sleeping fish?!

last night i turned off all the lights in my room, and went to sleep. but in the middle of the night, i got up to go to the bathroom, and turned on my room light. all the fish except my betta were on the bottom looking discolored and not moving (the betta was in the same condition on the top) so i panicked and turned on the aquarium light to see better. one by one they got their collor back and started moving. where those little buggers sleeping? o.O
 
Yupper :)

This is normal - Most fish loose their rich colors while sleeping and seem to glid or hover just off the bottom.
 
Sometimes people go into my guest bathroom after the fish have gone to sleep... I ask them to use the ambient wall lamp instead of turning on the light. I think it's confusing for the fish to go dark/bright/dark/bright again. Maybe I worry too much about it though.

The first time I saw my half asleep neons, I thought I was done for. They still take a good ten minutes to wake up, right themselves and color again. Strangely enough, my dwarf gourami seems to be a light sleeper, and doesn't seem to lose color or get disoriented at all.
 
Sometimes people go into my guest bathroom after the fish have gone to sleep... I ask them to use the ambient wall lamp instead of turning on the light. I think it's confusing for the fish to go dark/bright/dark/bright again. Maybe I worry too much about it though.

The first time I saw my half asleep neons, I thought I was done for. They still take a good ten minutes to wake up, right themselves and color again. Strangely enough, my dwarf gourami seems to be a light sleeper, and doesn't seem to lose color or get disoriented at all.


Mine's like that too. He's afraid to miss a feeding, I guess.
My Cardinals take the longest to "color up".
 
Same here. I notice the color changes mostly on the Tetras, though. It's scary to see the fish in dim light on the bottom of the tank. It freaks me out.
 
Mine like their caves and rocks.
 
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