Cichlids "pulling a sicky"

[ChrisMack]

I just witnessed some rather strange behaviour (well it's the first tuime I've seen it anyway!)

Firstly I noticed that My Geophagus (Satanoperca Jurupari) named Motley was swimming "very" strangely....it looked rather like a duck waddling around, from a distance it seemed like both his pectoral fins had been taken off (first thought wa an attack by a tank mate) but a closer look revealled that he did in fact have his pectorals clamped tightly against his body ( a general sign of not being well, so i've heard)

Concern started to set in as to what the problem could be, Ive just recently re-arranged the tank, doing a water change in the process so surely that wasnt an issue! Had my heater stopped working? NO!

In any case after a few minutes of this behaviour, he suddenly burst into normal action again, and hasn't shown any symptoms again since.....a couple of minutes after the episode, his littler tankmate (also a demonfish) did the same thing, but this time i was able to witness it from the beginning......This action begins with the fish making actions like it is "choking" then it simply clamps up, and swims weirdly for a few minutes almost like it is a trance ( I wasnt watching any hypnotherapy programs on TV either).......before bursting back to a normal state........

I've come up with a conclusion that they are "pulling Sickies" to get my attention.....but maybe there is a more sinister side to this.......has anyone ever had this experience, or have any ideas why this took place?

Thanks,

CM

[Ira]

Mine pair do that occasionally too. Doesn't seem to be a symptom of anything. Might just be a fishy equivalent of twiddling their thumbs.