K Cottle Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 (edited) I have a 25 gallon tank with 10 cardinal tetras and one honey gourami. We've had the tetras for a year, and they used to swim around the tank. Six month ago we moved them from my office to my husband's office, which is often kept darker than mine. Not long after that move, they started hiding in the corner. I have tried some slightly different configurations in the tank, water conditions seem good, we've done plenty of water changes, lowered the light level in the tank.... But they stay in the corner. Occasionally one will start to venture out from the corner, but when the others don't follow, he returns to the corner. At the last water change, we took them out of the tank and temporarily put them in a 3.5 gallon tank in my office while we did a really thorough clean. We replaced with new (and more) fake plants in the hope that more cover would be helpful. They seemed far happier in the little tank. They swam around a lot, didn't seem particularly skittish when I'd walk past the tank, and never hid in the corner. After the deep clean of the larger tank, we moved them back and of course, they are back in the corner. Should they live in a smaller tank? Or is there something I should be doing do to help them feel more secure. The gourami leaves them alone completely, so shouldn't be creating stress for them. Ideas? Edited March 30 by K Cottle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 Maybe try lighting up the area around the tank more to see if that changes behavior any. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyxxl Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 Can we get a better view of the whole tank maybe reflections etc. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 Well nuts. Your dither needs a dither fish. You have some room. You can increase the size of your school of cardinals by 6-7. Or add another school of smaller ones. Say 7 ember tetra. You have room for either. sounds like the brave one needs some backup. Possibly just more of the cardinals. Something about the new environment must spook them. You may need some fresh ones that are not used to the environment. Sounds like you already did the major amount of changes 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanked Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 I agree with all of the suggestions above. It is not the tank size, but most likely something about the room lighting or placement of the aquarium in the new location that has them spooked. Light, shadows, and room traffic are just some of the possibilities. Explanation: When my Barb tank was moved into a corner to make room for another tank on the same wall, the TFBs began to spend a lot more time on the narrow side of the tank that was now near the blank wall. They will line up as a group and stare at their reflections in the glass. Six fish become twelve fish at night. This behavior began only at night, and only after the tank was moved. I haven't seen this behavior in the daylight. Will they come up to feed? Activity in all of my tanks changes according to time of day and whether or not I am in the room. If there are times of the day when the room is not in use for long periods, I would carefully peek around the corner, (or use a fishcam as I do) to see if their behavior has changed. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anewbie Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 To be honest they need to see some fishes out in the open to make sure it is safe; i use kubotai rasbora for this - my green neon (similar to cardinal) would hide 24x7 for a month and i finally got a group of 8 kubotai to keep them company and they stopped hiding. Now they all are out swimming every day. Probably having the honey gourami in the other aquarium help them. Btw real plants are often preferred by fishes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mynameisnobody Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 Float a bunch of guppy grass, it’ll help make them feel secure and it’ll help with water changes. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
govsfabshop Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 I would definitely get some dither fish! I have a pair of beautiful red severums that just crammed themselves behind the filter intakes and rocks for probably the first month i had them anytime i walked into the room, i was having to setup a camera infront of the tank to get a look at them, threw some scissortail rasboras from another tank in there and within about a week they would come out but were very skittish,I then would not feed for a few days then feeding baby brine or blood worms and just standing back from the tank while they ate, then slowly work my way closer to the tank, now a few months later those two are front and center 99% of the time when i walk in the room! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K Cottle Posted April 3 Author Share Posted April 3 Thanks everyone for all the suggestions. I'd like to get a group of scissortail rasboras but haven't located any near me yet, so in the meantime I'll put a few mollies in to see if that helps, and obtain some puppy grass. I appreciate the assistance! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 On 4/3/2024 at 11:43 PM, K Cottle said: Thanks everyone for all the suggestions. I'd like to get a group of scissortail rasboras but haven't located any near me yet, so in the meantime I'll put a few mollies in to see if that helps, and obtain some puppy grass. I appreciate the assistance! scissortail rasboras get big and are quite active. People commonly mistake their size in store and consider them like other common nano rasboras like chilis, kubotais, strawberries, or even harlequins. They are not suitable for a 25g tank really anyway 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanked Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 On 4/3/2024 at 4:43 PM, K Cottle said: Thanks everyone for all the suggestions. I'd like to get a group of scissortail rasboras but haven't located any near me yet, so in the meantime I'll put a few mollies in to see if that helps, and obtain some puppy grass. I appreciate the assistance! FWIW I checked my 29 several times yesterday after the lights came on. The Embers are the smallest fish in the tank so I have to look for them. Each time I checked, At least three of the Embers were in the thick of it swimming with the SAEs, Bloodfins, Serpae, and Cherry Barbs. Mollies or any active midlevel swimmers, are probably a good choice for a dither fish. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K Cottle Posted April 4 Author Share Posted April 4 On 4/4/2024 at 12:12 AM, Lennie said: scissortail rasboras get big and are quite active. People commonly mistake their size in store and consider them like other common nano rasboras like chilis, kubotais, strawberries, or even harlequins. They are not suitable for a 25g tank really anyway This is good to know. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 How about silver tipped tetras or for slightly bigger. Brilliant green rasboras. Both very good schoolers. That rasbora is only about 2 inches. Very tight school though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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