Making fish less scared?

[MrDankYT]

I just bought some fish, 12 Five banded barbs and 5 Ornate tetras, they are beautiful but the Five banded barbs are kinda scared and stick to the corner of the tank, while the tetras swim more freely around. How can i make them less scared??

 

[Colin_T]

Can you post a picture of the tank so we can look for things that might help with this issue?

Check the water quality, if it isn't prefect the fish will be nervous and skittish.

Make sure you have a picture on the back and sides if you like.

Have lots of plants especially floating plants if the tank is very bright. If the tank is very bright, turn the room light on and turn the tank light off. The darker tank will make the fish feel more comfortable.

Give the fish a few days to calm down and recover from being caught, bagged up and moved into a new tank with different water.

 

[AbbeysDad]

Patience and cover. Imagine the stress of capture and transfer to a "new home" (You might be huddled in a corner too!). With sufficient cover and time, most shy fish settle in and become less timid.
(Looks like Colin and I responded at the same time)

 

[MrDankYT]

yeah i know i have to be patient but the other fish i just got in are doing perfectly fine, and the aquarium has automatic water changes so i don't think it's that either.

 

[Essjay]

Do you have any floating plants? Both Colin and AbbeysDad mentioned cover.

I have a few species of fish in my tank. All but one species swam all over the tank when I first got them. The exception was the Espe's rasboras (Trigonostigma espei) which just huddled in the back corner - and there were 18 of them, so it wasn't due to insufficient numbers. Then I read on here about floating plants so I got some water sprite which I floated on the water surface. There wasn't much water sprite at first, but the rasboras did start to swim about more - but only to the edge of the water sprite. As the water sprite multiplied, the rasboras came further and further out of the back corner, and once the plants covered just about the whole surface the rasboras swam all over the tank.

I know your fish are a different species but floating plants certainly worked for my fish.

 

[MrDankYT]

https://ibb.co/vPsD6FH
https://ibb.co/MfSCqnn
https://ibb.co/8BXqRKg
https://ibb.co/fng49SY
https://ibb.co/HNZ2sdq

 

[MrDankYT]

i bought some pistia seeds im waiting for them to come in the mail haven't tried them before and they were cheap so thought i'd try them out

 

[Essjay]

You need a lot more plants including floating plants.

http://seriouslyfish.com/species/desmopuntius-pentazona/
You will see in that link that five band barbs
"Will thrive in a heavily-planted or forest stream-type set-up, the latter comprising a soft substrate, dim lighting, roots, branches and leaf litter.
You could also add aquatic plants that can survive under such conditions such as Microsorum, Taxiphyllum, or Cryptocoryne spp."
(My red highlighting)

Forest streams also have a lot of overhanging vegetation which makes the water quite dim. Fish from such regions are not happy with bright light and need floating plants to cut down the amount of light reaching the fish.

 

[Colin_T]

More plants and a picture on the back of the tank so they feel more secure. And stay well back from the tank for a few days to let them settle in.

 

[MrDankYT]

OK 5 of them decided to man up and they joined the tetras, hanging out by the grass, im also planning on adding practically a wall of those leaves on the back of the aquarium, the big leaved plant on the left of the tank. They look beautiful now, exactly the effect i wanted them to have, swimming around a lot.

 

[MrDankYT]

They're all doing fine now