Hi all

I am very new to keeping fish and decided to get the following fish:

cichlids:
2 x convicts
2 x jewels
4 x yellow labs

Anyway, they have been fine and seem to be enjoying each others company, but for some reason i have startd to notice that 2 cichlids ( 1 x yellow lab and 1 jewel ) keep swiming up and down the tank together really quickly.

they do stop, though haave noticed they are doing it a little more and its always the same two.

Does anyone know why they do this?

Hope someone can help

thanks
Steve

Hey Steve,

It's kind of hard to tell why they are doing that really. But one thing I could think of is that it may be a territory deal. They're both patrolling the areas they "claim" and are just running into each other - but duking it out in a less violent way than normal.

If it is a territory deal an easy solution is to redecorate the tank. Just move everything around and they'll be confused and have to reclaim areas of the tank. Of course you may run into them doing the same thing eventually.

The only other reason I can think of for them to be running up and down with each other is a mating thing. But I wouldn't count on this since jewels and yellow labs are so different and mate in completely opposite ways. But maybe they're being dumb and flirting with each other?

Good luck either way!

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I like big fish tanks and I can not lie. You other brothers can't deny.

It could also be the convicts causing it, especially if they decided to mate.

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