Re: Cichlids swimming unnaturally

Maria wrote: 
I bought 4 young African cichlids last week and now they are swimming
at an angle with their heads up and body dangling. It looks like
they're swimming with great effort also. What can be the cause? Also
some of them are hanging at the water surface and one is sitting on the
tank bottom. I bought 3 rainbow sharks at the same time but they are
acting normally. The hanging fish aren't gasping, no sign of parasites
on them, nothing else looks wrong with them. The GH is on the hard
side, KH is in the middle and PH is neutral. I haven't tested for
ammonia, nitrates or nitrites. Could one of those be the cause? Also,
on another subject, is it possible to have very hard water that is also
very acidic? I've tested the water in the past and that was the result.
It just seemed odd.

African cichlids are best kept in a specialist cichlid tank IMO. You will need hard water and quite a high pH. I would guess that the water parameters do not match these fish - the sharks may will most likely be more tolerant....Seriously, if you want to keep African Cichlids I would set up a tank just for them with plenty of rock work and very few plants (they will cause problems in a community tank)...otherwise try taking them back for credit. They really are a specialist type of fish - and by this I'm not trying to put you off keeping them - but I would never, ever consider mixing my African cichlids with any of my other fish - they have their own tank - end of story....they are very aggressive - when you read about African cichlids we are talking degrees of aggressiveness not peaceful....

It sounds to me as if these fish are not happy - either because of your water parameters or the environment....

Gill
.

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