Cichlids and their quirks

[Tandanus]

So do any of you cichlid owners have fish with any interesting or unusual behavior? I would love to hear about it. My Herichthys male has taken a real dislike to one of my dogs. I have 3 border collies. 1 black/white, 1 blue/white and 1 red/white. Perhaps it is the brighter colour but he loathes my red/white dog. He doesn't look twice at the other two. When Honey walks by his tank he goes ballistic! So much so that he's been sending his fry spiralling out of control. I've had to resort to hanging a sheet in front of the tank. Well at least for a few weeks until the babies grow. Sheesh, what a grouch!

 

[HUKIT]

If you recall the Parachromis managuense pair I told you about, the male hated the color red with a passion! If I wore a red shirt or hat he would literally bounce off the glass hard enough I thought he would injure himself, remove the red item and he relaxed almost instantly. I've had thousands of cichlids over the years but that male stood out over all of them with regards to personality and aggression.

 

[Tandanus]

Hahaa...that is really interesting. Do these fish, in particular the males, have red colouration at all ? Especially in their breeding dress? Just wondering if he thought you were a challenging male

 

[HUKIT]

No, sometimes they take on a purplish hue but no red per se. I just figured he had a screw loose from all the head trauma!

 

[Tandanus]

Haha...no doubt, crazy galout I was a bit anxious yesterday when I was carrying out maintenance. I was procrastinating about cleaning the glass :/ Ever so slowly I managed to do it. He had a few goes. Nothing too serious. Even my little girl Herichthys took a little nip. Gees they make me laugh.

 

[CameronCade]

I have this rusty cichlid that is smaller but mean as hell. But only to me lol he gets bullied but when I vacuum or do anything that involves my hand in the tank.. He bites me. All the others run and hide but he stands up to me lol. Feels like a little pitch on the arm.

 

[Cichlid-dude]

If you recall the Parachromis managuense pair I told you about, the male hated the color red with a passion! If I wore a red shirt or hat he would literally bounce off the glass hard enough I thought he would injure himself, remove the red item and he relaxed almost instantly. I've had thousands of cichlids over the years but that male stood out over all of them with regards to personality and aggression.

My buddy has an oscar that doesnt like the color orange. If you wear anything orange that he can see he lays on his side and pouts. If you take the item off he goes back to normal. Its funny to watch, hes a big baby.

 

[bettaowner]

My yellow labs have the annoying habit of being bullies and taking the sinking wafers for my loaches.

 

[Freakgecko91]

My Uaru amphianthancoides (affectionately named Gertrude by my dad and niece) "talks" to people. When certain people come up to the glass, she turns to look at them and starts opening and closing her mouth, then stops when they walk away

My neolamprologus multifasciatus get into digging wars where each female tries to bury each other with sand lol

 

[Tandanus]

Thanks to all who posted their stories describing our fishy friend's quirky behavior I love reading these. Please keep them coming I guess you have to be wired a certain way to appreciate our cichlids

 

[DragonFish71]

No, sometimes they take on a purplish hue but no red per se. I just figured he had a screw loose from all the head trauma!

I think Jags are born with the insanity gene *Nods*

The male Jag I had would wait until I opened the lid to drop in his feeders, then jump up, grab it and go back into the tank. He'd occasionally miss the water. He also loved to move all the gravel to one side of the tank, and roll his round rock up the hill, let it roll down then roll it back up, etc, etc.

My male JD refuses to eat roseys, he's scared of them. When he was smaller he got beat up by two male roseys that were in spawning mode. Yes, I'm serious, and he was twice their size at the time.

My initial spawning pair of firemouths had 2 JDs backed into a corner when they spawned for the first time.

One of my male angelfish seems to have an attraction to one of my male Australian rainbows.

My dominant male Bolivian ram has lazy moments where he'll "lay" on his mates back and let her swim with him riding on her.

My dominant male GBR was so proud of his eggs and so mad when I took them to artificially hatch that when another paid of GBRs laid theirs a few days later, he took over caring for the eggs.

 

[bettaowner]

It's not a cichlid but my banjo cat floats to the surface then sinks back down.

 

[Freakgecko91]

I think Jags are born with the insanity gene *Nods*

The male Jag I had would wait until I opened the lid to drop in his feeders, then jump up, grab it and go back into the tank. He'd occasionally miss the water. He also loved to move all the gravel to one side of the tank, and roll his round rock up the hill, let it roll down then roll it back up, etc, etc.

My male JD refuses to eat roseys, he's scared of them. When he was smaller he got beat up by two male roseys that were in spawning mode. Yes, I'm serious, and he was twice their size at the time.

My initial spawning pair of firemouths had 2 JDs backed into a corner when they spawned for the first time.

One of my male angelfish seems to have an attraction to one of my male Australian rainbows.

My dominant male Bolivian ram has lazy moments where he'll "lay" on his mates back and let her swim with him riding on her.

My dominant male GBR was so proud of his eggs and so mad when I took them to artificially hatch that when another paid of GBRs laid theirs a few days later, he took over caring for the eggs.

Lol my aequidens pulcher wild female thinks her mate is my female uaru amphianthancoides!

 

[Tandanus]

Hahaa It's no wonder we get so much enjoyment from our hobby. These are some great stories I think my friends think I'm a bit loopy. "Fish have personality?" they say. "Of course they do!" I say

 

[Tandanus]

It's not a cichlid but my banjo cat floats to the surface then sinks back down.

Catfish are cool I've never seen a live banjo cat. They are awesome and prehistoric looking.