okay thank you..

Second question.. Should I wait for them the get familiar before I add more fish or either way would work?

Thank you so much!


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## MizOre (Sep 20, 2013)

What kind of fish?

The advice for some species is add them all at once. For most cichlids, if adding new fish in the future, scramble the tank hardscape (rocks, wood, ceramics, etc.) so that the fish have to reestablish territories. Best way to have most African riverine or New World cichlids is to give them as much room between fish as necessary to have stable enough territories (some fish will always test boundaries). I've got six Convict Cichlids plus fry in a 130 gallon tank (the plus fry is the catch here, and I've got two pairs worth) and the only thing I could possibly add would robust top-water tetras that can swim fast. I started with ten fish and removed those who couldn't hold a territory.

African lake fish seem to stand more crowding and for them, it apparently reduces aggression (the only Africans I've kept were a small Julidochromis species in a single species tank, so other people will have better information on Africans). With parental care giving species, this is far more likely to end up with one pair dominating up to a meter of tank space for smaller species and a couple of meters for the giant species.

So, what are the fish? If you've got 9 fish that end up at 12 inches each, that's different than having nine fish that end up at 5-6 inches each. African Lake Malawi species are different from cichlids from other areas.

Size of fish, aggressiveness of fish, will all play a part in how many fish will work well in a tank.


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## Dadwith2boys (Mar 3, 2014)

I did have about 7.0 nitrate prior to adding fish. We cycled the tank for about a month and the nitrites went to about 4.0ppm and then went down and nitrate went up then all 0's.

We have 3 of each; Electric Yellow ,Whitetop, and Jewel Reds. I have a FX6 with the spray bar pushing length ways.


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

What are the tank dimensions? That's not very many fish for a 120g. If you're doing Malawi mbuna, I would return the jewels, they will not have a good time, nor will the mbuna if they pair up. Consider adding another two or three mbuna species and increasing the numbers of each species to around 6.


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## PiccoloJr (Oct 14, 2013)

Where did you get a spray bar for an FX6? Or did you make it yourself?


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## kd5exp (Mar 21, 2014)

I agree with getting the red jewls out of there. They are very aggressive and really need to have their very own tank. They are beautifull fish but not a comunity fish at all. I just got 10 juvies of thr red jewl and have them in with 5 yellow tailed acei's and they are allredy showing signs of agressiveness. I have another tank, 46 gal bow front, and I am going to make that their new homw here soon.


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