cichlid question

CagIII

AC Members
Sep 10, 2006
118
0
0
hey everyone. I am new to this fish tank thing. I have one snow white soco cichlid and one yellow cichlid. they are in a 20 gallon tank. they have been in there for a week and all they do is hide and dig under the decor. Barely ever come out. Should i be worried?
 
Last edited:
oh the silly names the stores give to cichlids. they mean nothing and it's always best to use the latin name so others will know what species you're talking about. there's no such fish as a "soco" cichlid. what you've probably got is Pseudotropheus socolofi. the snow white aspect is probably supposed to mean that it's an albino color morph since generally, this fish is blue. the "yellow" cichlid is perhaps Labidochromis caeruleus 'lions cove'. these are African cichlids and should be maintained in groups of at least 4 ... one male and three females. thus, you should have a minimum of 8 cichlids representing these two groups. unfortunately, that's far too many fish for a twenty gallon tank. their hiding because they're not being kept in a 'group' as they should be.
 
OK thanks is there anything i can do in the mean time? Will it hurt to leave them how they are, what can i do?
 
no, it won't 'hurt' them but neither will they exhibit normal behaviour.
 
You could keep some smaller cichlids like Bolivian rams (Microgeophagus altispinosa) or some Lake Tanganyika cichlids in a 20 gallon tank.
 
AquariaCentral.com