New Bolivian Rams Strange Behavior?

[Jamiemoose]

so recently i managed to give my other fish away (5 tiger barbs, 2 odessa barbs) and i decided id like to get cichlids. so i rearranged my tank, filled it with slate, other rocks and half flower pots, (so lots of little caves and things) re-stocked it with some plants, bought a new filter to help with water quality, and changed from all gravel, to half gravel and half sand (which works surprisingly well). so its all nice and ready, have been running new and old filters for two weeks now, and removed the old one yesterday. so i decided that today was the day to get some new fish. so i went down to my local aquatics dealer, and bought some fish that i had decided on after doing research from books, tropical fish forum, and other websites. i decided for now to get 4 bolivian rams (1 male and 3 females) and 1 firemouth cichlid so i got home and did everything by the book, left them in open bags floating in the tank with the light off, for 25 minutes and put a small amount of tank water in the bag after 15 mins too. then i took them out the bag and put them into the tank (so as not to fill the tank with the ammonia from the transport bags)so they all went in, and sat at the bottom of the tank, all facing the same direction, spread over the sandy substrate. so i thought they just need to acclimatise to their new home, and i would leave them for a while (the tank light was off all the way through this process) so i came back in 20 minutes, and they had not moved at all, and so after an hour, i switched the tank light on, and went away, again. after 1 hour 40 minutes, they had moved slightly and were slightly closer to the rocks at the back, and after waiting, watching for a few minutes, i saw the rams start nudging each other, and then swim off a few inches, just been to check on them again, and their still not moving much, there just sitting there, looking around, occasionally sifting sand. why arent they moving? what have i done wrong? is this normal? should i have not got such a large group of them? and advice or help would be much appreciated!
thanks!

 

[Tizer]

i wouldnt worry too much, give them the night and see how they are in the morning, they are quite a stationary fish, they tend not to "own" the tank. Do you have any dither fish? like neons? something small that schools making the rams feel safer.

 

[Jamiemoose]

No, not currently, all i have is the 5 cichlids, a common plec, and a red tailed black shark, but if you think that is a good idea? and other small "dither" fish that i could have instead of neons, i find them a little common,

thanks for replying so quickly!

 

[TheRedDarren]

Hey man,
I'm sure you know this already but that tank is not big enough for those fish, I guess you are just using it to grow them on.
But anyway, your tank wasn't empty for the two weeks while you had 2 filters running was it? If so the bacteria in your filter could have starved to death leaving you with no biological filtration.

 

[Tizer]

oh, i have signatures disabled, just read its 54 litres correct?

Shouldnt really have any of those fish in there, the other poster is right

 

[Joller]

yeah your tank is overstocked, firemouths and bolivian rams can be quite shy in a new tank.

but regardless of that if you want to stock cichlids i would go for a pair of bolivian rams and then some small tetras for that tank

the pleco, firemouth and red tail shark are not suitable for a tank that small

 

[meguro]

if the tank has a footprint of approx 30x60cm u could put 1 pair of bolivian rams in there. but i have to agree with the posters above that its too small for 4 rams, firemouth, rtbs and common plec.

as for tetras that arent the common neons (paracheirodon innesi), i have black neon tetras (hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi) in with my rams

edit: apparently it does have 30x60 footprint derp