Cichlid Behaviors

Question
QUESTION: I have two 'african cichlids'. Yay, pet stores. Anyhow, One of them is larger and aggressive, and does the shaking when the other cichlid comes into his little hidey-area, or when there is food in the tank. This was fine for a while, and now the second cichlid's behavior is worrying me.
This morning he was listing to the side a bit, in the front of the tank, so I could see him very well, and right under the cichlid pellets that had just been put in the tank, not eating them.
He also has what looks to be somewhat frayed fins, and it almost looks like either they are trailing something off of them. He also is very dully colored.

Any help would be appreciated.

ANSWER: Hi Michelle,
 It sounds like the smaller one is being beaten up.  You need to do something about that pretty quickly.  You could separate that fish or at least put in more structure (wood, rock, plants) in the tank so that the smaller one has more places to hide.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I bought some more structure today, but now it seems the larger cichlid has claimed that as his own as well, and the smaller one is still left to hide behind the filter.
My message was somewhat garbled. He has frayed fins, and maybe one or two spots on his body where the scale looks like it's poking out (this was a recent development since this afternoon). He's not listing so much now, and his fins are not being held down as much as they were before, as well as there's no.. slimy trail off of them.
We thought perhaps he had finrot/bacterial infection or something due to the stress (I know stressed fish are more susceptible to all these things) and I picked up some fungus clear/bacteria clear.

Answer
HI Michelle,
  In cichlids, fin rot is a consequence of being attacked or abrasion against hard rough surfaces.   Think of it like a bruise -- you don't catch a bruise, it show up as the result of banging your leg on something.

  You need to arrange the structure so that a single fish cannot claim it all at once.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>