Why do my Dempseys HIDE all the time?

jagarundi

jagarundi

Bonafide, 100% Cichlid Lover!!
Oct 6, 2004
259
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:rant:

I have a 30 gallon tank with 3 small Dempseys and 2 small Green Terrors. I bought the fish on Monday and placed them all in the tank together. The Terrors seem to enjoy the tank and are very active in their swimming. The Dempseys only come out when it's time to eat and then afterwards, THEY HIDE behind the rocks together! Why are they hiding and not swimming around the tank? It's getting me upset!!
 
Dempseys are well known for being skittish, so this doesn't surprise me. And if they are new to the tank, they will be shy for a few days to a few weeks before they get comfortable.
 
I had a dempsy for years and he was amazing.

As these fish grow you will need a much larger tank - will you be keeping all of them? Maby if you put some short-med height plants it will encourage them to come out. Also watch to make sure that the terrors arent harasing them (and keep checking that the two species arent harassing eachother).

It doesnt sound like you cycled your tank so keep a close eye on the water and the fish for any problems.

Goodluck.
 
The JD's are probably just taking the adjustment a lot harder than the GTs. Just give them time. One thing you could try to do that may speed up the adjustment process is rather than feeding once or twice a day, feed many times throughout the day if you can, but do much smaller feedings. This will get the JD's out more often and get them to check out the tank a bit more and start to realize that your their source of food, and there isn't anything to be afraid of.
 
NatakuTseng said:
The JD's are probably just taking the adjustment a lot harder than the GTs. Just give them time. One thing you could try to do that may speed up the adjustment process is rather than feeding once or twice a day, feed many times throughout the day if you can, but do much smaller feedings. This will get the JD's out more often and get them to check out the tank a bit more and start to realize that your their source of food, and there isn't anything to be afraid of.
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Actually, when I first put them in, they were swimming all over the place. All of s sudden, the smallest one started to hide and the other two just seemed to follow him. The Green Terrors are not harassing any of them so I can't see the reason for the sudden shyness. I did put a heater in the water last night but I can't see where that would make a difference. The Terrors are only chasing each other at this point.
 
you were keeping jd's in an unheated tank? What are your water readings? you need quite hard water for the jd's. And your going to have to get a much larger tank in a couple of months if you want to keep all your fish!
My jd's swim around all day, they do get a little crazy if a stranger touches the glass etc....make sure you have lots of cover for them!!
 
31337 said:
you were keeping jd's in an unheated tank? What are your water readings? you need quite hard water for the jd's. And your going to have to get a much larger tank in a couple of months if you want to keep all your fish!
My jd's swim around all day, they do get a little crazy if a stranger touches the glass etc....make sure you have lots of cover for them!!
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Pardon my lack of experience with these type of fish! :D I'm used to having goldfish and they can live in a bowl of crude oil! I just realized last night that the JD's may have ich. One of them has small white dots all over him and I witnessed it scraping itself against the rocks last night, sure sign! They were swimming around quite freely for the past couple days and then all of a sudden last night, they all grouped together and stayed on the gravel behind a rock. Is a salt bath the way to go in battling this ich or should I get something from the fish store?
 
I have a JD and did have a Green Terror in with him. The Green Terror would always be interactive, looking at you when you walk by, swimming to the top of the tank at feedings stuff like that. The JD however never was as active and still kinda stays in the back of the tank and usually doesn't swim up when I'm feeding him. He did have a phase where he would swim up when he saw me at feeding time but that was short lived.

As far as Ich, my JD sometimes scraps himself on the gravel like he's itching himself and he looks fine. He's done this for the 2 years I've had him and it's not a frequent thing he does. I would be worried if I saw signs of it on him or he was doing it more consistantly. As far as treating it, I don't know b/c my fish have never had it.
 
jagarundi said:
Pardon my lack of experience with these type of fish! :D
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With all the infomation on the net, you can easily find anything to do with keeping jd's! :mad2
 
you gave them ich for sure with temps under 76f also the LFS probialy kept them at 80-85f thats the reason for the ich.
Turn the temp up to 85f over the next 24hrs add a little aquarium salt like one full cup.
This should burn off the ich with out adding nasty chems to your water.
Everyone here is right about you needing a bigger tank soon.
Your current tank will house ONE adult JD (still cramped & jail like and wont! even suport one adult GT)
If you try to grow them out in there to more than 4" you will just end up with stunted/deformed and ugly fish :(
Sorry but they are right :)
eric
 
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