# Can someone explain this behaviour...



## Witblitz (Nov 7, 2013)

Setup : I have a 65G tank, 16 mixed african, 1 pleco (...and 1 angel and 5 rasboras orphans inherited from an old setup). (As well as a 2 year old Oscar in a separate 55G doing really well.)

Haven't had any major issue with aggression (yet). Entire cichlid stock and tank is about 2 or 3 months old at the moment.

*Now to the odd behaviour question:*

A couple days ago some of them especially the 2 x venustus and 1 x milomo started to swim up and down the glass constantly, this pattern only started about 3 days ago and they were pretty "calm" before and they all seem pretty fascinated by the top left section of the tank. The pH is stable at 8.0, 0 nitrite, low nitrate. Filtration is Tetratec EX700 as well as a two-current water jet to break the surface and pump oxygen. So my question is this behaviour acceptable? The only thing I changed in the last 3 days, I angled the water-flow jet against the left side window so it breaks the water surface with more vigour (could this be the cause?), instead of blasting down the length of the tank. Or is there another issue here, should I be concerned?

Feeding them spirulina flakes, algae wafer, etc. 2 times a day.

Vid : 





I'm just not 100% sure about some of the nervousness/stress I'm witnessing at the moment. Thanks for any tips/suggestions.


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## Michael_S (Aug 18, 2013)

I used to have a Lab. caeruleus that would do this constantly. This fish eventually became very aggressive and I removed it. I don't think that was the reason it eventually became aggressive though.

Your filtration is fairly low. You want to have the GPH to be 10x the amount of gallons in your aquarium. So for a 65G you want the GPH to be 650 GPH (Gallons per hour), it states the GPH or flow rate on the filter's box or information. Your filter only has a 700 Liter per hour flow rate and you would want the liters per hour on that size tank to be around 2500 liters per hour because 65G = around 250 liters.

I suggest adding more filtration and adjust your stock because mixing haps/peacocks with mbuna in that small of a tank is not good. Nimbochromis venustus and Placidochromis milomo max at 10-12" which is much too large for your tank. What are the dimensions of your tank? Mbuna are quite aggressive compared to haps so that might be why your haps are acting strange.


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

are all fish staying in that corner? or is one still swimming while the rest stay in corner? usually 1 over aggressive fish can keep the rest in a corner. another thought is if that is corner that u feed in all the time, then msybe ehen they see u they think its time to eat. has a new object or livht source been placed on opposite side of tank ( outside of tank) that might be causing them to stay away from other side? just some thoughts. hope it helps


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

They are probably just swimming in the outflow of the powerheads since you redirected the flow.

Do you also happen to feed the fish on the left side of the tank? They might be waiting for you to come feed them.


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## chopsteeks (Jul 23, 2013)

The redirection of water flow made them feel like they were in a new tank all over again. They should calm down in a few days once hey get used to the new water flow.


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## Witblitz (Nov 7, 2013)

I actually do feed them that side of the tank. If I come close they all group up in that corner. I fed them this morning on the other side, and I won't make adjustments to the flow/current and will keep monitoring. Thanks! I'll look into the filtration, the water is clear though, however I do understand over-filtration is key to keeping african cichlids. As for the Venustus, do you guys keep those species? What kinda conditions are they in?

Ty again.


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## brinkles (Jan 30, 2011)

I keep venustus, and my experience is that you are going to need to rehome them eventually. They can be very nasty to each other, and they get large.


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