Fish

[toebash17]

well as you can tell i am a newbee with this stuff. and im learning as im going. but this is a fun hobby. but my qustion is that when i go in the fish store the fish move slowly. but the fish in my tank seem to be swimming really fast. my tank tempature is about 78 degrees. my family really doesnt go by it much since its in my room. or is this all in my head and the fish just swim faster becuase they went from a 10 gallon tank (fish store) to a 55 gallon tank (my tank)? thanks for the help andy

 

[fishing4exotics]

Did you use a water conditioner when you filled your tank up? I notice fish are irritated and try to swim out of their tank when a water conditioner is not used.

If all is well with your water the fish just need to settle down. The stress from being netted out, going into a new tank, and other stresses are causing the fish to panic.

 

[toebash17]

yes i did us water conditioner when i was filling my tank. but the fish have been in the tank for like 3 and half weeks now. and it still seems like they are stressed out and panicing

 

[Kairi]

maybe they just like the extra room? are you sure there's not too much ammonia? i had a fish go *nuts* when the ammonia levels where high.

 

[toebash17]

all my levels are ok . i have been testing daily. even my friend that loves this hobby can not figuare out why they are acting like this

 

[@ombomb]

What sort of fish are they?

What else is in the tank?

What are the water stats?

 

[toebash17]

right now i have 4 tetras and 2 tiger barbs. i have a 55 gallon tank. i want to add more fish soon. my tank is definataly cycled. all my levels are ok. for decreations i have a hug stump in there but it artifical. and five non living plants in there spread out. sorry for the spelling.

 

[rdd1952]

Keep in mind that a tank is only cycled for the amount of fish that are in it. That means that when you add more fish, you will get a mini cycle until the bacteria colony catches up. It can last from a day or 2 to a week or 2 depending on how much you increse the stocking level. Since you have 6 fish now, if you added 6 more fish, you would have increased the stock by 100% so you could expect a fairly decent mini cycle. Later on, when you have say 30 fish, adding 6 would only be increasing the stock by 20% so the mini cycle would be small to non-existent. I would suggest going slowly, only adding 3 or 4 at a time until you get a larger stock.

The fish you have aren't what I would call extremely active fish (not like danios) so it is odd that they are swimming that fast. Their behavior shouldn't be much different than in the tanks at the LFS unless those tanks were extremely crowded to the point they couldn't swim. Usually swimming quickly (more like quick darts) from one end to the other and hiding are signs of stress. If your ammonia and nitrite aren't both at 0 then that could be the problem. Other than that, I can't imagine why they would be behaving that way.

 

[Durbkat]

What kind of tetra? I noticed when I added the fish from my long 20 gallon tank to my 55 gallon tank that they are alot more active and look so much happier. So it seems normal and the fish seem happy.

 

[atmmachine816]

What kind of tetra? I noticed when I added the fish from my long 20 gallon tank to my 55 gallon tank that they are alot more active and look so much happier. So it seems normal and the fish seem happy.

if u ever add any more fish only add 1 to 2 a week so the everything in the tank and the bacteria gets used to it and make sure u know everything u need to know bout them before u buy thme
wat they eat
how big they get
lighting
temp
etc.

 

[toebash17]

ok a little change of subject now. but thanks for all of the help. i do have a 55 gallon tank. and i want to keep smaller fish in there nothing that goes over 3 inches so how many fish can i put in my tank

andy

 

[@ombomb]

Tetra (most of them) and Tiger Barbs should be kept in larger groups (6+), I wouild have thought that is what could be stressing them.