Fauna panicking when lights out

**winston77** · 22nd Jun 2006, 11:35

Hi,

Anyone encounter this before?

I noticed that every time lights out... the fishes will panick... swimming very actively... Last nite... while watching portugal vs mexico... got this hunch... found 2 pcs of cardinal on floor 15 mins after lights out... luckily they survived the jump and the dry land... Phew!

Wins

**joelwong** · 22nd Jun 2006, 12:14

Probably the easiest way out would be to put a cover to the tank

**richietay** · 22nd Jun 2006, 12:21

Try have the room lights stay on after the tank's lights goes off.

**Justikanz** · 22nd Jun 2006, 15:15

In nature, when the lights suddenly goes out, it means a predator is above the water and blocking out the light... The sun does not switch off suddenly... Thus, the panick reaction...

Try to switch off tank lights when the room lights are still on... Then switch off the room lights at least 15 minutes later... If you have 2 switches for your lights, switch one off first before the other... That helps too...

**vincentlii** · 22nd Jun 2006, 16:15

Must be a damn big predator to create total darkness

**Justikanz** · 22nd Jun 2006, 16:19

Did not appreciate that, Vincent... You know what I mean. Don't be mean.

Fish swims away when the lights go out. It is a natural response to prevent predation.

**vinz** · 22nd Jun 2006, 16:52

Hmmm... have not noticed that with my fishes before.

But i have noticed that insecure or stressed fishes have a tendency to panic for little reason. You might want to check whether your fishes are being stressed by something else. Such as bad water conditions, insufficent hiding spaces, etc. What's in your tank? I mean like how much plants, number fishes, any gravel, etc?

**Justikanz** · 22nd Jun 2006, 17:08

Strange... Maybe your fish are too relaxed in your big tank, Vinz...

Schooling fish are usually the victims of such incidents... My rummy noses, tiger barbs and harlequins will rush to the other side of the tank when I switch off the tank lights after the room lights had been switched off first...

**celticfish** · 22nd Jun 2006, 18:37

for discus, it doesn't take a lights out!
just a little shadow cast and they're OFF...

**Justikanz** · 22nd Jun 2006, 23:21

Oh yes... And they bang their heads on the tank glass too!...

**kalindab** · 23rd Jun 2006, 07:06

Glad I read this, saved me asking the same or similar question myself. My dwarf gouramis dont rush around with lights out but drop like death to tank bottom. I think I will give babies a little night light see if that stops them.

**winston77** · 23rd Jun 2006, 09:36

Originally Posted by vinz

Hmmm... have not noticed that with my fishes before.

But i have noticed that insecure or stressed fishes have a tendency to panic for little reason. You might want to check whether your fishes are being stressed by something else. Such as bad water conditions, insufficent hiding spaces, etc. What's in your tank? I mean like how much plants, number fishes, any gravel, etc?

I have 50 cardinals, 20 rummy nose, 2 ottos, 1 poor yamatos (the rest died after CO2 intro)... Is it too populated?

My is 3x1.5x1.5 tank, plenty of stem plants, echindorous, spiky mosses... more than 50% of tank is plants...

Did topped up water on that night when the fishes jumped out though..

**vinz** · 23rd Jun 2006, 10:59

Originally Posted by kalindab

glad i read this saved me asking the same or similar question myself my dwarf gouramis dont rush around with lights out but drop like death to tank bottom think i give babies a little night light see if that stops them

Hi kalindab,

Punctuation will help us understand your posts much better. It's not fun to have to read a post several times just to understand it. People are more likely to answer your questions when they can understand it easily.

**vinz** · 23rd Jun 2006, 11:08

Originally Posted by winston77

I have 50 cardinals, 20 rummy nose, 2 ottos, 1 poor yamatos (the rest died after CO2 intro)... Is it too populated?

My is 3x1.5x1.5 tank, plenty of stem plants, echindorous, spiky mosses... more than 50% of tank is plants...

Did topped up water on that night when the fishes jumped out though..

Well, in my exprience in the last few years, fresh tap water seems to be stressing the fishes. If your fishes don't panic at lights out before, then the water could be a possible cause.

**winston77** · 23rd Jun 2006, 11:18

Originally Posted by vinz

Well, in my exprience in the last few years, fresh tap water seems to be stressing the fishes. If your fishes don't panic at lights out before, then the water could be a possible cause.

Thanks for the advise.

I did a 8L topup of fresh tap water, did not age though as I thought 8L is insignificant. I did add in anti-chlormaine to condition the water.

Anyway, I don't see anymore fishes jumping out already. Still panicking though...

**nkthen** · 27th Jun 2006, 12:57

My fishes also dart around when I off the light. The funny thing is that when I off the light at 9pm, the fishes swims to the side of the tank where the sunlight is coming.

They must have thought that the predator is coming from the other side.

Is it a must to turn off the lights? My Nanocube has a feature that when I off the light, there are 2 strong, blue-colored led lights that will turn on. I thought that's for saltwater fish environment.

I wanted to test to see if my blue led light will provide some 'comfort' but alas it's spolit. Going to wait till this Wednesday for repairs. Maybe I can post my findings?