O2 issues?

Question
Hi, I have a Jellybean Cichlid and he is about 8-9 years old. He has lived in almost every type of aquarium (alone) 10g, pentagonal 2-3 gallon, and even a gold fish bowl. right now he is living in a 2G pentagonal aquaurium. Im not allowed any bigger because of college restrictions. before that, for about 8 months, he was in a 1 1/2 G fishbowl with just a crapy little air pump that barely put out any bubbles. And then i started noticeing him playing with the bubbles at the top. like how he would eat food. I thought he was just bored, but since i moved him into his new tank, which is much more ventilated than the bowl, it has gotten worse, he will stay up at the top for long periods of time consumming the bubbles. And something else that concerns me is that he always has constant mouth movement, as a person chewing gum would do. are those related? hes a very active fish always doing something but not for long because its like he has to go back up for breath and then comes down again. I know hes older but ive never know a fish to do this. And im very worried about my much loved fish. What can I do

Answer
Hi Lauren,
 That sounds like a fish in a tank without sufficient air in the water (even though you say the new tank has more air than the last one).  One thing to try is to change the airstone such that you have one not producing big bubbles, but rather a finer mist of air into the water. That gets a lot more oxygen into the water.

 That said, you have that fish in a very small tank, but I think you know that.  

-- Ron C.
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
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