My Fish are spazzing out!!

[camus]

Ok, I think that I finally have a good number of different kinds of fish to look at in my tank. But, there is a problem...

I've always read that looking at a fish tank will relax a person and I was really looking forward to this benefit. Well, it is quite the contrary with my tank. When I watch it, it stresses me out! All my fish are total spazzes!! They are all swimming around the tank at top speed most of the time. I get distracted when I watch TV. I am fearful of some of the fishes' lives! Halp!

I have 3 Zebra Danios - the big one chases the smaller two pretty much half of the time.

5 Colored Parrots - these dudes are always challenging each other and when I drop the flakes during feeding time I think they are going to have cardiac arrest. They are like mini-Pirahnas, practically jumping out of the water - in fact, I reached in the other day to rearrange a plant and one of them bit me!! This is a one-inch fish I am talking about!

Then there is the white Molly who was the part of the trio of Mollies I cycled the tank with (the other two kicked the bucket.) This guy thinks he is the badass of the tank and chases everything except the Parrots. (No one screws with the Parrots.) I got him a friend the other day, a black Bottle-butt Molly (or something like that - or maybe it was Bucket-head) to no avail- the Bucket-butt Molly is just hanging out in the corner and is fearful even to grab a little flake to eat...

Then there are the three little Neon Tretras who basically are in fear of their life at any given moment from any of the fish mentioned above (except the quivering Bucket-head) - fortunately, those little dudes handle like Ferraris and can outswim and outmanuever the meanies but I feel bad that their lives are so stressful...

The only calm fish in the tank are a Pleco, who just minds his own business sucking on whatever is in front of him, and a Bamboo shrimp who looks dead most of the time because it just hangs out in one of the fake plants underneath the water flow from the filter doing not much of anything.

The fish store told me all these fish were peaceful, but they are anything but! Am I not feeding them enough? Should I put some vodka in the water? No, seriously though... why are they such spazzes?

Thanks,
Mark

Here is a pic of the spaz-tank:
My Spaz-Tank

 

[Mr Miagi]

Hey dude,

fish tanks are very relaxing when u have the right fish. Alotof the time, fish tend to mind there own buisness and swim around searching for whateva they are lookin for! lol

But in your case,

The ratio of mollies really needs to be 1 male to three or four females, to prevent harasment by the male.

Im afraid your neons are afraid of there safety because they are somewhat in danger, imo, they wont stand a chance if they are not kept in al larger group than three! Cause your little parots will surely eat them as they grow larger.

And your little litle danios need to be in a group of 6.

Im not saying you need to add more because u may already be at your stocking level.

If you feel your fish are going crazy over food, try feeding them 3-4 times a day instead of maybe once. Also, fish are very agitive if they donot feel safe. Add a blackground, which is dark, or covered in plants. Add some more fake or live plants to make them feel at home, and safer.

Goodluck, sory for the long message!

Benny

 

[FrAnK3333]

How big is your tank? Doesnt look very big and a reason they are spazzing is beacuse of stress because of such a small tank.

 

[camus]

Hi,

The tank is a 35-gallon hex tank. I have about 20 inches of fish in there...

Thanks,
Mark

 

[FrAnK3333]

35 gallon hex The neon looks huge in your tank. Idk.

 

[camus]

Yah - it is sort of a ghetto setup - the neon is not a fishtank-purposed light - it is for a closet or something - it came with the tank, which I bought for $30.

I looked into getting a proper light but balked when I saw how much they cost!

Mark

 

[gadazobe]

Your tank is overstocked and that's why your fish are whizzing around. Hex tanks cannot hold as many fish as long tanks due to the smaller surface area. It's really the surface area of the tank that dictates how many fish you can have, the larger the area, the more fish. Also, although your fish are small now, they will grow and then they will have even less space. When buying fish, you should always take into acount their adult size.