Should I Be Worried??!!??

[FishGeek]

I have recenlty bought 2 JDs and 2 Jewel Cichlids for my 55G tank. They are all around 2-4 inches in length at the moment. The only other inhabitants in the tank are a Pleco and 3 Otos. For the past few days they have all been EXTREMELY freaked out. They hide under everything and dont swim around the tank. None of them. They dont really come out to eat either but they do eat the food that falls near them on the bottom. They all look stressed. The weird part is that they were in the tank doing fine for the first few days and now this. Im totally confused. Please help Im desprate, I dont want to loose these guys!!

Here are some pics to show you what I mean.
Thats the most out they come. Anything walks by though and they shoot back. Luckily my caera lets me stand a good distance away and still get a good pic.

I got too close.

 

[Pure]

This is pretty normal for these fish especially when they are small you can try adding some dither fish in the tank to help draw them out.

 

[FishGeek]

That was my thoughts or at least my hopes. I know that I wont be able to keep them but I think that I am going to add a few more cichlids. Thanks.

 

[Pure]

No, more cichlids won't help, by dither fish I was talking about small fish like tetras. Seeing the tetras out will most likely tell them that the coast is clear making your guys more comfortable in coming out.

 

[Nativefish Boy]

giant danios will bring them out. so will buenios aires tetras

 

[FishGeek]

Ok I get it!! Thanks!! I can be slow sometimes!!!

 

[straitjacket]

How long has that tank been set up?
Could you give specific numbers of the water quality? Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, pH, hardness (GH, KH)?

While JD's are naturally shy and jewels can be pretty shy themselves it's unusual for everyone to all of a sudden freak out and refuse to come back out.
Make sure the lighting isn't too harsh. I kept very small single bulb flourescent fixtures compared to the size of the tank over the tanks I kept my JD's in. Say a 20-24" fixture for tanks that were 36-48" long. This helped with the shyness. I only turned these on when I was watching as well. Otherwise there was plenty of natural light in the room, enough to see when the fish were doing when they were hiding in their caves.

 

[FishGeek]

Thanks for all you help!! Everyone is venturing out of their hiding places now!!! I went to the store yesterday and bought 13 Zebra Danios. It seems to be working!!!! Thanks again!

Sry 'bout the glare.

 

[straitjacket]

The danios won't last long. Buenos Aires tetras! They can hold their own against the more aggressive mid-sized cichlids and get a full 3" in body length alone. Not fussy. They're a good option.
You should also keep an eye on those otos. As soon as they're small enough to be eaten...they will be.