View Full Version : Behavior of DAY fish at night...
JamisonBWolsh
12-23-2002, 4:00 PM
After getting the Miracle Beam nightlight for my fish, I have started to watch their Night behavior. The Nocturnal fish comes out and swims around. Thats good.
Now, I thought at night, the Day fish would sort of "freeze", stop swimming and the tank would be very quiet. However, in the night I noticed a difference. ALL the fish were swimming as if it were daylight and some of them are even SWIMMING MORE! Is this Natural for them or did I add too much light to the tank? I am only using 2 LEDS (night lights).
I have had this tank for a year and never paid attention to it once I turned out the lights (went to bed). When I was growing up and living with my parents, I never really shown much interest in the tank at night (I did the typical high schooler stuff).
Were you watching right after lights out? My fish take a while to settle down...
JamisonBWolsh
12-23-2002, 4:05 PM
Well...I did watch them when I turned the lights out and they were active. When I woke up the next morning, they were still active..
Some of them like the Dist. affinis (tetra relatives) are even MORE active during the night.
Tyler718
12-23-2002, 4:09 PM
My tanks take a while to settle down after the lights out. I have a mag-light with a red lens that I use. They don't even notice it.
I'm not familiar with the Miracle beam night lights. What kind of light do they put off?
When I turn my lights off, it takes a while for my fish to settle down. When I turn my lights back on, its a different story. It all depends on how long the lights were off. If they were off for a shorter period of time, the fish will seem groggy and take 5-10 minutes to wake up. On the other hand, if the lights were on for a longer period of time, the fish will be awake and lively before the lights are on...
JamisonBWolsh
12-23-2002, 4:11 PM
http://www.miraclebeam.com/hilite.asp
It cant be too many lights because pinballQueens mom has more than 2 LED's and her fish are fine with it.
I keep the Lighs Off from 9pm-5:30am
so its:
8.5 hours OFF
15.5 hours ON
pinballqueen
12-23-2002, 4:12 PM
A few of the fish that you would think of as mainly diurnal fish are really much more active at night. Here's a neat little experiment: turn off ALL the lights in the room and in the tank, and shine a flashlight into the tank. If your fish's eyes glow, you've got a fish suited to nocturnal activity. If they don't, they're a daytime swimmer.
I don't think most fish actually just freeze in place at night. Most fish take a while to settle into a comfortable spot in the tank (usually in some kind of cover), or else just swim about sluggishly, kind of "sleepswimming".
I'm never home (and awake) during daylight hours in my home, so my fish get their "sunlight" at odd hours anyhow. Your experience may vary. I have always had mainly night-fish in my tanks because I'm always home in the late night...
EDIT: Jamison, I'm sure a mod would be happy to delete the mistake thread for you...
Pootspete
12-23-2002, 4:43 PM
My tanks too take a while to settle down right after I shut the light. The most active "night fish" in my tank that takes on a whole different personality is my glass cat fish. He is a swimming maniac when the lights are out.
roper930
12-23-2002, 4:51 PM
All I've noticed when I turn my tank lights Back On in the morning, is that my parrots will be floating vertically in a plant, practically upside down and pretty much stay that way for about 5 minutes til they wake up! They're funny to watch. Very nerve racking when you first come across these guys nose down. Ya think they're dead, but that's just how they sleep for some reason.
My barbs go completely white at nite....all their black bars disappear....After a while, their color comes back and all is normalsville again! ;)
Beth
pinballqueen
12-23-2002, 5:01 PM
I had a fish that would go nose-down into a plant to sleep a long time ago...while he was sleeping one night, a very EVIL chinese suckerfish got on his back and sucked a sore there...he died shortly thereafter....
Such is life....
Most of my fish get behind plants or just kind of "hang" there in one relative spot to sleep. I've noticed that they don't sleep for very long, just a little while at a time instead of the whole time the lights are off...
JamisonBWolsh
12-23-2002, 5:41 PM
So then I am safe to assume a fishes "Sleeping" pattern is not like ours, where they "zonk" out when the lights are off and "wake up" when the lights are back on? Do they sleep in small shifts? Some of you say your fish lay in a plant vertically...do they stay like this all 8 hours or just for a few minutes? Or do they just constantly swim around.
Pinball: do you think having 1 Blue and 1 green LED is too much nightlight for the tinfoils and the others? Ive read people used them fine...But I want whats best for the fish.
I like it when they dont go crazy when the lights turn on. BUT I would rather have that then them getting NO sleep...
Yea.. I know...most fish doesnt have any eyelids to sleep...thats why I am curious about the nightlight...
pinballqueen
12-23-2002, 5:50 PM
It is seldom truly pitch-black outside in the wild, so having a little bit of light is actually closer to nature than complete darkness. I don't think two little led's will completely screw up their sleep pattern or anything.
I think I read somewhere that fish *might* lose some of their sight ability while they're sleeping (and they do only sleep for short periods, just an hour or two at a time). I'm not sure how much truth there is to the idea that a fish is blind while it's sleeping, but credit where it's due: human eyes lose much of their ability to see when we sleep....I've seen people sleep with their eyes open before, and waving your hand in front of them, they can't see a thing.... I am pretty sure that the only thing we can discern during sleep is sharp differences in light/dark, say, from turning on a bright lamp in a completely dark room. The same may hold true for fish; I dunno....
If you sleep with a lamp on, and someone turns on the light, you're less likely to get startled from your sleep than if it is a big change, and I would assume that your fish have a similar experience. There is some light present, therefore a little more isn't so much of a shock....
It's a zen thing, I think...
JamisonBWolsh
12-23-2002, 6:00 PM
I had it that way for 1 year where it is PITCH black everynight. I am changing their routine now having nightlights. Can they adjust to this new routine even if all their lives (for the most part) spent the nights in Pitch black?
Ps. I really do enjoy reading all your answers. Even if someone disagrees with you on some stuff (sometimes me oops.. :) ) You stay cool about it and have an intelligent comeback. I think your going to be a GREAT mom. Do you know if your going to have a boy or girl? I can also assume you will be assisting us ALOT more for the next few months before the baby is due.
Hey.. if you have a boy..you can name him Peter..short for Gnathonemus petersi= elephant nose :)
pinballqueen
12-23-2002, 6:13 PM
They should be fine with the transition. They did okay this morning, didn't they?
Awww, shucks! I didn't know you cared!....
We're about 70/30 that it's a boy, most likely to be named Jackie Ryan or Jackie Thomas....if it's a girl, probably Theadocia Lorene (don't ask about the names, it's a long story...) we've been through battles over names and such....
Yeah, I've been forcibly kept away from the boards for a while (boss got on a "no computer at work" kick), but I'm pretty much back for the winter....
I've been blessed (?) with this brain that soaks up 500 times its weight in utterly useless trivia...it's the important stuff I forget...guess I need to "squeeze out my sponges"....
Then again, I am also an artist, specializing in vast canvases of bullshlt.....
Take me as I come, I guess....