# My mbuna are super skittish!!



## NJJ942 (Mar 20, 2006)

Hey'o so kinda a weird question, but my mbuna have become super duper skittish and its kinda a bummer as whenever I'm in the same room as my tank they're all freaked  and hiding. I work retard hours at a big 4 accounting firm so I'm never home and I imagine that they have gotten use to a quite house with no movement around the tank. Does anyone know what I can do to fix this problem short of being home more? I was thinking about enginerding some sort of device that would swing something around near the tank, but I thought I'd start here before diving into something like that. Anyone have any ideas?


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## steelers fan (Jun 26, 2009)

i dont have any ideas for ya sorry...but my fish are a little skittish too so i will be watching this thread


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## Dizzcat (Aug 26, 2008)

One thing you can do is make a habit of sitting right in front of your tank for awhile everyday. That way they will get used to you.


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## MattH (May 23, 2009)

that sounds really weird, do you feed them while ur front of the tank? cause its like clock work as soon as i come near the tank every one is front and center pushing and shoving one another waiting for food. new fish dont do this when i add them but they all learn... so try and have them associate ur presence with food


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## klc9100 (Apr 14, 2009)

my mbunas use to be very skittish too. my mbuna tank is in my bedroom and as soon as i would walk in there, they would take off & hide. i have 25 of them in a 55g and you literally couldn't tell there was a single fish in there. i could lay down on my bed and they would gradually start coming back out, but if i got up and walked towards the tank, they would hide again.

here's what i did (alot of people probably won't like this). i took away their hiding places. i rearranged all of my rocks and removed some. i moved the big ones back against the glass and restacked the smaller ones so there aren't tons of caves & cracks for them go get into. they stay up front now and i get to enjoy them. they are fine. i actually think they like it better. without all the hiding places, they don't have territory to protect. because of that, there is virtually NO aggression in the tank anymore either.

the way i look at it is, they will adapt to their environment. maybe they would prefer caves and places to hide, but they are fine without them. also, i have spent way too much money, time and effort on these fish, to not be able to see them. i go to great pains to be sure their water is clean and within the parameters they need. i feed them very high quality foods. i take great care of them, but the bottom line is, they are pets. they are here for my enjoyment. i will not allow them to hide from me. i mean, nobody would keep a dog or cat that ran and hid from them except for feeding time, right?


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## Zypherius (Feb 14, 2006)

I recently moved and all of my fish went from hyper active begging mode at all times, to bang their head's on structure skittish (even when I was feeding them). I started standing in front of the tanks the whole time they were eating. While they ate/hid I tapped the glass loudly and made sure I was moving around alot. After 2 weeks, they got used to all of the motion and noise and went back to their voracious habits again. They are now out and around the second they sense me walking into the room. opcorn:

Food is the best training tool you can use.


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## cindylou (Oct 22, 2008)

My 55g. looks empty when you walk into the room..I even tried propping a large doll in front of the tank so they would get used to it..NOT..Someone wrote in a while back they had a 3 yr. old that was always in front of the tank and the fish never hid...You need a 3 yr. old.. :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## lotsofish (Feb 28, 2008)

One of my tanks is a little lower and the fish in it are skittish. They don't like big objects lurking over them. They would get to the point of coming out but if I reached over to close the lid, they would take off and hide. My guess is they respond like there is a big fish in the water that could eat them. I think raising the tank would help but if that is difficult, then continue with food training.


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## srook23 (Feb 21, 2009)

I remember this topic before and like I said then...get a kid. My fish aren't skiddish at all, but then again I have a 3 year old running around banging on the glass and dancing all over all the time. I don't think mine can be scared. :lol:


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## Stickzula (Sep 14, 2007)

you could try dithers. not to distribute aggression, but just to have some fish out in the open. it seems like mine are scared to come out, but when other fish are out they think it's safe and come out and join the crowd. I have heard that rainbow fish are good for this and I also heard that a school of cyprichromis works good. I am leaning toward cyps for my tank.


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