Flip Out Behaviour.
I was watching my fish in their new tank tonight and they were swimming along nicely, when all of a sudden, like a finely coordinated dance, one female right after the other, skimmed down and rubbed the side of their body against the rocks on the bottom of the tank.
Having dealt with "ick" with my husband's goldfish, I knew that parasite is oftentimes associated with rubbing their bodies against substrate because the parasite makes them itch. I freaked out because I just put them in their new tank and anything that goes wrong with them will likely be related to that move. The chemical balance, temperature balance, everything is a finely tuned environment.
I searched the cichlid forum and discovered that the behaviour I saw is called "flashing". Apparently, flashing is normal for most African cichlids. I had seen Baby #1 flash a couple months ago but didn't see him do it anymore since then. Since they've been in the new tank, I've seen that behaviour once yesterday and once today.
On the cichlid forum, it says that behaviour is normal for African cichlids -- not excessively, but maybe 5 or 6 times per day is normal. If their fins are normal (not clamped) and they're actively swimming around and eating normally, they're likely just fine. Huh.
The females are now also swimming like they're a school of fish, whereas in their old 12 gallon tank, they would attack and nip each other, hide in the coral, in the plants and up in the corners. Now they're for the most part peaceful, swimming together and looking around.
I'm thinking that giving them the extra space, assuming that everything is normal and continues to be normal, is likely one of the best things I've ever done for them. I'm also thinking that I will be seeing a lot more "strange" behaviour that is really "normal" for them.
Perhaps they didn't have room to BE normal in their other tank?
Having dealt with "ick" with my husband's goldfish, I knew that parasite is oftentimes associated with rubbing their bodies against substrate because the parasite makes them itch. I freaked out because I just put them in their new tank and anything that goes wrong with them will likely be related to that move. The chemical balance, temperature balance, everything is a finely tuned environment.
I searched the cichlid forum and discovered that the behaviour I saw is called "flashing". Apparently, flashing is normal for most African cichlids. I had seen Baby #1 flash a couple months ago but didn't see him do it anymore since then. Since they've been in the new tank, I've seen that behaviour once yesterday and once today.
On the cichlid forum, it says that behaviour is normal for African cichlids -- not excessively, but maybe 5 or 6 times per day is normal. If their fins are normal (not clamped) and they're actively swimming around and eating normally, they're likely just fine. Huh.
The females are now also swimming like they're a school of fish, whereas in their old 12 gallon tank, they would attack and nip each other, hide in the coral, in the plants and up in the corners. Now they're for the most part peaceful, swimming together and looking around.
I'm thinking that giving them the extra space, assuming that everything is normal and continues to be normal, is likely one of the best things I've ever done for them. I'm also thinking that I will be seeing a lot more "strange" behaviour that is really "normal" for them.
Perhaps they didn't have room to BE normal in their other tank?
posted by Jammie J. at
2/26/2006 11:44:00 PM
