Angelfish Acting Strange

[vicstar078]

Hi,

I have a problem and I am not sure if this is normal or not.

My angel fish are fine and eating however, when I first turn the light on most of them are on the bottom not moving or hiding behind things.

One angelfish stays like this not moving for about 5 minutes (not moving eyes either)..

It sometimes tries to swim but it goes in circles and ends up on its side.

After 5 minutes thought it is fine and normal swimming normally and eating...

Any idea what this could be or is it normal!?

The water levels are fine and the tank has been running for a while.

Thanks

Vicky

 

[WILDER]

Size of tank in gallons or litres.
How many fish and which type.
Water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.
What the make of the test kit you are using?

Need to rule bad water quality out first. Water quality is the first thing to look at.

Spinning can be caused by bad water quality, toxins, external and internal parasites, brain damage, swim bladder, ph shock, over dose of meds.
Is the fish bloated.
Can the fish maintain balance in the water.

 

[mtv8dmarine]

I had an angelfish that took awhile to wake up and when it did it swam weirdly for a minute or two. After that everything was ok.

 

[vicstar078]

I think it may be sleeping and then takes a while to wake up!?

My tank is a juwel 190 corner.

I have the expensive testing kit dont know the name and everything is fine with it.

In the tank I have the following:
1 Oscar
Angelfish x 4
clown loach x2
pleco 1
red tail shark 1
3 orange cichlids
1 blue striped cichlid
1 grey striped cichlid
1 juwel cichlid
1 firemouth
2 columbian catfish
2 mollies and 2 baby mollie fry in a small net that were born a few days ago

They all get on fine!

I am getting a new tank soon looking for a 400 juwel or 450 litre juwel.

Thanks

Vicky

 

[WILDER]

Your tanks looks severely overstocked to me.

Without water stats we are guessing.

Is the tank 190 litres.

 

[vicstar078]

They do not seem cramped when it written it looks alot but they all have there own areas and things.

I am looking for a new one.

Yes I think its 190 litres.

Thanks

Vicky

 

[WILDER]

For a 40 gallon tanks it looks overstocked to me.

I can't help you any further till I see your water stats.

 

[Athena]

I think you have some incompatible fish in that tank, to be honest. Not sure about overstocked as I don't know the current sizes of your fish. If they were all adult sized then, yes, overstocked.

Let's look at the compatibility issue. Cichlids are notoriously territorial for a start - and you have so many different varieties of them, all competing in that 190 litre (when you say grey striped cichlid, do you mean a convict?). Some of those fish you have are going to grow quite large, too - so definitely a much larger tank is needed if you intend keeping them all.

The clown loaches will grow to about a foot long, if not more. Plecs will also grow massive, too. The red tail shark, again, has the potential to grow fairly large and they are aggressively territorial, too.

There just isn't enough tank space to provide each of these fish with their territorial needs.

Are they all mostly juveniles at the moment? If so, then more than likely the aggressiveness hasn't started yet, but once they mature into adults they will all be trying to claim "their space".

It doesn't sound as though you've seen any of this behaviour yet, but it's something to watch out for in the future, as they grow. You won't want them being stressed out and getting sick because of it.

As for your query about the angel fish, I think this is quite normal behaviour for most fish. When I come down in the morning and turn on my living room light, all my fish are in that trance-like state of "sleep" for about 5 mins or so before they all wake up and start swimming to the top looking for their breakfast!

Turning on the tank lights after being in a dark room all night can freak them out a bit, too. So, start off with just the room light on for half hour, then you can put tank lights on if necessary. This wakes them up gently (I guess as sunrise does to us). I'm sure we'd all feel startled if we were alseep and somebody walked in and turned our bedroom light on suddenly LOL

Regards, Athena

 

[fluttermoth]

My tiger barbs do a similar thing if I turn the lights on too suddenly; even the room lights if it's very dark; they 'sleep' hanging head down, and they sort of fall through the water, spinning round. I don't think that's anything to worry about, as long as she's acting normally the rest of the time and there are no other signs of health troubles.

Your stocking for the size of your tank is a cause for concern, as the other members have said, and needs sorting out before you do start running into serious problems.

 

[carp]

My tiger barbs do a similar thing if I turn the lights on too suddenly; even the room lights if it's very dark; they 'sleep' hanging head down, and they sort of fall through the water, spinning round. I don't think that's anything to worry about, as long as she's acting normally the rest of the time and there are no other signs of health troubles.

Your stocking for the size of your tank is a cause for concern, as the other members have said, and needs sorting out before you do start running into serious problems.

My tiger barbs do a similar thing if I turn the lights on too suddenly; even the room lights if it's very dark; they 'sleep' hanging head down, and they sort of fall through the water, spinning round. I don't think that's anything to worry about, as long as she's acting normally the rest of the time and there are no other signs of health troubles.

Your stocking for the size of your tank is a cause for concern, as the other members have said, and needs sorting out before you do start running into serious problems.

 

[Athena]

Huh? LOL

Try posting again Carp...

 

[fluttermoth]

I didn't think my post was that quote worthy!

 

[carp]

I have to agree with other members your fish are nice but the mix is not.Size is not the only issue clowns are very active and nobody gets sleep. Angles have a habit of pairing and will ram others which can kill. As far as a pleco a good shop will help you find one that will stay small perhaps a clown pleco.

 

[mtv8dmarine]

I have to agree with other members your fish are nice but the mix is not.Size is not the only issue clowns are very active and nobody gets sleep. Angles have a habit of pairing and will ram others which can kill. As far as a pleco a good shop will help you find one that will stay small perhaps a clown pleco.

Just to add some clarification here...it's not when Angels pair that they become territorial, it's when they breed that they get territorial. But like most fish, they will likely eventually breed if conditions are right.

 

[vicstar078]

Thanks for your advice! I am getting a big tank very soon. I am getting a juwel 450 litre or 400 litre.

I am going to put the tank in half and separate the fish with the oscar being mainly on his own.

Vicky