African Cichlids opening mouth very wide time to time

[Patrick4286]

Hey folks,
I'm pretty fresh when it comes to this whole forum thing. I'm a new aquarium owner with a 55 gal tank and a mixture of African Cichlids, sharks, and a pictus catfish. Just noticed today that a few of the cichlids will open their mouths as wide as possible from time to time. Now is this just yawning or is there something else going on here? Any insight would most certainly be appreciated!

Thanks in advance,
Patrick

[mfdrookie516]

it's just yawning, nothing to be concerned with

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

it looks awesome though. i caught it on camera once!! ha
what do u have? x

[Patrick4286]

Thanks for the insight. To be honest I never remembered their actual names. Have one yellow one with a black stripe down the dorsal fin, a bumble bee, a black a blue vertical stripe, a straight blue one, one that is brownish with hints of red, green, and blue, and a bright orange one. I would like to get a fontosa and an electric blue African cichlid. I hope to someday soon start a south American cichlid tank. I want a red terror, ebjd, a couple oscars, and when I can afford a big tank I would like to get an arowana. I've hear African and south American cichlids won't live well in the same aquarium, is this true?

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

daaarn ul need like 300gal for an arowana! they look incredible tho. how big is ur current tank?
and no, they arent compatible. some aquarists are very lucky and get south american and africans and they somehow DONT shred eachother, due to personalities, but they need different feeds & parameters & temps.... its just not sensible OR kind to the fish.
sounds like u have:
elec yellow lab, red zebra, powder blue cichlid, rusty cichlid, bumblebee and fuelleborni or cobalt zebra (black and blue vertical striped one) but thats only on assumption

[Spoor3773]

Originally Posted by mfdrookie516

it's just yawning, nothing to be concerned with

I ve had a similar problem in my tank and cos I d over stocked the tank to stop the Malawi s chasing each over they all started to gasp cos the was nt enough oxygen in water. I installed an air curtain and solved the problem. Every time I switch the curtain off tho they start to gasp again. Lol