unusual african cichlid behavior?

[BlackCamaroSS99]

I just started to stock my 120 gal and I bought 5 small assorted africans....I forget what they all are off hand but they are all different....

They were not in the same tank at the store....the only think that is in my tank now is a large(half the tank in space) moon rock strucute that has plenty of hiding spots and a sponge filter on the one side behind the moon rocks....

The fish are all juvi's(1 1/2 inches or under) and well I put them in yesterday and they won't seperate...they swim as a school...I plan on adding more fish in another two or 3 weeks(another 5 or so juvis) will they school together too????....they've been in their about 18 hours now and they just won't seperate....its like their all attached at the hip...they don't nip each other or anything...what the heck are they doing???

[fOx]

They're juvis, so they haven't developed that territorial mind-set yet. Give them some time, as they older they will start to think about breeding and competiting for females and food and then the regular behaviour will kick in.

It's natural for small fish to school, it makes it more difficult for big fish to prey on them that way. If the school is attacked all of the fish will dart off is every which direction and confuse the attacker.

Sounds like normal behaviour to me...

fOx

[BlackCamaroSS99]

It didn't seem that wierd but its just the fact that none of them have seperated yet when there's absolutely nothing in the tank that will prey on them...

They seperated when I just fed them but right after that they were back together....

Oh another thing I just noticed the yellow fish with the black bars has basically lost his black bars...he/she was one of two in his tank and I only took him/her...all of the other fish are just as colorful if not more colorful but the yellow one is just loosing color...any reason??

[SGypsyMermaid]

Originally posted by BlackCamaroSS99
It didn't seem that wierd but its just the fact that none of them have seperated yet when there's absolutely nothing in the tank that will prey on them...


ahhhh...but do they KNOW that?

[BlackCamaroSS99]

Well they seem to know it a little now...they will once and awhile sound out a scout it seems and than it'll hurry back....

Can't wait to see what happens when I finally add my 4 inch peacock
:uh:

Hopefully 10-15 smaller fish will be enough to divert all his attention from chasing one particular fish....plus they have alot of rock structure to hide....

[SGypsyMermaid]

as long as they are too big to fit in his mouth, you should have no problems.

[Titandan]

Hmm...

I think your yellow fish is an auratus. It is a beautiful fish and fairly aggressive. It might be that your auratus is a male and is losing it's black band because his stripe willl turn either blue or greyish/silver. The rest of its body will turn black. Anyway, it is a beautifull fish although I hope it turns blue. It might also be a chipokae(maybe more aggressive) but less appealing to me atleast.

hope that helps.

-dan