# Swimming in the filter current and other goofy behaviors



## Inga

I don't know if all fish do this or if mine are weird or what? I have noted my Guppies in the 25 gallon tank seem to really enjoy swimming in the filter current. They do it often but I have now noticed that on days when they are over there more, the next morning I notice babies. Anyone else notice their Guppies swimming "upstream" right before giving birth to fry?

In my 60 gallon tank, I noticed that my Barbs, Platies swim over the bubble stream from my sponge filter. When I am adding water, it makes bubbles and they all come rushing over to swim through the fresh water current. Even my Gourami seems to enjoy an occasional ride on a bubble stream and they are thought to enjoy calm waters. I don't know if fish learn behaviors from others regardless of species or not, but it seems like it in my tank. 

I had to move 2 Guppies back to my 60 gallon tank. I don't know if that was the right thing to do or not but it was 2 males and they were aggressively going after other fish in the tank, including the Corie's. I dipped them out and put them back with the Barbs, Platies, Gourami and Rainbow shark. They seem to be happy as clams in the bigger tank. They just jumped right into the group with the Barbs and have even been seen chasing the Barbs around a little. Must be Psycho Guppies. Anyway everyone seems happiest where they are now. 

Another behavior I always think is fun to watch is anytime I make any changes to the tank, the fish are so curious and go to the new object in the tank and investigate. Today, I had to remove a ton of plants and the clay pot. My fish had little room to swim since the plants were getting so thick. I downsized by half, it seems and the fish are whizzing about the tank with huge smiles on their little fishy faces. They all seemed to take turns going and swimming around where the pot was and staring down at the substrate. I wonder what they were thinking?

Anyone else have any goofy behaviors you might like to share?


----------



## kaythenewbie

Fish can be so funny! Your guppies have tons of personality.

As for goofy behaviors: 

I have glowlight tetra that are just so curious all the time. They have to explore everything. They are also little daredevils. They're constantly darting through the filter current, seeing how close they can get to the gravel vac without getting sucked in (which terrifies me, of course). When my betta tank had an emergency, I put him in the community tank with the tetra. He was pretty aggressive. My glowlights thought it was hilarious. They would sneak up behind him and see how long they could follow him without him noticing. He'd see them, chase them off, and they'd start over. The glowlight tetra are definitely my goofiest fish.

I also have a dwarf gourami that thinks he's a cory cat. He won't eat food when I feed him. He won't eat floating food, once in a while, he'll eat if I use a turkey baster to feed him directly. Mostly, he'll only eat leftovers on the gravel. It's odd, cuz he'll eat anything: flakes, left over bloodworms, brine shrimp, algae wafers... but only if it's been discarded by the other fish. I worry about it a little, but he seems healthy and happy, so I guess it's okay. Plus it keeps my tank clean which is alright with me!


----------



## Romad

I love it when my fish (especiall the barbs) try to get at the "food" in the siphon tube when I vac. the gravel. They don't get why there's a force field in between them and what looks like good eats


----------



## Inga

Romad said:


> I love it when my fish (especiall the barbs) try to get at the "food" in the siphon tube when I vac. the gravel. They don't get why there's a force field in between them and what looks like good eats


 
Yeah, Mine almost gave me a heart attack when it swam up into the siphon. It makes me nervous cleaning the tank around the fish. I am a little better then I used to be after I saw them swim back out as though the pull of the water is a non issue. Sassy fish! :shock:

My Cories do this thing where they swim up and sort of lay on the Wisteria leaves on occasion too. Not sure exactly what that is but they seem fine, just weird.


----------



## iamgray

When I set up my first aquarium, I had an ick battle... while the filter media was out, my guppies would somehow manage to get inside the filter basket... they were too large to get sucked up, so my only guess is that they managed to jump or swim up the water as it came out... scared the crap outta me the first couple times because I didn't think to look in there... they also seem to enjoy getting blasted by the bubbler... they act scared when they get hit by the bubbles and will dart away as soon as they get hit... but they immediately go back and wait for it to happen again. Other than that... all of my office fish now seem to know when feeding time is and start acting goofy as soon I approach the tank in the morning... and goofier still as soon as the light goes on. 15 second memory, my arse...


----------



## kitten_penang

power head comes with a plastic cap to block fish from geting sucked in.some how my fish find ways to get sucked into my sump.they seem to use it as a joy ride lol


----------



## Garfisher

I had a pepper cory (moved it into my dad's 46 gal) figure out that the freeze dried bloodworms that i feed my gouramis usually get stuck in the water tension between the glass and the water, so it became a topwater fish when it came to feeding, eating the bloodworms off the surface along the glass


----------



## jeaninel

I posted this a long time ago but here's a video of my Harlequins playing in the outflow of the filter.


----------



## tanker

If I go up to my tank, my dwarf neon rainbows line up and look at me. They don't swim away if I put my finger up. They'll sit there and examine you, just the same way you are standing there examining them....


----------



## SinCrisis

iamgray said:


> they also seem to enjoy getting blasted by the bubbler... they act scared when they get hit by the bubbles and will dart away as soon as they get hit... but they immediately go back and wait for it to happen again.


Sounds like that fish that loved the bubbles in finding nemo 


If i get really close to my tank and shoot my arms out, all my fish dart away except my bolivian rams who swim up to the glass like they want to challenge me. Then they see eachother and forget about me as they stare eachother down.


----------



## Inga

I have now noticed the fry swimming in the current. They do this most of the day, I am assuming it is either in hopes of finding food bits or to strengthen themselves. Kind of like working out?

My Mystery snails are weird too. They crawl to the top of the tank and then just sort of let go and glide to the bottom. Sometimes they bounce off of plants or wood on the way down. They seem to do it on purpose and repeat this effort often. I don't know if it is just meant to be fun or what it is about but it is funny to watch.


----------



## tanker

I love the snails' suddenly-dropping-to-the-bottom thing they do.


----------



## Russell

My convict cichlid has always lived alone and my girlfriend and I are his only school. So he craves attention. Sometimes, he will do backflips if you are in the room and not looking at him. And he will swim to the side of the aquarium I point to even if I am several feet away. And although he can easily knock the mystery snail that lives with him off the glass with his mouth he tries to do it by whipping water at it with his tail which is funny to watch.


----------

