Behavior that makes you… wait for it

[Atitagain]

When I first started with aquariums, what ever looked cool in the moment (fish and decor) was bought and placed in my tank(s). Then I tried creating natural environments, not really for specific breeds, again what ever I thought looked cool/ good. Now I try to simulate breeds natural environment. And once again not trying to be real biotope, but just having fun with it what i think works. Now with that in mind and using live plants I believe I see a lot more natural behaviors. I certainly pay more attention to behavior now anyway. It’s one of the elements of aquariums I have grown to enjoy the most. 
Some of my favorites that absolutely make me stop and “wait for it” when we know it’s gonna happen.

My rummynose tetra schooling; weaving, looping, crossing, fast, slow, WOW I always will want more in the school.

what got me thinking of this , I set up a tank for my Oscar with a bunch of bamboo stalks hanging in the water. He navigates through them so effortlessly and precisely it reminded me of when I put some floating plants in his tank. And he would glide around it even into the ball of stems and leaves to meticulously peck off the 30-ish bladder snails that had hitched a ride. Crazy something that can be so fast and powerful to also be able to hunt with such detailed precision.

watching my pea puffers eat, anything!

And a new one for me that is probably the coolest thing behaviorally I’ve ever seen (maybe ever but definitely in my tanks) I’ve recently started keeping rainbow shiners, in my research I read an article about their feeding behaviors in the wild. They like to wait facing upstream behind rocks/ driftwood/ ect… and when food is carried downstream they can glide around their rock to catch it while it’s moving through the current. So my set up has a power head that sends the current down then back the length of the tank. At feeding time when I enter the room especially in the evening they immediately take their positions waiting for the current to bring the food to them.

I will try to catch a short video of these happening. And update on here.

What are some of the behaviors of your fish, invertebrates, or even plants that most impress you?

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

My Harlequins that are 90% of the time facing the same direction in the tank. 

Snails and how they are a LOT faster than people give them credit for. 

Guppies and Endlers and their seemingly NEVER ENDING supply of energy. 

Plants- how they grow and when and what direction. 

Otos having babies in my tanks. 

My Hillstream Loach- how the walls of the tank and decor are scaled and how stealth they are- just generally how odd and how ingenious their physical design is. 

 

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/30/2022 at 10:12 AM, Atitagain said:

what got me thinking of this , I set up a tank for my Oscar with a bunch of bamboo stalks hanging in the water. He navigates through them so effortlessly and precisely it reminded me of when I put some floating plants in his tank. And he would glide around it even into the ball of stems and leaves to meticulously peck off the 30-ish bladder snails that had hitched a ride. Crazy something that can be so fast and powerful to also be able to hunt with such detailed precision.

I would absolutely recommend a tiger barb species only TUB.  I had my 75G with as many as I could stuff in there, I would purposefully have the lids open on the tank and watch them feed like it was a pond.  One of the most hilarious, fun ways to spend the morning.  They just make you smile.  Having a pond style (or tank with a big opening) lets you spread the food out a bit and they go bananas for it.  They LOVE that part of the day and it gave me something to look forward to.

I also was amazed at the personality of my RTBS.  Just such an under appreciated thing when I saw her in the store and brought her home.  Truly a majestic little fish. Every morning I stick my head towards the tank and she pops out and says what's up.  I swear she knows when we call her out, and she most definitely has her moods where she will do specific things at certain times of the day.  I managed to record this last night, video is still being edited, but I'll link it here when youtube decides I can fix the audio volume.

Warning. Turn down your audio. I'm sorry the quality is terrible. YT is being extremely weird.

On 5/30/2022 at 10:24 AM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

Plants- how they grow and when and what direction. 

This x100000000

Edited May 31, 2022 by nabokovfan87

[PineSong]

My favorite right now is watching the male guppies in my pond. What looks like non-stop harassment when viewed through the tank glass looks like playing when they are viewed from above. In the 110 gallon pond they are usually in a group chasing each other and very social in ways that look different from when they are indoors in 20 or 29g.

The pond also has swordtails and white clouds, but the swords are harder to see and the WCMMs stay deep most of the time, so it's really a guppy show.

 

[Odd Duck]

@PineSong That red ramshorn photobombing while surface skimming for you!  😆 😂 🤣 Nice vid!  Nice tub!  Nice guppies!

[Atitagain]

On 5/30/2022 at 1:24 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

Snails and how they are a LOT faster than people give them credit for

So true, it’s fun watching them cruise around and mystery snails dropping/ floating to dive bomb food at the substrate 😃

@nabokovfan87 tiger barbs are on my want to list already. I hadn’t thought of keeping them in a tub, will have to check this out been thinking of setting up another tub this year.👍

On 5/30/2022 at 7:22 PM, PineSong said:

WCMMs stay deep most of the time, so it's really a guppy show.

I hope this is what mine are doing! My WCMMs always stayed at the top of the tank when I had them inside quarantining waiting to go to outside tub. I seen them for about 3 minutes after introducing them and haven’t seen them since. About 2 weeks. My guppies were all babies and I’ve seen them here and there but no WCMMs? 🤷🏻‍♂️
 

 

[PineSong]

On 5/30/2022 at 9:08 PM, Atitagain said:

I hope this is what mine are doing! My WCMMs always stayed at the top of the tank when I had them inside quarantining waiting to go to outside tub. I seen them for about 3 minutes after introducing them and haven’t seen them since. About 2 weeks. My guppies were all babies and I’ve seen them here and there but no WCMMs? 🤷🏻‍♂️
 

 

I have 5 gold WCMMs, but one of them has a big black spot on his head, so they are not all identical from the top view. I usually only see one at a time at the surface— i’m not sure if it’s always the same guy but I’ve only seen the spotted one a couple of times. What I have seen is three in a row chasing each other way below the surface. If they weren’t gold, I’d not be able to see them at all because my water is kind of cloudy and dark. In my tanks they are very much middle level fish— never at the bottom and rarely near the top. Not sure why they stay so low in the tub.

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/30/2022 at 6:08 PM, Atitagain said:

@nabokovfan87 tiger barbs are on my want to list already. I hadn’t thought of keeping them in a tub, will have to check this out been thinking of setting up another tub this year.👍

Well this is my night.  This video. On loop. 😂

and feeding! LOL

This is a super shakey video, but it's a really beautiful pond for them in terms of the hardscape and I can see them darting all over the place.
 

 

[Torrey]

On 5/30/2022 at 2:01 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

but I'll link it here when youtube decides I can fix the audio volume.

OMG, I thought it was just me this weekend! Such a massive frustration. Going to try again tomorrow, and upload another unboxing.

On 5/30/2022 at 8:25 PM, PineSong said:

Not sure why they stay so low in the tub.

Cooler water at the bottom, and they appreciate cooler water. Might see them more with morning coffee if you get out there before the sun tops the horizon.

On 5/30/2022 at 10:44 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Well this is my night.  This video. On loop. 😂

and feeding! LOL

This is a super shakey video, but it's a really beautiful pond for them in terms of the hardscape and I can see them darting all over the place.
 

 

I'm gonna half to come back and watch with sound!

[Brian]

I really do love sitting back just far enough to watch the fish be fish.  Let them interact with each other and not react to me being there.  I have done this since I was a young boy.  

[Tanked]

On 5/31/2022 at 5:41 AM, Brian said:

I really do love sitting back just far enough to watch the fish be fish.  Let them interact with each other and not react to me being there.  I have done this since I was a young boy.  

I have a fishcam for just that reason.  I can watch from any room in the house.  The behavior in all of the tanks changes when I enter the room.  When I'm not in the room, the Bloodfins, Embers, SAEs, and the lone Zebra Danio are crazy active.

On 5/30/2022 at 1:12 PM, Atitagain said:

What are some of the behaviors of your fish, invertebrates, or even plants that most impress you?

My Red Tailed Tinfoil Barbs will forever be my favorites.  They do almost everything as a group, and are big enough to bee seen and identified from a distance. They will strike like gamefish at feeding time, and later scavenge for leftovers, tail up, nose down like a flock of sheep grazing on a hillside. Fresh broccoli or cucumber on a stick will create piranha like behavior.  The barb tank has a fish fence.  The barbs will peck at the algae growing on it and have on one occasion managed to push it down far enough to drag the PSO and Elodia from the other side.

This is new.  Lately at night when the aquariums are the only light source, I have watched them line up single file and swim across the tank. The procession stops at the end and some of them seem to be studying their reflections in the glass.  I believe them to be territorial and it looks like they are looking for a rumble! 

[Guppysnail]

When any of my fish breed. I can tell the before hand behaviors and always end up sitting on a bucket until my toes turn blue. 
One example is mom n dad BN pleco. I know about when she is due each month (today or tomorrow 😁)

The day before it happens dad won’t leave his cave and cleans furiously knowing his queen is coming and the cave MUST pass the white glove test. About 2-3 hours before she is ready she lays on top of his cave with her nose right at the opening. He comes out and touches noses with her which is adorable. She goes in and inspects then comes out and sits back on top.  He always looks flustered and rushes in and furiously cleans more. This is repeated several times.  I can tell which time she will ly because she flares all her fins before going in and goes in before he is all the way out. Dad comes out and sits nervously a half inch from the opening waiting.

THIS IS THE WAIT FOR IT MOMENT FOR ME

After it’s been longer than her usual inspections he pokes his nose in and rushes back out. He flares all his fins and whiskers and almost wiggles in place with excitement.
 

Then he backs in tail first 🤣 with his face just outside the opening and flares every bristle he has cheeks and all while scrunching his nose up  “I AM MEAN…YOU SHALL NOT PASS..I WILL PROTECT HER”. It’s so darn cute. He tries to turn a few times to see what she is doing. He is visibly excited.

every single month he ends up with a few eggs laid on his tail.  🥰

[Sal]

snails doing..... literally anything, hahaha.

And for some reason I like seeing how quick my plecos can find the food I put in for them...  I try to drop food/wafers in spots that will be hard to find, and still they find them in seconds every time!  

[PineSong]

On 5/31/2022 at 5:11 AM, Torrey said:

Cooler water at the bottom, and they appreciate cooler water. Might see them more with morning coffee if you get out there before the sun tops the horizon.

You called it. I saw all 5 of them this AM when I fed them at 6:30 AM. Water temp was 85 in the heat of the day yesterday (floating thermometer near the top). 

@Guppysnail, if ever there was a photo of a bristlenose that made me want one, yours of him poking his nose out with all his bristles bristled is the one! Dr. Seuss could not have designed a better fish!

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

On 5/31/2022 at 11:34 AM, PineSong said:

top). 

@Guppysnail, if ever there was a photo of a bristlenose that made me want one, yours of him poking his nose out with all his bristles bristled is the one! Dr. Seuss could not have designed a better fish!

AGREED. Totally looks like a Muppet to me- in the very best of ways. 

[Guppysnail]

On 5/31/2022 at 2:34 PM, PineSong said:

You called it. I saw all 5 of them this AM when I fed them at 6:30 AM. Water temp was 85 in the heat of the day yesterday (floating thermometer near the top). 

@Guppysnail, if ever there was a photo of a bristlenose that made me want one, yours of him poking his nose out with all his bristles bristled is the one! Dr. Seuss could not have designed a better fish!

He does often remind me of The Lorax 🤣

[Atitagain]

On 5/31/2022 at 5:11 AM, Torrey said:

Cooler water at the bottom, and they appreciate cooler water. Might see them more with morning coffee if you get out there before the sun tops the horizon

This makes a lot of sense, thank you. I will be waiting in the AM 👀

[Brian]

On 5/31/2022 at 11:11 AM, Tanked said:

Red Tailed Tinfoil Barbs will forever be my favorites.

I was wondering how big they are?   I had a small group of 5 in my 125 for the longest time.  When I re-homed them they didn’t fit in a 10 inch net.  My wife calls a lot of my fish boring…. But never them.    

[Atitagain]

@Guppysnail what an amazing description! I can almost see blue toes. 🤣😂🤣

[Torrey]

I can add something:

So, spouse's T4' tank is a pseudo natural tank. Way overplanted, way overpopulated after a year of endlers (even with what I took to my LFS and donated to our NMAS auction)... sand on the left that evolves into gravel, that evolves into (giant to the tanks) river rocks on top of the UGF.

The endler girls have been setting up house in the little caves created by the river rocks. Once I get a fry catcher built, it will be very easy to collect fry in the tank, as the fry already take multiple trips through the UGF, but I digress.

Whale has always been our favorite, but for weeks she's been very reclusive. Today I got video which was completely worth waiting for. ... and then she kept following me... and spouse called me back because it was like Whale was waiting for me to come back. Whale was having a conversation with spouse and myself.

Apparently, some of the females I had moved to the T4' for their genetics, and the two males with the gorgeous, single bottom endler "sword" (looks more like a rapier), had told the T4' about the Walstad tank they had come out of, and Whale wanted to check out the Walstad.

Sounds crazy, I know.... so I decided to test our communication skills.

"Whale, do you want out of this tank? The only other place I can put you is the Walstad tank."

Whale followed me.

So, I got the specimen container, which Whale has never come near. She lets her babies go for great adventures (Patient Spouse™ makes up stories about the specimen container and fish adventures all the time), but Whale has always retired to her cave when I open the lid and start doing work in the tank.

This time she followed me. I put the specimen container in the tank.... and she was the first one in, followed by a swarm of babies and 4 of her daughters with their momma's big, beautiful eyes.... and a half dozen boys.

So, the specimen container went to my room and hung out on the side of the Walstad.

"Whale, do you understand how much smaller this tank is? Are you sure you want in it? Do you want to go back to your tank?"

I put my hands in the Walstad, and got them wet. Put my left hand in the specimen container, and Whale swam into my cupped fingers, and plunkered down in my hand. I had just tested parameters, and everything was closer than government work, so I opened my fingers to give Whale a chance to swim away.

She stayed in my fingers.

Her daughters came and joined her.

The Walstad is a different line than the T4'.... so I picked up my cupped hand slowly and 5 fish refused to get out. Put my hand in the Walstad, and 5 fish hung out in my hand and did the equivalent of a "fish sniff"

A quorum commenced, and I kept my hand cupped.

One fish swam out, did a lap, and returned to my hand. A second quorum commenced, and I really wanted my hand back. I said anyone who wanted back to the T4', stay in my hand.

Five fish swam out.

Whale chased a couple of scuds, then swam to the back and hid under a breeder box full of virgin females.

An hour later, there are now a dozen big-eyed fry in the Walstad.

We shall see what the tails look like, lol. I literally just finished culling all but 3 males with the double tail phenotype😆 But I *love* being able to listen to my animals and give them what they need.

Totally worth all the work, all the sorting, all the training to swim into the net so I don't have to dismantle the tank....

And now I am fairly confident my fish know when it is time for them to go to a new tank. This is the behavior I am committed to waiting for....

[Guppysnail]

@Torrey this is such a wonderful experience.  its fantastic when we are in tune enough with our critters to know they are communicating their needs to us. 
ORD 😍😍😍😍😍

[Atitagain]

On 6/1/2022 at 3:27 AM, Torrey said:

And now I am fairly confident my fish know when it is time for them to go to a new tank. This is the behavior I am committed to waiting for....

This is so incredible, and to me it’s proof of how much these little animals know what’s going on. I suppose it’s natural instinct because this behavior leads to food or comfort. But trained natural behavior? What I mean is 1) is this a trained behavior from something else/ similar/ same that has been done a few times in their lives? 2) a comfort level of “training “ knowing you are helping in some way and they trust that? 3) straight natural behavior that translates into home aquariums and we don’t know/ see the connection?

brings up an interesting thought?

What have you absolutely trained (non natural behavior) your fish/ invertebrates to do?

[Tanked]

On 5/31/2022 at 6:09 PM, Brian said:

I was wondering how big they are?   I had a small group of 5 in my 125 for the longest time.  When I re-homed them they didn’t fit in a 10 inch net.  My wife calls a lot of my fish boring…. But never them.    

They are long lived.  I think mine belong to the smaller species Barbonymus altus and have never gotten larger than 8"  The present group of four average about 5" for now. 

There are indications that one is growing faster to become head fish, replacing Three of Nine who passed last fall at 7" and 10 years.

[sairving]

After looking at everyone's videos, I want to charge up my go pro, plop it in my betta's tank and see what happens. A time lapse could be fun.