Why Do My Tetras Stay Near The Bottom Of The Tank?

[MrNiceGuy]

I have a 20 gallon long tank and my water levels are all fine (just tested). Ive got a dwarf gourami, 10 pristella tetras, 6 corys, and 3 dwarf frogs. Ive had the tank stable for about 5 months now and all the fish/frogs seem fine but when the light is on the tetras will just stay towards the middle/bottom area of the tank. Its really annoying because I have corys and frogs already down there so the top of the tank is usually empty... with the exception of the dwarf gourami. however, when the light is off the tetras school around the middle/top area of the tank (like theyre supposed to i think). The tank is pretty well planted/sheltered and i added a good amount of floating plants 5 days ago with no improvement. any ideas would be appreciated. there isnt any aggression in the tank by the way, so thats not it.

 

[Sofia]

Gourami's are territorial so maybe he keeps the tetras away from the top of the tank for most of the day because they are wary of him and intruding into his domain.

Do you have a spare tank? Might be worth experimenting and placing the Gourami in the spare tank and if after a couple of days the tetras use the rest of the tank then you know it's because of him.

 

[mbsqw1d]

same happens with my Columbian tetras. Is your tank planted at all? I don't think they are all that keen on bright light if there's no vegetation for them to have comfort from. I'm going to introduce more plants and some bogwood to stain the water slightly..

 

[MrNiceGuy]

Gourami's are territorial so maybe he keeps the tetras away from the top of the tank for most of the day because they are wary of him and intruding into his domain.

Do you have a spare tank? Might be worth experimenting and placing the Gourami in the spare tank and if after a couple of days the tetras use the rest of the tank then you know it's because of him.

yeah, i dont have a spare tank but i think this might be the problem. maybe its just a very timid tetra species. they do swim much closer to the surface when the light is off though so maybe not. lol i wish i could just take them all out and experiment with different tetra species... or maybe live bearers. that would be a lot of wasted money though. and it would probably traumatize my tank.

same happens with my Columbian tetras. Is your tank planted at all? I don't think they are all that keen on bright light if there's no vegetation for them to have comfort from. I'm going to introduce more plants and some bogwood to stain the water slightly..

my tank is pretty well planted. im going to add more this week to see if that helps at all but im feelin hopeless at this point.