why don't my fish swim around?

[Octoberfest]

I don't get it, I have moved from one tank to another. The aquascaping is compeltely different in the new tank(75) gallon. The lighting is different eveything is just different. But all the fish I have tend to stay on the left end of the tank and I have no idea why. I have a 75 gallon RR tank with a yellow tang, two false perc clowns, flame hawk and a small regal tang. I have about 100 to 125 lbs of live rock a couple small corals, VHO lighting, two seios one on each end shooting across and one maxijet coming across the front.

any ideas?

 

[druce]

how long has it been since the move?

It took my fish almost 2 months to finally get adjusted to the tank after I moved

 

[Octoberfest]

about two months. they will swim around some but mainly stay in one corner. they did the same thing in my 125.

 

[druce]

hrm,

mine really started to swim more in the past week, and all i did was add 4 chromis so they'd school.

dunno how many fish you have, or if that's an option - but it worked for me

 

[Octoberfest]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8024398#post8024398 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by druce
hrm,

mine really started to swim more in the past week, and all i did was add 4 chromis so they'd school.

dunno how many fish you have, or if that's an option - but it worked for me

I have a yellow tang, small blue regal tang, pair of false percs and a flame hawk. sorry for the late response.

 

[druce]

no prob, you're system could probably handle some chromis if you wanted to add them, the problem is 3 is to small, so you'd have to go with 5

I dunno your feelings on stocking a tank, so I'm not going to give much advice here, but my thoughts are try 5 chromis and see if the fish come out

also, my LFS showed me a trick, when you feed - dip your fingers in the tank and stand near the tank as they eat (avoid sudden motions)

the will to eat will overcome the fear, and if you do this every day they will get used to you.

also lightly tap on the tank before you feed, it scares them, but after a few days they will get used to it and since you are there they know they will be fed.

It seemed to work for me.. between adding a few chromis and letting them school and the fingers in the water while feeding (i rarely tap anymore).. they seem to be less skittish and swim about the tank more.

I am in no way a professional on this, just letting you know what worked for me. I know how frustrating it is to have an awsome tank and all the fish hide all the time - makes you wonder why in the hell you got into this hobby some time.

best of luck, let me know how it works out.
-Matt

 

[Octoberfest]

Well I think I figured out part of it about three minutes ago. I used the magfloat to clean the tank and as usual they all took off. When I was done I put the magfloat toward the back of the tank. Well the clown fish then decided to come out and swim around out of their usual corner (which I thought was normal for clowns anyway). Well once they started swimming around the tangs followed. If the clown fish went back to their corner then so did the tangs. Basically what it seems to me is the tangs feel like they are in a school with the clowns and follow them everywhere they go so when the clowns are in the corner the tangs stay with their "school". Is this even possible? I might put this on video so you can see what I mean.

 

[druce]

in fishtanks I am apt to thinking anything is possible

the majority of my fish at some time during the day seem to school together, so I'd have to say it seems normal to me

that's why I was talking about the chromis - after I added more, and they schooled, all the other fish swam out more