Worried about my mbunas

[Penny]

I'm concerned about my mbunas, they're all hanging around at the top and corners and not swimming about as much as normal.

I've had the tank set up and running for a month. When I moved it I reused all the substrate and both the canister and internal filters. I added a small airstone. There's lots of surface agitation even before the airstone.

They're not gasping or gulping at the surface at all and are eating perfectly well (mix of hikari cichlid excel, staple and repashy) They're all acting the same, I suppose the smaller ones, the two yellow labs and two ice white zebras are a bit more active. I'm just at a bit of a loss as to what's up with them.

Temp is holding steady at 26°c and the water parameters are good. No ammonia or nitrites. Nitrates are about 40.

Any idea what I can do to make them happier?

Oh, and there's no sign of any diseases, they all look perfect

[nabokovfan87]

Can you verify aeration and filtration is working? It also could be a pressure thing. Are you seeing any of them with swim bladder issues or anything like that?

I would start by adding an additional Airstone if need be.

[Penny]

Aeration and filtration are both working and as far as I can tell, no swim bladder issues, everyone is straight and true....no wonky swimmers!

The airstone is tiny though, and the air pump is a small one. The tank is 120 gal 450lt... Should I get a bigger pump too? And a powerhead?

 

[Colu]

It possible it low levels of desolved oxygen if you add another air stone and they improve you have found the cause Frist I would do this