Weird Rosy Red behavior?

[ErrorS]

Just curious if anyone has seen this before.. for some reason these fish swim almost sideways at night.. ? They're perfectly healthy feeders, when the lights go on they perk up and act fine..

normally I thought "they're just resting" and didn't think anything of it.. but tonight I threw some food in for my nocturnal fish, I positioned a light in the other room to make my aquarium bright enough I could see what was going on. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, these fish were eating, looking for food, darting all over the tank swimming while still looking like they were asleep. Every single one of them was rotated in the same exact direction at nearly the same angle (a very odd sight considering there are two dozen of them). They were a bit clumsier than normal but they were still feeding just as strongly as they would with the lights on.

I wonder if lights help these fish balance in some way? Or are they eating just as healthily while in mental shut-down mode?

 

[McAnix]

Quite a few fish use light to display their breeding behaviour, perhaps they are finding the right angle of light to display their colours correctly. Are there lights on outside of the aquarium when the tank goes dark?

All my Black Phantom tetra's as well as my Red Serpae's turn in the direction of the light and it makes them look drunk lol

 

[ErrorS]

You know, I think you're right.. they are all angled towards the front of the aquarium (I have it closed off at the sides and back), the only area light comes in from at night.