My Fish are acting different

Question
I have a 55 gallon fish tank with 8 tropical community fish.  I recently bought 4 of these fish.  They consist of 4 cichlids, 1 gourami, 1 parrot cichlid, 1 albino cory, 1 8" pleco.  I recently bought the pleco and 3 of the cichlids.  Prior to my purchase my fish hid about 75% of the time.  Since the purchase they have all been out and about ALL of the time.  They all hang out in the top 1/4 of the tank.  I thought this was strange behavior and I wanted to ask someone about it.  Thank you in advance for your response.

Answer
Hi Katie,
 When you say out and about, do you mean as if they are scared, or are they swimming around "happily" just doing their thing?

 When you say that they are in the top 1/4, are ALL the fish up there, or are one or two still around the bottom?

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
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