Spreading the fish out

[Noobeef]

Here's my dilemma. I have a 120 gallon, 6 foot long tank. I have 10 fish that have all decided they want to stay in a two foot area on the right of the tank. I have tried feeding only on the left side. There is ample rock work on the left, actually I'd say there are more crevices and tunnels for them to play in on the left, but they refuse to go over there for more than a quick swim-by.

Has anyone else had this problem, and does anyone have any ideas on how to get the fish to spread out? I mean, even my Kole tang only wants to swim circles and circles around the two feet on the right.

In order to prevent the thread from going there...Yes, I'm a republican so it would only make sense my fish would hang on the right....Now that we have that joke out of the way, any suggestions?

 

[jdm1114]

What is the flow like in your tank? Is it more on one side then the other, and how much flow do you have?

 

[Noobeef]

What is the flow like in your tank? Is it more on one side then the other, and how much flow do you have?

I would say the flow is pretty equal. There's a power head on each side along with the return lines. They're positioned to kind of keep the water flowing around the tank.

If I had to guess, I would say they are hanging out in the areas where there is less flow.

 

[wrott]

Move all the LR over to the left side.

 

[Mouse]

Try tweaking the flow pattern a tad, shouldnt take to much and see how they respond.
What types of fish are we talking about?

 

[demifelix]

there must be something. Try rearrange your rocks in a different way to see if they are more comfortable goint to the other side, or increase flow in the area where they gather most of the time.

 

[robs.mark]

Try feeding them from the other side of the the tank.

 

[Noobeef]

Thanks for the responses. The types of fish are:

Shoal/school of 5 lyretail anthias
Flame Hawk
Tomato Clown
Yellow tail damsel
Kole tang
Velvet Wrasse

I have tried feeding exclusively on the left, they eat it all and go back to the right. I am going to rearrange the rock work a little, but I'm limited as to what I can actually move.

It's just so weird that they have all decided that a small part of the tank is he hip place to be. Especially the tang..

 

[snorvich]

Sounds like intimidation. But from what?

 

[Noobeef]

Sounds like intimidation. But from what?

There is a giant Frogspawn over there, but that's about it. It's actually the side with less traffic.

 

[RRaider]

Sounds like intimidation. But from what?

That was my thought. Wonder if there is a large crab or something on the other side.

 

[zigzag1]

My fish do this to some degree also. Though, they tend to hang out on the left third of the tank and I always feed on the right side. I attribute it to the traffic pattern (of people) in the room. The corner they seem to stay in most is more secluded from foot traffic and people passing near the tank, or at least that is what I have always assumed was the reason. They sure lose thier shyness around feeding time and gather in the right hand side like it's the cool place to be all of a sudden..

 

[RenoR1]

I noticed in my tank it is all about the rock work... I did some experimenting early on with different rock structures, where I introduced fish, etc etc. I noticed that aquascaping had a direct correlation to the location of the fish hang outs. If you want to completely change the territory of the fish, remove a bunch of rock, and remove the fish you want to change. Then rearrange the rock work and introduce him in the area you want. I have found that this TENDS to encourage the fish to claim that new area you showed him as his own.

 

[Sk8r]

you might put in 5 chromis; they have no sense, and swim like mad. Great dither fish. Damsels are the best when you want end-to-end movement in a tank. And they're not at all vicious unless cornered and in a small tank. In a tank over 100 g, they're pretty laid back and spend most of their time swimming like mad.

 

[D-Nak]

Any photos you can upload? I'd love to see this in action.

There may be something someone sees in the photo that isn't obvious.

 

[Noobeef]

Sorry for not responding sooner. For whatever reason, ReefCentral was not loading pages for me yesterday. Here is an image of the congregation on the right. http://www.flickr.com/photos/54119385@N08/5465566471/

 

[D-Nak]

Just looked at the photo. Looks like the first to the farthest left is the tomato clown. Is it very territorial? My experience with them tells me that they are very territorial, almost as bad as maroon clowns (mine used to bite my hand when it was in the tank). Is the tomato clown hosting anything, such as the frogspawn. If so, it could be "shooing" all of the fish to the other side of the tank.

Also, looks like you have a heater next to the overflow. Could it be a source of stray voltage? I have my doubts on the effects of stray voltage, but it could be worth checking with a voltage meter.

 

[Noobeef]

The tomato clown is actually one of, if not the least aggressive fish in the tank. He often has some nips in his tail. He's not hosting the frogspawn (thank God). The heater I suppose could be an issue, but like you, I'm not so sure about the stray voltage affect. Also, the clown typically hangs to the right. He just swam a little left as I was taking the pic.