Sudden Weird Dwarf Acara Behavior

[Souperman]

Hello Everyone,

I am making this post in the hope that someone has some input on some weird behavior my dwarf acara has recently started showing. For about the past two weeks, my dwarf acara has gone from being outgoing to hiding behind the sponge filter 95% of the time. The rest of the time it is hiding somewhere else that I have not been able to find yet. The fish does seem to show some activity when the tank is dark but always hides when the lights come on. I have had the fish for about seven months now, and before recently it acted normal. The fish looks fine, except that it is not colored up like it used to be. Any input is appreciated. The tank is a lightly planted 20-gallon with serpae tetras and a small bristlenose. The tank currently looks bad as I am fighting an algae outbreak, but water parameters are fine from what I can tell. Thanks in advance.

[FrozenFins]

Sounds like a stressed fish.

What are your water parameters? Amonia and Nitries in particular?

Any new additions to this tank? New fish?

[Flumpweesel]

Has anything been changed either in the tank,  new fish, filters or lights? Or in the room tv or lights casting shadows?

[Souperman]

On 7/22/2023 at 6:03 PM, FrozenFins said:

Sounds like a stressed fish.

What are your water parameters? Amonia and Nitries in particular?

Any new additions to this tank? New fish?

Just checked my parameters and nitrates are higher than they should be at 80ppm. Currently working on a water change to bring that down. Other than that all parameters were normal. No new additions to the tank for over six months.

On 7/22/2023 at 6:11 PM, Flumpweesel said:

Has anything been changed either in the tank,  new fish, filters or lights? Or in the room tv or lights casting shadows?

Nothing of note. I did recently move back into the room with the tank, but the fish had the behavioral change before that happened. The room is really not a high-stress environment with it being unoccupied for the majority of the day at the moment.

[FrozenFins]

On 7/22/2023 at 9:33 PM, Souperman said:

Just checked my parameters and nitrates are higher than they should be at 80ppm. Currently working on a water change to bring that down. Other than that all parameters were normal. No new additions to the tank for over six months.

Nothing of note. I did recently move back into the room with the tank, but the fish had the behavioral change before that happened. The room is really not a high-stress environment with it being unoccupied for the majority of the day at the moment.

a good 25% waterchange should work to lower the nitrates. Dose some seachem prime if you have it too. It makes amonia nontoxic, adds an extra layer of slime coat, and helps with general fish stressness. Keep lights off for a couple days as well, high lighting can add to the stress levels of a fish. 

I forgot to ask... is the acara eating? Are the fins clamped?  If he is eating and fins are normal thats a great sign, means hes not too stressed.

Your tank inhabitants all seem quite docile... but have you seen any fish bully the acara? That can certainly add to stress levels. 

Also a bit of a side note... 80ppm nitrates is super high and is most likely the reason to your algae outbreak. Reduce your fertilizer dosing significantly. Nitrates should be 10-20ppm. Anything higher then 30 will probably cause a bit of algae. 

Edited July 23, 2023 by FrozenFins

[Souperman]

On 7/22/2023 at 11:04 PM, FrozenFins said:

a good 25% waterchange should work to lower the nitrates. Dose some seachem prime if you have it too. It makes amonia nontoxic, adds an extra layer of slime coat, and helps with general fish stressness. Keep lights off for a couple days as well, high lighting can add to the stress levels of a fish. 

I forgot to ask... is the acara eating? Are the fins clamped?  If he is eating and fins are normal thats a great sign, means hes not too stressed.

Your tank inhabitants all seem quite docile... but have you seen any fish bully the acara? That can certainly add to stress levels. 

Also a bit of a side note... 80ppm nitrates is super high and is most likely the reason to your algae outbreak. Reduce your fertilizer dosing significantly. Nitrates should be 10-20ppm. Anything higher then 30 will probably cause a bit of algae. 

Thanks for the tips. I don't have any prime but can pick some up if that may help. Funny enough, the lights have been off for about a week and just came back on to try to help with algae. This behavior started before that happened though. I don't know if the acara is eating. I have not seen him eat since before he started hiding, but I know he does eat what I offer to the tank and he could very well be eating while I am not watching. His overall body condition and shape seem normal which leads me to believe he is eating something. His fins seem normal from what I can tell and I have not seen any bullying either towards him or the other fish in the tank by any of the inhabitants. He may be a little more active today after the water change last night, but overall his behavior is the same.

Edited July 23, 2023 by Souperman

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/22/2023 at 3:43 PM, Souperman said:

I am making this post in the hope that someone has some input on some weird behavior my dwarf acara has recently started showing. For about the past two weeks, my dwarf acara has gone from being outgoing to hiding behind the sponge filter 95% of the time. The rest of the time it is hiding somewhere else that I have not been able to find yet.

What else is in the tank in terms of fish?  Can you show a photo of the setup for clarity?  Is it possible the fish spawned or was attacked?

On 7/23/2023 at 3:45 PM, Souperman said:

I don't know if the acara is eating. I have not seen him eat since before he started hiding, but I know he does eat what I offer to the tank and he could very well be eating while I am not watching. His overall body condition and shape seem normal which leads me to believe he is eating something.

Just be sure to target feed him as a start.  You would want to feed the bulk of the tank and then drop some sinking pellets in his territory.  If you see other fish then going into your acara's spot, then you would want to try to have hardscape in such a way to give him a place to hide, eat, and lower the stress.  This is similar to what @Chick-In-Of-TheSea had to work on for her Bolivian ram setup and eventually the little one finally got the hang of the target feeding and has turned around from the start of the adventure!  I will let her speak to it, but I think her ram is a much, much more outgoing fish as a result of all the efforts for individual TLC.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I have to pinch vibra bites and put my hand in the tank and release them in front of my Bolivian ram. Otherwise the 18 tetras will eat them. They are afraid of my hand but the ram is not.
 

Feed Repashy also. My ram will pick at it.

Frozen brine shrimp cubes distribute well throughout a tank and can usually be enjoyed by everybody.

@Souperman

Edited July 24, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Souperman]

On 7/23/2023 at 8:50 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

What else is in the tank in terms of fish?  Can you show a photo of the setup for clarity?  Is it possible the fish spawned or was attacked?

Just be sure to target feed him as a start.  You would want to feed the bulk of the tank and then drop some sinking pellets in his territory.  If you see other fish then going into your acara's spot, then you would want to try to have hardscape in such a way to give him a place to hide, eat, and lower the stress.  This is similar to what @Chick-In-Of-TheSea had to work on for her Bolivian ram setup and eventually the little one finally got the hang of the target feeding and has turned around from the start of the adventure!  I will let her speak to it, but I think her ram is a much, much more outgoing fish as a result of all the efforts for individual TLC.

The tank's inhabitants are a single juvenile bottlenose and ten red serpae tetras. I don't believe the fish spawned as I don't have a pair and I don't see the same behavior I am used to when caring for spawning dwarf cichlids. I have attached a picture of the tank and will work on target feeding in the future. I apologize for the abundance of algae. I am currently working on reducing that. Parameter-wise, the tank is ok now that the nitrates have been reduced.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/24/2023 at 12:44 PM, Souperman said:

abundance of algae

That bristlenose is in heaven right now. Such a delicious feast 🙂  A nerite snail will clean that in 1-2 days.

Edited July 24, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/24/2023 at 9:44 AM, Souperman said:

Well, maybe a picture is worth 1000 words here.

When you look at the tank you have that pot next to the sponge. I don't know if Acara are cave spawners, but potentially that's the draw. Right off the bat that means the left 1/4 of the tank is going to be the territory of choice.  Second thing would be the "3 sides" method whereby rams want three sides around them to have that feeling of safety. The only real place that exists is the back left corner behind the sponge.

Maybe all you're seeing here is the fish trying to have the preferential zone?  Maybe it's a matter of the left side of the tank being a bit more open with exposed substrate as well?

 

I would suggest trying to create a bit of a "lean to" structure with the wood and see if opening up the tank and moving the decor a bit helps with behavior. I can only imagine the fish (especially the tetra) would enjoy some vertical structure there to swim around and through.

You could even build that structure over the cave that you have there. Moving it to the right side of the tank, or centered, with the wood over top.

[Souperman]

On 7/24/2023 at 12:21 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Well, maybe a picture is worth 1000 words here.

When you look at the tank you have that pot next to the sponge. I don't know if Acara are cave spawners, but potentially that's the draw. Right off the bat that means the left 1/4 of the tank is going to be the territory of choice.  Second thing would be the "3 sides" method whereby rams want three sides around them to have that feeling of safety. The only real place that exists is the back left corner behind the sponge.

Maybe all you're seeing here is the fish trying to have the preferential zone?  Maybe it's a matter of the left side of the tank being a bit more open with exposed substrate as well?

 

I would suggest trying to create a bit of a "lean to" structure with the wood and see if opening up the tank and moving the decor a bit helps with behavior. I can only imagine the fish (especially the tetra) would enjoy some vertical structure there to swim around and through.

You could even build that structure over the cave that you have there. Moving it to the right side of the tank, or centered, with the wood over top.

Thanks for the response. I did some work on the tank, moved the hardscape around, and actually had some great behavior out of the fish afterward with it exploring the whole tank, feeding, and interacting with tank mates. Unfortunately, that was only temporary as the fish is now back to hiding. Guess I just need to keep troubleshooting scaping elements until I find something it likes. 

Update: I may have jumped the gun on posting this. I just got done feeding the tank, and while the fish was still skittish, he was out and about with no problems. Hopefully, it stays this way. From watching his behavior, I think moving the coconut hut and pot to the opposite side of the tank is what did it and he feels safer about being out and about. I am still unsure what caused this behavior to suddenly start in the first place though.

Edited July 26, 2023 by Souperman

[nabokovfan87]

Very cool to hear.  Keep us posted!