Fish not to have in a bedroom

[The endler guy]

Now don’t get me wrong, an aquarium in a bedroom is great, but there are downsides:

lights

sounds due to filter (could also be a pro if you like white noise)

some fish

 

now this is a strange fish to put on here but panaques (and other wood eating plecos) you may never see them, but I guarantee you will hear them, during the night a unpredictable *crunch crunch crunch* emanates from the tank, constantly making you question if you are going insane.

 

silver hatchetfish, they are very peaceful and nice looking, but startle easily, and due to their silver reflective bodies, prepare to get flash banged at and thud

 

Corydoras- they are peaceful and an awesome fish, and if you have smaller species or are okay with the occasional splashing due to them breathing or eating from the top you should be fine

 

large fish- the larger the fish the bigger the sound when they eat from the top

 

adf- now this may be a pro but during breeding they “buzz”

 

large semi aquatic snails- now everyone loves a good mystery snail, but not when they want to see what your bed feels like

 

any others????

[lefty o]

large... i used to have sturgeon, and even with the tank in the other room, they liked to breach the surface in the middle of the night blowing the lids open on the tank. quite loud and startling the first few times you hear it.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

In my bedroom I have 3 tanks. 1 with CPD’s, 1 with an ADF and Pygmy Cory’s, and my Pea Puffer tank. 
 

1 is no filter, the other 2 run off 1 ACO battery back up air pump, and the Pea Puffers have an additional internal Tetra Whisper filter. 
 

I don’t hear any of it due to the fact that I HAVE to sleep with a fan on. The fan trumps any of the tank noise. 

[Biotope Biologist]

On 3/27/2023 at 6:39 AM, lefty o said:

large... i used to have sturgeon, and even with the tank in the other room, they liked to breach the surface in the middle of the night blowing the lids open on the tank. quite loud and startling the first few times you hear it.

Yeah sturgeon love to breach at dawn! Couldn’t imagine trying to keep them in a tank.

 

Beautiful sight to behold on a boat, terribly annoying i’m sure in a fish tank.

 

I had hissing cockroaches in my room for half a night. Anything nocturnal in your room is just a no go. Although our fish tank is backed against the guest bedroom wall and people who’ve stayed over really enjoy the sound of running water. As it reverberates through the wall and somehow is louder in the guest room

[TheSwissAquarist]

Croaking gouramis. Hell on earth at night! 

[The endler guy]

Honestly my clown pleco made me think I was hearing things! I thought something was eating the wood in my room!

[AquariumCentral]

The snail thing is so right 🤣

[Levi_Aquatics]

My brother had an African dwarf frog in our shared bedroom and it was definitely louder than I expected. Would not recommend😂

[OnlyGenusCaps]

Not a fish or even aquatic, but I knew a guy who thought it would be a good idea to put a tank of coqui frogs in his bedroom.  If you aren't familiar, these frogs can call at 100 decibels, which is like a blender or a motorcycle; in a tank, by your head, when you want to sleep.  Indeed, anything above 90db can begin to cause hearing damage over time.  And these frogs are nocturnal.  So...  It was not his best idea. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/27/2023 at 4:14 AM, The endler guy said:

now this is a strange fish to put on here but panaques (and other wood eating plecos) you may never see them, but I guarantee you will hear them, during the night a unpredictable *crunch crunch crunch* emanates from the tank, constantly making you question if you are going insane.

Definitely have never heard a pleco make a peep.  I have had 5 plecos in a tank, 2 of them clowns, and the filter was the loudest thing.  I also have had tanks so quiet I literally kept looking over to make sure it was actually on.  (sponge filter, ziss air stone, quiet!).  I can also verify a RTBS splashes when she wants to at night.  If they aren't chasing sleeping fish, usually quiet as a mouse.

On 3/27/2023 at 10:29 AM, The endler guy said:

Honestly my clown pleco made me think I was hearing things! I thought something was eating the wood in my room!

That's quite hilarious!  What on earth are you feeding that guy!

Edited March 28, 2023 by nabokovfan87

[Mandy411]

I second the sparkling/croaking gouramis if you're not a sound sleeper, lol

[Odd Duck]

I have 5 tanks in my bedroom and they’re only loud if I’ve skipped a water change or top off and the water level gets low.  One of the HOB filters (the one on the smallest tank 🙄) the lid will rattle very slightly sometimes.  It’s a non-issue unless I’m having an insomnia type night or I’ve had to work an overnight and try to day sleep when every little sound bothers me.  If I would just run a tiny bead of silicone along the edge, put plastic wrap over it, then put the lid back on until it cures and make a little gasket, I’m sure it would be very quiet again.  My hubby likes white noise when he’s sleeping, so he’s thinking we might keep,one tank in the bedroom even if I get around to consolidating small tanks in the fish room.

Right now, everything is overdue for WC or top-off so the whole house is falling water.  😆 

I’ve only ever noticed the cories gulping loud in the living room once in a while if I’m still up late.  I’ve only got tiny Pygmy cories in the bedroom.  The Jack Dempseys occasionally make a big splash during the night.  Maybe once every 4-6 months for the Jacks, at least during the night, about the same rate of random big splashes during the day.

I used to have a very large freshwater eel, no idea what kind (big and dark olive green) but he was about 2 feet long in way too small a tank that I would never do today.  It was more than double what he was in before I got him - he literally was always bent in half when we got him but eventually was able to mostly straighten out in the bigger tank.  That bugger would random splash during the night pretty frequently and he managed to knock the lid aside and jump out of the tank a few times, so I ALWAYS had to get up and check on him after he did a splash.  Never did figure out a way to keep him in the tank reliably (broke the lid once) and he did a final “carpet surf” one day when we were at work.

Edited March 28, 2023 by Odd Duck

[The endler guy]

On 3/27/2023 at 9:00 PM, OnlyGenusCaps said:

Not a fish or even aquatic, but I knew a guy who thought it would be a good idea to put a tank of coqui frogs in his bedroom.  If you aren't familiar, these frogs can call at 100 decibels, which is like a blender or a motorcycle; in a tank, by your head, when you want to sleep.  Indeed, anything above 90db can begin to cause hearing damage over time.  And these frogs are nocturnal.  So...  It was not his best idea. 

Frog’s definitely are a mixed bag, I’m sure those would suck but I think some dart frogs would be nice ambience 

On 3/28/2023 at 12:47 AM, Odd Duck said:

I have 5 tanks in my bedroom and they’re only loud if I’ve skipped a water change or top off and the water level gets low.  One of the HOB filters (the one on the smallest tank 🙄) the lid will rattle very slightly sometimes.  It’s a non-issue unless I’m having an insomnia type night or I’ve had to work an overnight and try to day sleep when every little sound bothers me.  If I would just run a tiny bead of silicone along the edge, put plastic wrap over it, then put the lid back on until it cures and make a little gasket, I’m sure it would be very quiet again.  My hubby likes white noise when he’s sleeping, so he’s thinking we might keep,one tank in the bedroom even if I get around to consolidating small tanks in the fish room.

Right now, everything is overdue for WC or top-off so the whole house is falling water.  😆 

I’ve only ever noticed the cories gulping loud in the living room once in a while if I’m still up late.  I’ve only got tiny Pygmy cories in the bedroom.  The Jack Dempseys occasionally make a big splash during the night.  Maybe once every 4-6 months for the Jacks, at least during the night, about the same rate of random big splashes during the day.

I used to have a very large freshwater eel, no idea what kind (big and dark olive green) but he was about 2 feet long in way too small a tank that I would never do today.  It was more than double what he was in before I got him - he literally was always bent in half when we got him but eventually was able to mostly straighten out in the bigger tank.  That bugger would random splash during the night pretty frequently and he managed to knock the lid aside and jump out of the tank a few times, so I ALWAYS had to get up and check on him after he did a splash.  Never did figure out a way to keep him in the tank reliably (broke the lid once) and he did a final “carpet surf” one day when we were at work.

Probably an American eel

On 3/27/2023 at 9:15 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Definitely have never heard a pleco make a peep.  I have had 5 plecos in a tank, 2 of them clowns, and the filter was the loudest thing.  I also have had tanks so quiet I literally kept looking over to make sure it was actually on.  (sponge filter, ziss air stone, quiet!).  I can also verify a RTBS splashes when she wants to at night.  If they aren't chasing sleeping fish, usually quiet as a mouse.

That's quite hilarious!  What on earth are you feeding that guy!

I occasionally hear a crunching at night, i assume it’s my clown pleco because the time line makes sense, i assume it’s the clown pleco eating wood

That would make sense because Amazonian natives use the sound of panaques to locate them 

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/28/2023 at 3:19 AM, The endler guy said:

I occasionally hear a crunching at night, i assume it’s my clown pleco because the time line makes sense, i assume it’s the clown pleco eating wood

That would make sense because Amazonian natives use the sound of panaques to locate them

Fish was splashing all night! 😂

I get just before falling to sleep, Grace the sharks starts up doing laps in the flow. She's adorable, but terrible timing. Spent the next 2 hours listening and wondering who did it.

[PineSong]

My goldfish makes so much noise grappling with frogbit and duckweed that I can hear it from the next room. He has startled me many times when I thought I was home alone!

[Afishionado]

The first couple of times my group of zebra loaches found an extra snail they’d missed during feeding time, I would freak right out trying to figure out where the cacophony of clicks was coming from. Those clicks were easily the loudest and most noticeable sound I’ve ever had any of my fish make.

[Cinnebuns]

I have 3.5 (half because...well more on that some other time) tanks in my bedroom. Part of the reason is because I have a 1 bedroom apartment and not many options. 2 of my tanks contain something I would like to add to the list. 

Ramshorn snails. I like them. I do. But their poop smells NASTY. Even if I literally just did a massive gravel vac job, some days out of nowhere they all decide to take a massive dump at once. I've had times I walked into my bedroom and wondered why I keep them in that room. 

 

[OnlyGenusCaps]

On 3/28/2023 at 5:19 AM, The endler guy said:

I think some dart frogs would be nice ambience

Can confirm!

[Tanked]

No aquariums in the bedroom. the houseplants won't give up their space.  Hearing my Common Pleco in the next room occasionally going bump in the night or moving some of the rocks when startled, was enough.

[The endler guy]

On 3/30/2023 at 10:08 AM, Tanked said:

No aquariums in the bedroom. the houseplants won't give up their space.  Hearing my Common Pleco in the next room occasionally going bump in the night or moving some of the rocks when startled, was enough.

I think my 3 inch clown pleco is loud just imagine a 2foot wood eating catfish!