Startled Cichlids

[Burgo345]

I had one of my cichlids pass away about 2 weeks ago, Ever since my fish are scared and will never come up to the glass like they used to, I used to walk up to the tank and greet me, now they hide when I come up to the tank. Is there anything I can do to fix this? All the water levels ect are good, nothing else has changed.


Thanks in advance!

[Convict2161]

Originally Posted by Burgo345

I had one of my cichlids pass away about 2 weeks ago, Ever since my fish are scared and will never come up to the glass like they used to, I used to walk up to the tank and greet me, now they hide when I come up to the tank. Is there anything I can do to fix this? All the water levels ect are good, nothing else has changed.

Thanks in advance!

There has to be more to the story. What are your exact numbers? Ammonia, nitrites, nitrAtes, pH. What's your temp? Do you use any chemicals? Do you use cichlid salts or any salts?

The one that passed, did it look beat up? Any markings? What's your light schedule and feeding schedule like? NOTHING has changed at all? Not ONE thing? Water changes? When was the last one before the fish died?

Have you noticed one showing more color then all the rest? Maybe out more then the others? One possibility is a hyper dominate fish that has claimed the entire tank to themselves so every fish is now an enemy and doesn't belong I'm the tank. Not saying that's the case here but wanted to give you something to look for. I had one that killed 20 fish under the cover of night.

There's a reason there all hiding, there not acting hungry when you walk by, that's not a good sign.

Are they eating at all?

[Burgo345]

I feed once a day in the morning they go crazy over the food they will come up and eat great but after that pretty much hide all day. My temp is about 78 it been the same since ive had them over a year now, All other numbers are good and I use some salt for better health but ive been using it for awhile now. Most of the fish chase each other around a bit but never anything super bad, and after a few mins or less it always stops.

[Burgo345]

I change the layout of the tank weekly just to make it where no one claims territories ive been doing that for over 8 months now, so no one really gets a chance to dominate an area.