Re: Spooked by Light...

[Wright Huntley <jwwiii at pacbell_net>]

Fish like to dive under cover near the bottom. A bare glass bottom means 
they can't get there, so are vulnerable to possible attack from below. 
That, IME, always tends to make them uneasy. It is worse on open racks.

It's better if the tank is on a solid, dark shelf, but I still paint the 
bottoms of my tanks, or set them on some dark wallpaper.

Even so, the fish do better if there is a real substrate, with some hiding 
places near it. Sunken mops are good, and a simple thin layer of peat 
makes a good fake stream bottom, if gravel is impractical. Small clay pots 
on their side, rocks, spawning bowls, and sponge filters all provide some 
of the essential structure they seek.

That's my observation, anyway. Fish are not spooky if you give them what 
seems to them to be a secure environment. It is just that their ideas of 
"secure" and ours are not always the same. :-)

Wright


-- 
Wright Huntley -- 209 521-0557 -- 731 Loletta Ave, Modesto CA 95351

       "The problem with the French is that they don't
              have a word for entrepreneur."
      -- George W. Bush, discussing the decline of the
    French economy with British Prime Minister Tony Blair

                  http://www.sfbaka.net/


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