# Digging holes



## Brad

Well, my fish keep digging holes under the rocks I have and one already crushed him/herself and it was pretty nasty getting it out of there. The smell was horrible lol. Anyways, does digging holes mean they are trying to lay eggs or what?


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## TheOldSalt

Quick, buy some big oscars!


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## Brad

My fish would kill the Oscars! I need a big Pacu!


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## TheOldSalt

Fish dig holes for lots of reasons. Spawning is only one possibility.


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## fishfreaks

haha. well they are cichlids, excatly what cichlids are they?? most will dig and uproot plants and other decor...mine do it all the time! are they defending the territory as they dig?


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## blakeoe

Just wandering what do the oscars do?


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## fishfreaks

dig, be lazy, pig out  is that what you mean when you say what do they do?


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## blakeoe

no, i meant why go buy oscars if his chilids are digging?


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## malawi4me2

Many Africans dig holes in order to set up territories with clear boundaries. A male will dig to let other males know where they're not allowed, or to entice females to spawn with him. Digging is a very interesting behavior, and I love to watch my males set up territories. (I have three males defending spawining sites right now...) My male _C. mloto_ loves to burry the end of my heater in the sand, and dig all the way to the bottom of my tank.

Your rocks should really be positioned so that they will not fall easily when disturbed by digging cichlids. In my 120g, I poured in one bag of sand and spread it thinly across the bottom of the tank, then placed the rocks in, and then poured in the rest of the sand so that the fish can not actually dig out under the rocks. Try re-aquascaping to make sure that no more of your cichlids can injure themselves. 

Hope this helped.


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## baby~doll

blakeoe said:


> no, i meant why go buy oscars if his chilids are digging?


 thats a joke he made in another persons thread... the person fish werent doing so well so he said to go buy a big oscar...


Brad said:


> Hurry! Buy a big oscar!


then later...


Brad said:


> A big oscar would get rid of all your fish and probably adapt to your PH although cichlids are supposed to like PH around 8..


thats not EVERYTHING he said... he did give his REAL advice too... but you get the point


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