Hello all!
So last night I took the time to start 'rescaping' my 55 gallon tank to help my new cichlid friends. I used to have two halves of a sunken ship in there, which I now put into another tank and have started creating as many caves out of smaller to medium rocks.
Since then, I have noticed a TON of aggression in the tank as they fish are fighting over the new caves. Is this normal? Should I take steps to reduce this aggression?
I also had some questions as to what really constitues a cave. I have some of those rocks that come with holes in them (I hope you know what I mean), but I only have so much space to put them up against the glass. Will these fish use these types of rocks if I just put them in the middle of the tank? I am wondering this because then the 'caves' wont really have a back to them and I would assume hard to defend since an 'intruder' would be able to come in from the front or back. As a comprimise, I have put some of the rocks without a back in front of a fake plant to create somewhat of a back to it.
My last question is what types of rocks can I use in the tank? I am thinking of picking up some rocks at a local landscape store, but would I need to clean them and how would I go about making sure they wont hurt my water quality?
So last night I took the time to start 'rescaping' my 55 gallon tank to help my new cichlid friends. I used to have two halves of a sunken ship in there, which I now put into another tank and have started creating as many caves out of smaller to medium rocks.
Since then, I have noticed a TON of aggression in the tank as they fish are fighting over the new caves. Is this normal? Should I take steps to reduce this aggression?
I also had some questions as to what really constitues a cave. I have some of those rocks that come with holes in them (I hope you know what I mean), but I only have so much space to put them up against the glass. Will these fish use these types of rocks if I just put them in the middle of the tank? I am wondering this because then the 'caves' wont really have a back to them and I would assume hard to defend since an 'intruder' would be able to come in from the front or back. As a comprimise, I have put some of the rocks without a back in front of a fake plant to create somewhat of a back to it.
My last question is what types of rocks can I use in the tank? I am thinking of picking up some rocks at a local landscape store, but would I need to clean them and how would I go about making sure they wont hurt my water quality?
