Fish staying on one side still

Octoberfest

Octoberfest

New member
O.k., so I've got an ongoing problem. I have two clowns, a yellow tang, a blue tang and a bunch of inverts in my 125 Gallon FOWLR.

Here is my problem the clowns and yellow tang will only stay in the left side of the tank. The clowns stay in the back left corner and the Yellow tang will venture out a bit away from there but for the most part stays in the left side. The blue tang stays in the middle of the tank but if it goes either way it's to the left. The blue tang is very small and still hides when I get near the tank but has gotten braver.

The live rock is in the middle of the tank. I have a two powerheads on the left side pointing right one up hi one about mid way and one heater. On the right side I have a Coralife 125 Skimmer and HOB filter (for water movement only) and a Seio Power head about mid way pointing to the left. There is also a heater in the middle of the tank.

What I'm trying to figure out is why my fish don't go past the middle of my tank they all use the left side. The snails, hermits, blue sea star, and coral banded have no problems with going over there.

Here is a picture of my tank. I have put one more power head o the left side since then and removed the HOB filter I had on the left side (had two). It doesn't look like enough live rock but it is the same height front to back stacked thick. Also this is the furthest they ever go toward the center(and I know it's not clear) but on average they are further to the left.
tankpana.jpg
 
I'm thinking that maybe it's the way I have my live rock set-up and that I need to try and put two piles on each end with open space in the middle rather than open space on the ends.
 
i'd def. change the aquascaping. make two separate piles on either end, and give the fish more caves, ledges and crevices to swim in and out of. as it appears in your picture, the rock is stacked so tightly, the fish can't find "zones" to be comfortable in. look around other forums to see how people have aquascaped their tanks for ideas...chances are your fish are stressed with the current setup and thus aren't venturing around the tank. btw, how long has this tank been set up and how much sand and LR do you have in there??
 
Open up your rock work, provide tunnels, caves, and hiding places for your fish. Fish are healthier and happier when they have "safe" places where they can hide. There also out more and more active knowing they can hide if necessary.

Your aquascaping forces them to be out and exposed...........and vulnerable.


jmo,
 
thanks, I'll start doing that this weekend. The tank has been set-up since November but everything is from an established tank. I had 75lbs of live rock with a ton of coraline and live on it and about 80+lbs of base rock. I have 140lbs of sand mixed with 40lbs of crushed coral.
 
Or buy some base rock and stack it over on the other side. No additional cycle in the tank, and if you place a few pieces of your other live rock on tops, it'll look like the rest in a few months at a fraction of the price. Check out hirocks.com or ebay for box lots of cheap rock.
 
I've got another 30lbs or so of base rock but it's really small stuff, soft ball size or a bit bigger. I was thinking about using some of that adhesive they have at the LFS to put it together and make larger pieces but who knows.

NC, that'll work I'll PM you when I'm ready.
 
Get one tall slab of rock and stand it vertically between. That might help. Your blue tang, unfortunately, will grow immense: I think hence the name 'hippo' tang.
 
Well I've added about 30 to 40 more lbs of live rock to the tank and re-arranged all the rock in the tank to offer much much more caves and places to swim through and hide. End result.....THEY ARE STILL IN THE SAME CORNER!!!! They hide behind the Rio pump and don't come out of there 98% of the time. They have not crossed past the half way point of my tank and the small blue regal tang is the only one that goes even close to the center. Like I said the inverts are all over the tank just the fish hide in that one corner. Tested the water and everything is fine.

I was thinking about taking out the pump they hide behind and moving it to see what happens but I don't want to take the one place they seem to be safe.

It's bad enough that people who come over ask if my fish always hide in the corner of the tank.
 
is this the side that you feed? reason i ask is that i fed on one side of my tank and when i go near my tank, the fish all go to that side. just an idea. feed then on the other side and see what happens. jmho.
 
My clowns have decided to host my powerhead. When my maxijet was on the left back side, the clowns stayed on the left side of the tank. When I moved that powerhead to the back rightside, they followed it.

Another possible answer to your situation is flow dynamics. Maybe the way you have your powerheads set up creates an environment on the left side of your tank which you fish prefer.


In my case.......clowns will be clowns !


RFC
 
yup-I'd change the flow to see if that does it.

or move all of the rock to the other side, and make a wall of rock like this



______..,,ooOO0
 
my clowns kinda go all over my tank lol. But at night they sleep on my rocks in the same exact spot every night. Gotta get them a bta soon lol, cuz sleeping on a rock has to suck.

A few other tanks ive seen the fish stay in one spot also. Like my cousins tank, his 3 stripe damsel never leaves the back center of the tank?? and his yellow tail stays on the left side with the cleaner shrimp.
 
well I added more rock to the tank, move the rock that was in there and made more caves instead of it being packed so tightly. I also moved my powerheads around so that the flow would be a bit different. Things still seem to be the same though, they are all staying in the left corner for the most part and none of the fish are crossing the mid way point of the tank. Here is a picutre of how it's set-up now.

Picture851.jpg
 
You could also try moving the skimmer?? That could maybe scare them I suppose. But you did get alot more rock lol. Your yellow tail still chill in that barnecle?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7109846#post7109846 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Swanwillow
I just had one of those aha moments: stray voltage on one side of the tank?
Click to expand...

wouldn't the inverts be intollerant of this? The hermits, snails and star fish all go over to that side all the time.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7111341#post7111341 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NCreefwannabe
You could also try moving the skimmer?? That could maybe scare them I suppose. But you did get alot more rock lol. Your yellow tail still chill in that barnecle?
Click to expand...

yeah i was thinking about moving it today just didn't have time.
 
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