Uber Noob Question

[flying_scotsman]

Hello all, I have had an aquarium for a week and I'm afraid I am guilty of new tank symdrome. I have learnt about cycling a tank from this site and have since bought myself a test kit and am testing my tanks levels every day. I bought 4 black widows and 1 has died so far, my ammonia levels are still high. My question is " when do fish sleep ? " My fish don't seem to swim about much when I have the aquaruim light on but once I switch it off they swim about all the time is this normal?

 

[phlawed]

Hello all, I have had an aquarium for a week and I'm afraid I am guilty of new tank symdrome. I have learnt about cycling a tank from this site and have since bought myself a test kit and am testing my tanks levels every day. I bought 4 black widows and 1 has died so far, my ammonia levels are still high. My question is " when do fish sleep ? " My fish don't seem to swim about much when I have the aquaruim light on but once I switch it off they swim about all the time is this normal?

some fish prefer shade and lots of cover. If they dont have any they are usually not too active. Worse case, they become over active in too much light and bang their nose on the tank sides killing themselves. Just do some research on them to find out what conditions they like. I am not a black widow expert on any level so I cant give you any advice concerning them. I am sure some other people that have them can tell you more. Hope this helps some if any. Good luck with your new tank. Lots of usefull info here and great people here to.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Glad to see that you found this forum, if not a bit late.

You did not tell us the tank size, by the way.

Activity is also governed by the fact that these are shoaling fish and are scared when in small numbers. Depending on if your tank can support more of them, you should buy more when your tank is cycled.

As for sleeping, fish fall into a "trance-like" state when the lights go out. This is pretty much just a lowered degree of consciousness, but the fish still remain upright and stay in the same stratum due to gass content in the swim bladder. The increased activity is probably due to lowered anxiety due to lower light, since their natural biotope is shaded with random foliage, in and out of the water. Solutions might be lower wattage and increased plants/decorations. Depending on the type of tank you have, you might even be able to set up floating plants. ^^

By the way, what type of lighting do you have in your tank? Wattage and type of light (fluorescent/ incandescent)?

 

[wendywc]

Use ammo-chips in with your filter. A friend of mine "jump-started" her tank right away too. When I found out about it and I tested it, her ammonia levels were really high too. With ammo-chips, she didn't lose a single fish. The ammo-chips didn't zero out the ammonia, but it did lessen it considerably.