Why do my fish hide?

[chriswarr]

Hi, I have a small tank, 22L (6 gallon). I have two harlequin rasboras, 6 neon tetras, 4 ruby barbs and 2 pristella tetras (probably a bit overstocked, but whaddareyagonnado?).

Most of the fish, except the two rasboras spend 99% of the time out of view. The two rasboras swim about all over the tank having a fine old time. The neons all school together behind the driftwood. And the rest just hang around up the back behind the ship.

I was thinking it could be the water flow is too strong, but i turned the filter off for a while and nothing changed. Ditto the light, turned that off to see what would happen.

Any ideas why? or what I can do to get them out and about? They've always done this, it's nothing new.

photo attached (hopefully).

Cheers,
Chris.

 

[Chris_A]

Could try some more cover, either live or artificial plants. It's a little counter intuitive but the more cover a fish has the more likely they will come out.

And your right... for a 6 gallon I'd pull the Ruby's and the Pristella's. On top of that, your tank really doesn't have the length for fish to truly school even if there was enough fish.

Just incase though, what are the water parameters? If those are out of whack, they could be stressed on top of not having enough room.

Chris

 

[chriswarr]

Have you got a suggestion for some plants like you mean?

The water is all good as i've just been through BGA and BBA removing and all stable and healthy the last week or two.

The thing I don't get is if they're over-crowded is why do they all hang out together?

 

[exhumed07]

well fish naturally seek cover from larger predators. and a big thing like u could be causeing that response and makeing them hide. and as chris has said if u add more cover they will be more likly to move towards the cover in the front of the tank as oppossed to the back. thats my 2 cents

 

[Monoxide]

Fish could be hiding just for many reasons other then what is listed
1. Just to play around here
2. Overcrowded bigger guy in the tank is out
3. You scaring the fish
4. The tank personally is to small for any good schooling
5. You could get plants and other decos that wouldn't allow them to (actually get inside the little house/boat/w.e.) Say get a solid tree and it has no areas to go inside it.. just through it or around it.

 

[swordfish11]

those fish might not have to much space so i believe u should get a 10 gallon or even better 20 gallon and some real plants


Good Luck

 

[misterking]

You could try some fast-growing, fine-leaved stem plants, like myrophyllum, hornwort or cabomba. You'd have to keep on top of maintenence because they grow like crazy, but it'd create a nice thicket of vegetation should your fish feel the need to hide. As Chris_A said, the fish will likely become more confident, the more shelter they're provided with, as they feel that should something happen they've got somewhere dark and safe to retreat to.

 

[mistercoffee]

My Gourami usually hides because the molly picks on him. He's got a nice big plant to hid in though.

That's a pretty nice thank though for a 6g. Why don't you just get another tank, like a 10g, or better yet a 20!

It made me chuckle a bit reading all the fish in the tank and only finding one in your picture hehe.

 

[Monoxide]

Think best thing you could do is bigger tank and more hiding spots... that can help the (if hes getting picked on theory and also if there's not enough room).

 

[exhumed07]

small tanks are nice for the tiny tropicals and such. but honestly u should get a bigger tank. and then another tank even bigger and yet again another lol. at least that seems to be how it's going for me lol

 

[chriswarr]

Yeah, bigger tank(s) would be good, the wife has tank-blocked me though. Will have to work on that.

I'll go grab some more plants and see how I go. Thanks for the advice.

 

[sweetpickles7]

A ten gallon at walmart is only $10 here.Cobamba from my experience tends to need a little more light than what comes with the tank. java fern and anubias seem to do pretty good though. and anacharis.

 

[MadridKid]

Well I have heard neons like to school around some plants... so it may not be anything at fault. I would try some grass like plants if possible. But dont take up too much swim space.

 

[Monoxide]

If you get your wife into fish then she let you have a bigger tank. Just show her some bad azz tanks with pretty fish.

 

[kalidiscopeyes]

It's taken a while for my neons to quit hiding so much. The more hides I put in the more they seem to be in view. I think putting the fast growing plants someone else mentioned is a good way to give em more hiding spots in a small tank without it looking cluttered.

 

[bunker_1]

If you start to hand feed some frozen food, they would start coming out everytime you come in the room. I use brine shrimp