Jump to content
Watch our video on the rules of this forum.

Green Neon Rasbora Behavior

Miranda Marie

By Miranda Marie,
in General Discussion

 Share

Recommended Posts

Miranda Marie Collaborator

Miranda Marie

Posted
Posted (edited)

Hello! I have a question about a behavior displayed by my green neon rasboras. I've had them for...threeish months now, and they're in a 20 gallon long planted aquarium with 6 clown killifish, a couple nerite snails, and blue neocardina shrimp. The tank is 3 years old and very stable. All perimeters normal: 0ppms ammonia, 0 ppms nitrites, 25ppms nitrates with dosing easy green [keeping it this high for the plants is a real struggle and they still regularly show signs of nitrogen deficiency but that's another issue altogether]. pH is 6.5.

During the day, they behave completely normal like any other fish I have had. They school together really well, actually, and swirl together through the HOB filters flow quite often (the other side of the tank has low flow for the killifish). They seem very content.

But within an hour of me feeding them, they all start swimming tilted 90 degrees with their heads facing down towards the bottom of the tank and do that for literally the rest of the night. The entire school does this, and I know it's not swim bladder issues because occasionally a couple of them will just quit it entirely to chase each other around the tank completely normally, and then both go back to it a few minutes later. By the next morning, they all go back to behaving completely normal and never do it again until after the next feeding time.

I'll include a link to a video clip to show the behavior.

I've never had a fish do this before and I can't tell if this is normal behavior for them or if it's a sign of something else? I feed the tank with two squirts of Easy Fry And Small Fish Food, which they eat within 3 minutes. Am I not feeding them enough? Feeding too much? Or is this just something they do?

Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C68YRvs60n-qi32xVkx3ppgpNDkRxj5w/view?usp=drivesdk

Edited by Miranda Marie
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Miranda Marie Collaborator

Miranda Marie

Posted
  • Author
Posted
On 8/15/2022 at 7:12 PM, _Eric_ said:

I don’t have an answer for you but I’ve got these fish and have never had them do that before.  Maybe you got the easy fish shrooms instead? 

XD At this point, I've started to wonder. 

On 8/15/2022 at 7:15 PM, Pepere said:

Maybe they are looking to see if there are any dropped crumbs..

I thought maybe they were still hungry and are hunting for more food. 🧐 I know they pick everything clean of crumbs, but not before the usual 3-5 minutes are up, and even when I tried feeding them extra they still do it LOL. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Miranda Marie Collaborator

Miranda Marie

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Update: I tried feeding them crushed up flakes last night and the behavior was significantly lessened, though not removed completely. They still swam head down, but not nearly so aggressively as usual. I'm going to repeat with the flakes tonight to see if it was a fluke or not, and then probably try the easy fry food again the day after to see if they do it more aggressively again, if tonight is still more mild. 🧐

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Miranda Marie Collaborator

Miranda Marie

Posted
  • Author
Posted
On 8/15/2022 at 7:25 PM, _Eric_ said:

Let me know - maybe they are just funny fish

 

On 8/15/2022 at 11:20 PM, Odd Duck said:

Mine don’t do that.  They will sometimes go to the bottom after feeding and pick around a little, but don’t swim around head down like that.  Mostly they stay mid to upper level.

Update 2.0: I fed crushed flakes two nights in a row, and both times the behavior was significantly lessened. They did it a little, but not nearly as aggressively nor for as long/as consistently. So I'm not sure what to think now. I've used the easy fry food for other fish and never had any problems (the same bottle as now) and it seems like other people who have had these fish haven't had them act high on it LOL. Any ideas? Maybe I got a weird bottle. Or they just still feel ravenous after eating it? I'm now even more confused. 😅

Link to comment
Share on other sites
_Eric_ Collaborator

_Eric_

Posted
Posted
On 8/17/2022 at 11:28 AM, Miranda Marie said:

 

Update 2.0: I fed crushed flakes two nights in a row, and both times the behavior was significantly lessened. They did it a little, but not nearly as aggressively nor for as long/as consistently. So I'm not sure what to think now. I've used the easy fry food for other fish and never had any problems (the same bottle as now) and it seems like other people who have had these fish haven't had them act high on it LOL. Any ideas? Maybe I got a weird bottle. Or they just still feel ravenous after eating it? I'm now even more confused. 😅

I have no idea what is going on.  Hopefully they continue to normalize on the flake.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Miranda Marie Collaborator

Miranda Marie

Posted
  • Author
Posted
On 8/17/2022 at 2:17 PM, Patrick_G said:

@Miranda Marie, I’m glad you posted this. My Cherry barbs do more or less the same thing. One minute they’re acting normal and the next minute they’re all pointing downwards. It’s weird. 

Good to know it's not just me! Do you notice it happening after they eat usually too? It's such odd behavior that I'd never seen before! 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Patrick_G Grand Master

Patrick_G

Posted
Posted
On 8/17/2022 at 2:44 PM, Miranda Marie said:

Good to know it's not just me! Do you notice it happening after they eat usually too? It's such odd behavior that I'd never seen before! 

I’m going to test it later today when I feed them.  It sure is odd to look at the tank and see a dozen fish all tilted at  45 degree angle. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Miranda Marie Collaborator

Miranda Marie

Posted
  • Author
Posted
On 8/17/2022 at 3:49 PM, Patrick_G said:

I’m going to test it later today when I feed them.  It sure is odd to look at the tank and see a dozen fish all tilted at  45 degree angle. 

It really is! It's definitely not something I expected to see the first few times. XD It reminds me of vultures for some reason, since it looks like they're aggressively hunting for food.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...