Spasming Fish

[fishes2]

Hey everyone, I hope you are having a great holiday.

I am concerned about one of my fish. I have a demasoni which is acting very wierd. It is doing these weird spasms. It is just staying in one place and spasming, like someone who has parkinsons disease. All of my other fish are completely fine.

It doesnt seem like its having any trouble swimming, but when it stops it starts spasming.

What is the deal?

 

[tbarblover]

your fish is trying to establish its dominance over the others in the tank....watch and you will see that the only time it does the "shimmy" is when a certain fish or perhaps any fish comes near him or what he believes to be his territory.....

 

[liv2padl]

your fish is trying to establish its dominance

while that is certainly true in 'some' fish species and under 'certain' conditions, there are a number of diseases both bacterial and parasitic that result in this behaviour. so to say with such assurance that a fish is trying to establish dominance is really shooting from the hip.

 

[~*LuvMyKribs*~]

No way, africans (malawis mostly) do this constantly. Its either to establish dominance or 'show off' to a female, and try to court her. Actually 90% of the time i've witnessed my fish do it is when he was trying to court a female. During breeding he will do this as well.

I would say this is the MOST LIKELY case, rather than the fish having something wrong with it. Especially since he mentioned it was a demasoni, which are notoriously aggressive and territorial african mbuna.

Also from what I've witnessed, a parasitic infection would cause the fish to do a 'side to side wobble' rather than a vibrate. Its hard to say without seeing the fish, but to me it sounds like a case of establishing dominance and/or courtship.



-Diana

 

[liv2padl]

actually, a great many cichlids in general, not just africans, exhibit this behaviour when displaying to a female or establishing dominance over another male. that said though, assuming that's what is going on without knowing what other fish are in the tank, what the water conditions are, what size the tank is and etc., is at best an assumption and could just as easily be wrong as right.

just because the fish is an african cichlid does not mean the noted behaviour is normal. are there other africans in the tank? if not, the assumption is more likely wrong since africans don't normally display to a bunch of tetras for example.

if the assumption is wrong ... then lack of doing something to mitigate the problem which is causing the behaviour might end up killing the fish.

 

[charlie]

So if my cichilds are doing this does this mean I have a female in the tank? I have no clue what is male or female. Also, do only the male do this?

 

[liv2padl]

what other fish are in the tank (how many and what kind), what are the water conditions (ammonia and nitrite), (pH) what size is the tank and etc.

 

[~*LuvMyKribs*~]

actually, a great many cichlids in general, not just africans, exhibit this behaviour when displaying to a female or establishing dominance over another male.

Oh I dont disagree, I've witnessed numerous species behave this way, its a natural part of cichlid courtship. My kribensis for example also did this.

Personally, I would not rush to conclusions that there is anything wrong with your fish. Using scientific reasoning, the most likely situation is often the correct situation, and its most likely your fish is just showing off. If your fish is wildly vibrating in front of or near another fish (often coupled with some chasing) then its a courtship/dominance ritual.

If you are noticing anything else in combination with this behvaiour, such as buldgy eyes, reclusive behavior and a lack of appetite, then it may be a cause to investiage other possibilities.

-Diana