Dither fish with African cichlids?

Are there any dither fish I can put in a 55g with African cichlids? I have 10 3-4 inch cichlids and a common pleco in that tank. All of my cichlids have become VERY skittish and hide whenever I come near the tank, without any indication of why they suddenly are afraid of me. I'm wondering if there are any fish that are fast enough to not get eaten or tough enough that they won't get beaten up.

Also, I have plenty of hiding spaces, but they all seem to like to hide in the same place as a group, even though there are different species. That seems strange to me. Any thoughts?

 

i used to have a 55 with africans in it. africans like almost any other fish have unique personalities and so they might each act a certain way, also in the wild aficans live in sandy, rocky substrated lakes (lake tanganyika, lake malawi) and are used to hiding amongst the rocks and plants etc. how long have you had the fish? is there an particularly agressive fish that me be scaring the others? a problem i seemed to face with them is even if you dont exceed the bioload of the tank the amount of fish you have now, may be enough due to territorial agression. anyways once they become aware of there surroundings and the fact that your the one who feeds them they might be less skittish. hope this helps you a little and good luck. -tl

 

I've had my fish for over 3 months, and they've never hidden from me until I added some new rocks to their tank. Now they literally ALL hide together in the same corner, incidentally where I added the new rocks. They hide 3 to a cave and don't move at all. The dominant 2 fish, a Jewel and a Cobalt Zebra, also hide with the group, and there's no aggression between them when they're hiding. When I feed them, they come out of their hiding spots, grab the pellets and turn around and race back to hide again.

Are there no species of fish that could avoid them and act as dithers? Any medium sized tetras or something? Is there anything else I can do to make them less skittish? Floating plants?

 

Any type of dither fish would likely get killed. You could try decreasing the amount of light.

-Chelle

 

They hide even with the light off :roll: Ah well. I guess I'll rearrange the tank again and see if that helps. Thanks.

 

You can try arranging the rocks/caves so that you can see into them. So even when the fish are hiding in the caves, you can still see them.

-Chelle

 

I realize this is asked/answered already, but what about a school of tiger barbs? Would the Africans really see them as lunch? Or perhaps the barbs would be fast enough to avoid the Africans?

My Africans decided to dig a hole in their new hiding spot, all the way down to the glass underneath the substrate.

 

Tiger barbs are incredibly tough, but I'm afraid africans are just too much for even them to survive. Frankly, you are lucky that they have not bothered the pleco to death. Hiding places can be very healthy for your africans as this can make them more secure. The down side is people wondering why they all hide every time someone goes by. A tank that is totally empty can leave the africans out for all to see, but can be very boring in the long run. Your best bet is to place your tank in a place with plenty of sofas and chairs so you and your guests can sit quietly waiting for them to come out.
Good luck to you and let us know what you come up with!

 

Ok, that pretty much settles it then. I'm aware that hiding places are necessary and never considered removing anything, only adding or changing what's already in the tank. Anyway, I re-rearranged the tank and they seem to be much happier. This time I actually stacked caves for them to hide in, and even though they still race to that same spot, they don't go all the way into the back corner. The tank is in a corner of my living room with 2 couches along each outer wall.

Also, about my pleco...he's a mean ole S.O.B. He's far and away the biggest fish in the tank (by 3 inches, or about twice the africans' size) and even the dominant africans get out of his way when he starts swimming. There was only 1 instance of aggression towards Bob, when tank hierarchy was being established, and he literally smacked that african in the mouth. No problems since then.

 

Okay here is your first problem you gatta stop moving stuff, my friends 90g african tank took about 1 month and they were cool and stopped hidding

 

I'll keep that in mind, thanks. The problem seems to have simply gone away. I came home today and went over to the tank...no hiding. I had also done a water change and gravel vacuuming, but I have serious doubts that that had any effect on them.

My new set up is very similar to their original set up before I added the final 3 fish, which is why I rearranged the tank in the first place. It appears that they are very comfortable with it this way.

Thanks to all of you for the advice.