Julidochromis ornatus female in hiding?

[tootie]

Hi Folks,

Have a pair of julidochromis ornatus who have had one batch of fry about 3 months ago (of which only 2 have survived - possibly due to the fact that I had placed a piece of stocking around teh filter inlet so fry wouldn't get sucked in which resulted in the filter being less effective).

Anyway, the surviving fry had got to about 1.5cm. I removed them into a smaller tank as I didn't want to lose anymore. Just before I moved them the female disappeared into hiding (a hole in the rock). At one stage i thought she may be dead - however I moved the rock very slightly and she popped out her head a little. At feeding she also doesn't appear, however tonight she did. She looked a bit thinner than before and not as colourful. She quickly grabbed a small bit of food however when I moved she rushed to the cave again. I'm unsure if something is wrong with her, if she has eggs in the cave, or perhaps she's always looked like this and because I've not seen her for ages not noticed, or having problems with the male.

I would appreciate any thoughts/ suggestions from forum users who have experience with these fish.

Also, has anyone any ideas about what to do with the filter inlet so fry don't get sucked in? It is an ehiem external filter. I thought of maybe moving them to the other side of the tank (as tank is custom made into 2 fixed partitions) where the inlet comes in however worry that it may be problematic (as may split the pair up)- is this the case?

Thanks in advance.

Tootie