Our Cichlid Home and needing a little advice. . .

Here is a quick video of our cichlids. This tank has been set up for almost a year now. There is very little aggression and most of them seem very happy. We do weekly water changes and always have fry from the OB Peacocks, Aceis, and Socolofis. The one problem I have noticed recently is our female Kenyi has moved from her home at the bottom right side of the tank, in her own little cave, to the top left side up by the powerhead. She has also gone from a bright iridescent blue to a yellowish-blue. We haven't added any fish, only added more rocks to the top. . . any ideas on why she all of the sudden has changed?? She still eats fine, she just isn't out as much as she used to be.

Do you think she could be holding eggs?

Did I spy 2 red jewels on the left?

Nope, not holding, no one to spawn with. Yup, 2 red jewels. They seem to have worked out their differences and both are colored up beautifully lately! Kinda sad, one was suppose to be a girl. . . guess not!

Perhaps some sort of water issue that you have not caught? Phosphates?

Mmmm.. . . don't think it is phosphate, we don't regularly use carbon, I don't overfeed, and we do at least 25% water change weekly. We use Prime to treat our water. I could be wrong though! I will check it and let you know.

Both male and female jewels are colored. The one in the center before you hit the play button looks to be full of eggs.....
They are very had to sex for most people.

I've noticed a few telling characteristics of Jewels. Males that I've seen in this area are COMPLETELY covered in jewels. The females make look like they are too but will have patches of jewels missing on their bodies either lines of no jewels or sections on their body that don't have jewels where the male does. The other telling sign is their face. The males that I've seen have a very narrow slanted face much like this < where the female will have more of a rounding to the top of her head.

Male:




Female:




Pair:

Also the male with sometimes get a bit of a hump on his head.

Huh. . . I never thought about that. . . I thought that jewel was just fat. . . They have never laid eggs, if it is a male and female. I would assume because of all the other fishies in there, and if they have, I am sure they were eaten up. When my acei's don't find a good hiding place to spawn the other fish come in and eat up the eggs before the female can get them in her mouth.

Jewels are substrate spawners and tend to lay them on a rock and guard the rock. I bet they have been spawning the whole time.... If you moved them into their own tank you would have fry in no time! They are very good parents.
Oh! Could it be possible that the jewels decided to kick the Kenyi out of her spot and spawn there? A jewel attack would explain the move and shyness and lack of color.

No, I don't think so. The kenyi was on the bottom under a rock, so she had sand under her and the Jewels wouldn't spawn on sand. If it was a male and female jewel. . . would one beat up the other?? The only reason I ask is because the one that you said looks like it has eggs was the only one showing color for months, and the less dominant one was just pale. Then. . . we added more rocks and they changed. The pale jewel starting showing tons of color and starting beating up the dominant jewel. Now. . . they both show tons of color. . . they are so confusing.

Sounds like the female was just ready before the male was. Females get very bright red and males tend to get a darker red that is just as impressive before spawning. They don't color up well till they are sexually mature. Color is not a sign of dominance with jewels. Also jewels do better in a neutral PH with a close to soft water.

Hmmm. . . . so perhaps it would be best to find them a new home?? Not that I want to, it's just that we have naturally very hard water and I don't want them to be unhappy! We don't have the room for another tank right now or else I would just get them one of their own. What to do. . . what to do. . .

There are things you can do for the hard water. I have horrible water and though its a lot of work we have come up with a solution. We use water from the hose and water from a dispenser (like alhambra) and we condition the water as well. It seems like a pain but if you want to keep your fish it might help you.

There are 2 good natural ways to soften water. 1 is put a bunch of wood in the tank. 2 is use peat moss, I have never used that method though. Or you could buy some black water extract (tetra) It will add a touch of yellow/brown to your water but it is basically just concentrated tannins. I use it and it works nicely.
2 PAIRED jewels work nicely in a 20g tank. If they act close then you can assume they are a pair.

I love your clown loaches! The whole tank is really nice all your fish look healthy and active

Are those rocks just stacked or are they stuck together somehow?

Fern wrote:

There are 2 good natural ways to soften water. 1 is put a bunch of wood in the tank. 2 is use peat moss, I have never used that method though. Or you could buy some black water extract (tetra) It will add a touch of yellow/brown to your water but it is basically just concentrated tannins. I use it and it works nicely.
2 PAIRED jewels work nicely in a 20g tank. If they act close then you can assume they are a pair.

I like Fern's idea better. I think I am going to start doing that.

Doing it that way you can not do more than a 15% water change every other day or you could shock your fish with PH fluctuations. But if you keep it below that it will work well.

For wood, you don't have to buy it from an aquarium store. Just find some very dead hardwood branches and boil them for a few days and then they are ready for your tank.

I can't make the water soft simply because the rest of the fish in there need the hard water. I will either have to get another tank for them or move my tiny fry to our un-used 5 gallon tank and put the jewels in the 20g fry. . . ugh.

Oh, and those rocks are just stacked, not attached to anything. :)

They will do fine for now but try to get them at tank in the near future.