[Kevin Beard]

I recently purchased 3 small cichlids for a 29 gallon. I have no idea what kind they are. But one of the rather smaller of the 3 seems to be very idle. The fish stays near the top in one of the plants. He seems to be very still. Is this normal behavior or do you suppose something is wrong? My ph has been steady at 7.6, ammonia is 2.5 while nitrite and nitrate are both 0. Thanks, Kevin

 

[jaysee]

Without knowing what cichlids you have it's really impossible to determine whether the behavior is normal or not.

You say your ammonia is 2.5 ppm? Do you mean 0.25 ppm?

 

[Agent13]

Your tank hasnt cycled yet. You will need to change no less then 50% of your water and repeat daily until you have zero ammonia and nitrites.. And use prime water conditioner.. Double or triple dose each water change while you are seeing toxins. Fish cant really handle ammo and nitrite very well if at all.
As for the fish can you put up pics? There are far too many cichlid types to say what is normal for a random species. And hard to advise much till we know what they are.. Asside from getting the tank cycled.