# Chocolate cichlid laying on his side



## FishDorkMike (Nov 8, 2009)

I have researched that these cichlids like to look up, mine is prefering to hide behind a rock or lay in the corner on his side. He also seems to run and hide especially when I walk into the room. Any suggestions?


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

Hey *FishDorkMike*,

A few questions to start with, and more to come probably.

How long has your tank been setup?
What are the dimensions of your tank?
What size is your chocolate cichlid?
What other tank mates? How many of each.


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## FishDorkMike (Nov 8, 2009)

My 60 gallon tank has been set up for over a year, marineland penguin 350 biowheel filter, ph is fine, hardness is fine, nitrites and nitrates are all in safe zones. He is a 5" chocolate cichlid with a 6 inch sailfin pleco. Someone told me to try adding some dithers like tetras so I stole my daughters 4 diamond tetras, they seem happpy enough. But sometimes I find him laying on his side...and I havent seen him eat but once. He turns down nightcrawlers even!


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## FishDorkMike (Nov 8, 2009)

I try feeding him the tetra cichlid jumbo sticks that I break in half so they are more bite sized for him, hes hit those a few times but seems to let them filter back out through his gills or just plain spit them out. This morning I dumped a nightcrawler in the tank and he nipped at it but let it go...I think its getting better?


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## FishDorkMike (Nov 8, 2009)

I added some tetras to the tank as dithers, it seemed to liven him up. He is now accepting tetra cichlid jumbo sticks as food and starting to poke at the occasional nightcrawler. I want to put some rainbow cichlids in the tank and give my daughter back her tetras though. They should work also yes?


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## mlancaster (Jul 24, 2009)

Yes Rainbows should work well. I am glad it sounds like he is getting a little better. How long has he been in the tank? Was he fine for a while then started acting like this?

This may not be the case or situation, but if your previous stock prior to switching or addeding your chochlate had a "light" bio-load, then when you added him there may have been a slight ammonia/nitrite spike, and he is just revoering/toughing it out through that. That is assuming there was a recent change of fish in your tank.

Keep us posted.

Thanks,
Matt


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## FishDorkMike (Nov 8, 2009)

you are correct, I had to trade 2 oscars to the LFS when I got the chocolate. I did a 50% water change and used a detoxifier because I do know that oscars are pretty messy and dirty fish...after a few days the chocolate perked up, today hes ready to eat and eat. To bad Im out of nightcrawlers, but he readily accepted the jumbo chiclid sticks.
The chocolate has been in the tank since the 3rd of november. I got him for my birthday.


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## mlancaster (Jul 24, 2009)

Well, Happy Birthday, great present. I am sure you were sad to see the Oscars leave, but your chocolate will be much better suited for your tank.

Well my original theory of not enough beneficial bacteria to handle the new bio-load would not really make sense if you had two Oscars (assuming they were bigger than 3"), because there should be a lot of bacteria feed by the Oscars. However, I think the issue was along the same lines. Your chocolate probably needed to just "get used to" the new tank. There may have been high nitrates from the Oscars, a different PH/KH/GH, or just different water that he may have struggled with and had to get used to.

I am glad to hear he is doing better, and I am sure he will enjoy his new home and I know you will enjoy your new fish.

Just a note (kind of pointless now): to prevent this type of acclimation issue in the future you should always do a water change on the tank the fish will be going into so he is not overwhelmed by high nitrates (edit: I just re-read your posted and noted you did do this, great idea, spot on). In addition, a slow acclimation process with a bucket or large hanging plastic fish mover thing is necessary. Slowly add water from the tank he is going into to the container he is in. I typically do it in three stages of adding water over an hour period of time, then simply net and move the fish, leaving the water he was in (will probably be dirty). The final thing you can do is just ask the LFS what water parameters they keep their fish at so you can maybe come up with some type of game plan to make sure your new fish does ok acclimating to your tank. You may have taken many or some of these steps and he still could have had acclimation issues, so sorry if I am preaching to the choir, just trying to put some friendly tips out there.

I am glad he came around and is more active. As I like to ask, any pics would be appreciated.

Keep us posted.

Thanks,
Matt


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## FishDorkMike (Nov 8, 2009)

I will be posting pics soon! My wife just got a new digi cam since ours went FUBAR on us!
The oscars were about 10" apiece, far to large for the tank. I needed to be rid of them anyway since my apartment doesnt have space for another tank to hold two fish of that size. one chocolate in a 60 gallon is cutting it close as it is....


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## FishDorkMike (Nov 8, 2009)

http://sindustries.ning.com/photo/photo ... ttph2aubtt

pictures of my choc ciclid and the diamond tetras as dithers can be found amongst my other pictures on that album!


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## steve_58 (Jan 20, 2009)

In my experience with chocolate cichlids they tend to be a somewhat shy fish, especially when first put in a new tank.Mine acted like u describe when i first got him.Give him a little time to adjust and keep the water quality good.
You also might try feeding him live mealworms , crickets,grasshoppers and just about any live insects , they love bugs . They also tend not to like to much water turbulence and will except food quicker on a calmer surface than on a surface with a lot of water movement. They are a great fish and can acquire a great personality.Alot of people compare chocolate cichlids to oscars however the chocolate is usually much more layed back and will share a tank with mates that an oscar would have for a meal,lol.


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## FishDorkMike (Nov 8, 2009)

steve_58 said:


> In my experience with chocolate cichlids they tend to be a somewhat shy fish, especially when first put in a new tank.Mine acted like u describe when i first got him.Give him a little time to adjust and keep the water quality good.
> You also might try feeding him live mealworms , crickets,grasshoppers and just about any live insects , they love bugs . They also tend not to like to much water turbulence and will except food quicker on a calmer surface than on a surface with a lot of water movement. They are a great fish and can acquire a great personality.Alot of people compare chocolate cichlids to oscars however the chocolate is usually much more layed back and will share a tank with mates that an oscar would have for a meal,lol.


Yeah, I think you are correct. I have two bubblers running in the tank because it help keep the **** churned up and in turn gets sucked into the filter....I think the penguin 350 biowheel is putting out to quickly also...he likes hiding under a fake plant I have suction cupped to the tank under the filters output.... I have been feeding him nightcrawlers..he was hesitant at first just poking at them....but once i chopped one up and put a piece in there...he grabbed it up eventually...


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## mdog (Dec 10, 2002)

FishDorkMike this is totally off the subject of your chocolate cichlid but.....I followed your link to see the pictures of your fish and saw pictures of some guy posing in front of a swastica flag - also has a swastica tatooed on his neck. Pretty nasty stuff. That's a guy to watch out for (or turn in) I'd say.


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## FishDorkMike (Nov 8, 2009)

mdog said:


> FishDorkMike this is totally off the subject of your chocolate cichlid but.....I followed your link to see the pictures of your fish and saw pictures of some guy posing in front of a swastica flag - also has a swastica tatooed on his neck. Pretty nasty stuff. That's a guy to watch out for (or turn in) I'd say.


Yeah, I agree. But the Sindustries.ning.com social network is for all types...like em or not. We dont discriminate against anyones beliefs or looks.


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