Timid Cichlids

[powellmacaque]

My mom just got a pair of Socolof's Mbunas a week ago. She put them in a 10g for now, but plans to get a 20+ gallon after Christmas. We populated the tank with 2 rock caverns and a brown gravel. The lady at the store also reccomended clown loaches. I know they will get bigger, but they don't grow anywhere near as fast as Oscars do, and I had mine in a 10g for 3 months. Now on to my query. The Cichlids just seem to hide in the rock caves all the time, only coming out to feed and to chase trespassers away. Is this the nature of this kind of Cichlid? I have never really delt with africans before, only new worlds. What can be done (if there is anything needed to be done) to change their behavior, or is it just natural for them?

On the plus side, I would rather them hide in a cave than fight each other all day like other cichlids...

[~*LuvMyKribs*~]

Okay, I know you mentioned your getting a larger tank which is good. Your gonna want to get a 55 gallon (plus) tank asap.

Make sure to have lots of rock caves and a sany/fine gravel substrate for them. Mbuna are rock-dwellers after all ;). Also a pH of between 8.0 and 8.2 is in order.

These guys are mainly vegetarian so any meaty/protien rich foods will give them bloat and do them in. Spiraluna and NLS are great malawi cichlid foods.

The reason why they are shy could be because they are new, as it will take them a while to get comfortable and come out. Another reason could be because they are stressed being in such a small tank.

Are there any other fish in the tank?

And I dont reccommend getting the clown loaches until you have a much larger tank, no matter how small they are or how slow they grow. Also, clown loaches dont come from the same water conditions, so make sure to acclimatize them really well.

:)
-Diana

[powellmacaque]

yes we do have a bunch of rocks and a sandy bottom... but my my went out one day and bought the fish, and she took the store employees advice when buying the fish. They are in the tank with the loaches already. Thank you for the advice with the food, I never thought of that... I was giving them cichlid flakes... but I think I'll start giving them the sinking vegetarian food that I give my Plecos.

[~*LuvMyKribs*~]

Yeah, unfortuneately LFS store employees are sometimes like salesmen.... all they want to do is make the sale. Its really sad.... thats why I carefully pick and choose where I buy fish.

:)
-Diana