Fish Behaviour A Bit Irritating.

[moochy13]

in my tank i have 4 red eye tetra, 5 beunos aires tetra and 4 cherry barbs, amongst others. the fish mentioned spend most of their time in the same spot and while im sure they're happy there, it means i dont get to see much of them, which is a bit annoying.

they all seem to stay together, hovering above a piece of moss on wood which is next to the internal juwel filter underneath the exit nozzle. i'll try get a photo to explain, but im guessing the water coming out above them creates some sort of calm pocket or something where they are. or maybe they like having the moss underneath them ? its also next to one of the intakes of the pump, specifically the one the heater is next to.

like i said, i dont mind if theyre happy there. they come out to feed or have a quick mooch round the tank, but i would like to see them swimming about a bit more.

any ideas for this behaviour ?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Is that area any shadier than the rest of the tank?

I've recently moved my Yellowtails and Pearl Danios (nine of each, one Pearl left in 620T recovering from having its tail fin completely removed) back into the Rio240 and their change in behaviour has been huge... The Pearls used to swim at the water surface in the current, while the Yellowtails used all levels of the 620T, whereas now under the bright T5 lighting they are all hugging the tank floor and looking a lot paler i.e. not enjoying the bright light! I will try and move some floating plant across to defuse the light some more (but worried in might "snow drift" rather than staying a single layer across the tank, due to current).

Another factor can be the sand/gravel on the floor. Some fish really appreciate a dark base for security and perhaps the darkness of the moss is attracting them to that spot?

 

[KittyKat]

And tank parameters? Dimensions, volume, the rest of the stock, etc. Are there males and females in all three groups of fish? (For example, the cherry barb males are cherry, while the females are more yellow, normally.)

The above is true.. if the tank allows it, I would personally top up the schools to at least 6 of each species (mixed sex) and make sure the tank is well planted.

 

[Ben M]

you don't have any breeding cichlids by any chance do you? because often when they spawn they will chase al of the other fish into a corner.

cheers

 

[moochy13]

there are shadier parts of the tank, but its not the brightest part either. i have a split of sand in most of the tank with a gravel bit at one end, which is where the mossy bit of wood is.

i dont have a test kit at the moment, im waiting for it to be delivered. however i keep well on top of my water changes, changing probably 100% each week spread over 3 changes (2 to hoover poo, one big main change). the tank is 48x12x15 130ish L, about 25C. real plants, substrate mentioned above. other fish are 6 cories, 2 plecs, 2 syno, 2 GBR and a small angel. only one syno is even close to being full size, all other fish are juvi's, the angel is stunted and not growing. i dont know what sex my fish are, i do know i have 4M/1F cherry barbs though. i cant tell the difference between the others. the GBR's, have been told on this forum i have one female i got last week. yesterday i got another, though unsure of sex.

depsite possibly having a M/F pair of rams, i only put the male in yesterday, and the fish used to gather at the moss before hand, so im pretty sure its not down to the rams.

 

[KittyKat]

Why are you doing such large water changes?

The Synodontis don't fit in and could quite easily be bullying the rest of the fish, even if only when you're not looking. Plants make the type of fish you keep feel more secure, so that would explain why they're hanging around that part of the tank if the rest is not planted.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

If the Synodontis are Upside Down Catfish (nigriventris), as adults they will be very similar in size to most cories, ~6-7cm (which is fine).

 

[moochy13]

the fullsize syno is a featherfin, hes been in with small fish since ive had him though and in the 3 years since i got him ive not seen him go for anything, and the tank in question is in the bedroom, so i do see a lot of him when hes most active with the moonlights on. the other syno is possibly a cuckoo, im not sure.

the water change size os mroe because when im hoovering, by the time ive done a decent job ive removed 25L of the water. i hoover twice a week to keep the rotting fish crap level down, so that 50L just with hoovering, which is almost half the tank. i also currently dont have a test kit, so wanted to be sfe rather than sorry, hence the larger changes. the tank has a few plants in, but im not having much success with them so at the moment im in limbo of sorting it out. heres some pics.

i think i might have a M/F pair of rams, not sure. the one at teh front of the tank below is the new one, the one behind is what ive been told is female.

picture of the grouped fish

in context of that end of the tank

whole tank

funnily enough, the fish weren't grouped when i went up to take the pictures. maybe its because i walked in ? perhaps they dont like me

 

[myrtle]

As has been mentioned before it could be down to the small sizes of the groups you have. The tetra should be in groups of 6+ to feel confident/secure can't say if the same is true for the barbs as I've never kept them.

 

[moochy13]

the tetras all seem to hang about with eachother anyway, but would 1 more fish really make a difference. one of the red eyes committed suicide , i did have 5. was going to get another eysterday, but some of the fish in the tank looked ill, so i stayed away. also just noticed i said 4 cherry barbs in the top post. i meant 5.

also, the synos never venture out during the day, the smaller one not even during the night really. so if they were giving the tetra grief (which i highly doubt from knowing the fish) would they be this concerned even in daylight ?

as you can see the current from teh pump is angled slightly up and at the glass to help ripple the surface. im under the impression ripples on the surface are quite important, if not id probably point the nozzle down.

 

[KittyKat]

Those are definitely one male and one female rams.

The fountain grass plants are probably not aquatic.

If I saw my tetras do that, I would definitely assume that they're scared #105###less of something. Could it be that they're worried by you yourself?

 

[KittyKat]

would 1 more fish really make a difference

Possibly: 5-6 fish is generally where it is considered that fish go from "I am aware of x fish around me" to "there are many fish around me". There has been some research done into it, you could find it if you Googled enough.. I read about it a few years ago.

also, the synos never venture out during the day, the smaller one not even during the night really. so if they were giving the tetra grief (which i highly doubt from knowing the fish) would they be this concerned even in daylight ?

If you knew there was a monster under your bed, would you think that it would magically disappear during the day? No, you'd still know it was there.

im under the impression ripples on the surface are quite important

Yes, that is how oxygen gets into the water.

 

[moochy13]

Those are definitely one male and one female rams.

The fountain grass plants are probably not aquatic.

If I saw my tetras do that, I would definitely assume that they're scared #105###less of something. Could it be that they're worried by you yourself?

thanks for confirming the rams, i know abuot the plants, but over a month on they seem to be alright, im keeping an eye on them though. they could well be scared of me. i'll try and take more notice of where they are as i enter the room from now on, see if its any different.

with the fish numbers, with the stocking ive mentioned could i bring each group to 6 ? thats 2 red eye, 1 BA tetra and 1 cherry barb more.

theres a monster under my bed ?

 

[KittyKat]

Hehe. Yes, you should be able to add 4 more fish. You should even be able to take each group up to 7-8 if you like.

 

[moochy13]

7-8 of each ? really ? im very wary of overstocking as my old tank, before i knew better, was rammed. the angel, big syno, 1 plec, and 2 red eye tetra are all refugess from the smaller tank. if they werent i wouldnt have put the angel in there.

but if i can fit more fish in, good times i just hope it doesnt mean i'll have an even larger group of fish bunched in the corner haha. im looking into getting more plant cover along the back of the tank which might help.