Need info. New to jaguar cichlids.

[Mathiuspage]

There is a lot that goes into a cichlid being shy or outgoing. Decor, light, tankmates, size, etc.
Is this a small fish in a 125 gallon tank alone? What is the tank setup like, can you post a picture? Small cichlids tend to be shy to avoid being eaten by birds, They don't know there are no herons in your living room. If they all swam up to the surface at a small size, they wouldn't last long in the wild. African cichlids you mentioned; they usually are not kept solo, and small cichlids will be a lot less scared if there are others in the tank. Also overhanging decor and things to hide under that are in the upper reaches, go a long way. If there is nothing in the upper half of the tank, the fish will feel like a sitting duck. Once they are full grown adults they tend to not care as much about these things, but at a small size especially, they do.

looks like he has a slight sunkin in belly. I him/her on Sunday. I tried Monday with a 2 pellets and pulled em. Tonight I tried a few more and it went for them aggressively but then spit them out... I wondering if the pellets are too big even though they are the tiniest ones available. I'm going to go get live brine shrimp tomorrow and try that. The LFS was suppose to get them tonight but never did. Hopefully tomorrow

 

[Mathiuspage]

it's pretty empty i was adding things slow because I didn't know what direction to go in

 

[Mathiuspage]

Sorry if my posts are erratic. I'm pretty new to the whole forum thing as far as posting goes. I'm not sure if I have to reply to a person's questions directly or if I put a new reply if everyone giving input will get a notification

 

[Gourami Swami]

Sorry if my posts are erratic. I'm pretty new to the whole forum thing as far as posting goes. I'm not sure if I have to reply to a person's questions directly or if I put a new reply if everyone giving input will get a notification

No worries welcome to MFK! I usually try to answer any questions in a single post, you can quote multiple people in one post. If you click "quote" on somebody's post, a quote will pop up in the post box. Multi-quote to quote multiple people.
And yup, that's a super bright empty tank with no cover at all. I think you will have to make some adjustments for the fish to feel comfotable. I would turn the light down and add tall decor as well as floating plants or suction-cupped fake plants to back. Also pothos growing in the top with roots hanging can look really nice and help keep water clean.
If you have another smaller tank on hand, I would personally grow a fish of that size out in a smaller tank until it was a bit bigger.

 

[Mathiuspage]

No worries welcome to MFK! I usually try to answer any questions in a single post, you can quote multiple people in one post. If you click "quote" on somebody's post, a quote will pop up in the post box. Multi-quote to quote multiple people.
And yup, that's a super bright empty tank with no cover at all. I think you will have to make some adjustments for the fish to feel comfotable. I would turn the light down and add tall decor as well as floating plants or suction-cupped fake plants to back. Also pothos growing in the top with roots hanging can look really nice and help keep water clean.
If you have another smaller tank on hand, I would personally grow a fish of that size out in a smaller tank until it was a bit bigger.

I do actually I actually have several tanks laying around I might try that. Do you mean pothos as in potted plants that the vines hang in the water or cutting the longer vines and have them lay directly in the tank? My wife has many many plants and we have several pothos plants we keep never thought about adding them to an aquarium

 

[Rocksor]

Cut the pothos vines and let some of the root nubs submerge in water while leaves are out of the water

 

[djsaltynuts]

View attachment 1456199View attachment 1456199looks like he has a slight sunkin in belly. I him/her on Sunday. I tried Monday with a 2 pellets and pulled em. Tonight I tried a few more and it went for them aggressively but then spit them out... I wondering if the pellets are too big even though they are the tiniest ones available. I'm going to go get live brine shrimp tomorrow and try that. The LFS was suppose to get them tonight but never did. Hopefully tomorrow

you could crush them with 2 spoons

 

[Rocksor]

looks like he has a slight sunkin in belly. I him/her on Sunday. I tried Monday with a 2 pellets and pulled em. Tonight I tried a few more and it went for them aggressively but then spit them out... I wondering if the pellets are too big even though they are the tiniest ones available. I'm going to go get live brine shrimp tomorrow and try that. The LFS was suppose to get them tonight but never did. Hopefully tomorrow

yeah if it's going for the pellets, it's hungry enough so either the pellets don't taste good or they are too hard and too big to crush with their extra set of teeth in their throat. Their mouth isn't indicative of how large the food is that they can swallow.

For fish that small I like to try granules like Hikari Discus Bio-Gold. It's small enough to swallow, and gets softer once it hits the water.

 

[djsaltynuts]

I do actually I actually have several tanks laying around I might try that. Do you mean pothos as in potted plants that the vines hang in the water or cutting the longer vines and have them lay directly in the tank? My wife has many many plants and we have several pothos plants we keep never thought about adding them to an aquarium

yes thats what he means pothos are philodendrons which almost all can all be used for decreasing nitrates. my favorite plant for doing this is monstera adostonii because it grows faster ime therefore using up more nitrates and it looks cooler imo.

 

[djsaltynuts]

i feel like fluval bug bites color enhancing formula is the most widely accepted pellet by my fish i usually use it to get my fish onto omega shrimp pellets for a red color enhancing staple and crushed algae wafers for a blue color enhancer . floating plants like hornwort, hyacinth, water lettuce and duckweed would make him feel allot more safe and would probably help bring out “natural” behavior. fish at this stage in their life in the wild would be hiding in vegetation not swimming in open water where itd be likely to be ambushed by a larger fish.