Shy Pelvicachromis

[ErikPelvicachromis]

Hi Folks,

Was wondering if anyone might be able to offer some good suggestions here.

I've got a 20 gallon long tank with a group of pelvicachromis I'm growing out (it's a mix of pulcher and taeniatus "moliwe", around 14 fish total)....most are in the 1.25" range, all captive bred.

The problem I'm having is that they are VERY shy, even in spite of having tons of driftwood, fake plants, clay pots, etc...(as you can see from the attached photo). The tank is also pretty dim (the picture makes it look brighter than it really is).

Most of the time when you look at the tank it practically looks empty, but they do all come out to feed. They're all very healthy and eat like pigs.

I wanted to avoid doing dither fish, as in my past experience having a group of tetras becomes a big pain because they eat so much of the food before it can get to the fish that feed at the bottom.

Are dithers my only option at this point? If so, what would be the simplest route?

Thanks!

 

[Mike Wise]

First, welcome to the forum. To answer your question, we'll need more information. If they Kribs are recently added to the tank, it may be that they just need more time to acclimate to new surroundings. I must say that 14 Kribs in a 20 Long is a bit much. Maybe not now, but soon you'll see territorial aggression take its tole. I find Pv. pulcher more aggressive (and more robust) than populations of Pv. taeniatus, so they might be the winners in territorial disputes.

 

[ErikPelvicachromis]

Thanks for the reply. They aren't new additions -- they've been established in the tank for months.

I realize that at their full sizes the tank would be overcrowded, but for the time being I don't really consider it much of an issue.

I don't really see a whole lot of aggression or fighting at all, though that's mostly because they are hiding all the time. There are no fish that appear to be dominating the tank at all.

 

[Joe Gatchell]

You've got shy fish with plenty of places to hide. I have pulchers and taeniatus 'moliwe's also (different tanks though) and while i have a ton of plant cover, i rarely saw the taeniatus (10 growing out in a 55g tank), until I added my daughters guppies into the tank. Now when I feed and the guppies start going all feeding frenzy, my taeniatus tend to join in.

 

[gerald]

Is the aquarium elevation at eye-level, or down near the floor? Some fish (cichlids especially) can be frightened by seeing movement above them (especially if you have a shnoz like a heron). Moving them (or the tank) higher may help. Floating plants (frogbit/Limnobium, water sprite, coontail/hornwort) also helps. Or you can use a small group of dither-fish that are not too bad about hogging food - maybe rasboras, hatchets, pentazona or cherry barbs ...

 

[ErikPelvicachromis]

I decided to try adding a few guppies, and it's actually helping a bit. I prefer the guppies over tetras/etc, as they are kind of slow and they don't annihilate the food before it gets down to the pelvicachromis (plus they don't seem to be scared of anything!). I've got some more guppies in quarantine right now, so I'll probably drop a couple more in to see if it increases the positive effect.

 

[Jason82]

That's fantastic news. I was wondering what to try as dither fish, and I happen to have some guppys in a couple of spare tanks. You've just answered one of my questions before I even asked it