# Fish dancing?



## Tasymos (Apr 29, 2007)

Hello, everyone! I'm very new here, but I've been keeping an aquarium for a while now... started out with a 10 gallon upgraded to a 20 and now I'm at a 30 looking for yet another upgrade, hehe.

1. Size of aquarium (# of gallons)

30 Gallons

2. Is your aquarium set up freshwater or saltwater?

Freshwater

3. How long the aquarium has been setup

1 year 3 months

4. What fish and how many are in the aquarium (species are important to know)

2 bala sharks, 1 algea eater, 2 tiger barbs, 2 "blackfin sharks" (as they were labeled when I bought them, not sure it's correct, they look like little/maybe not so little now, catfish to me hehe)

5. Are there live plants in the aquarium?

No, they don't like the salt I add 

6. What make/model filter are you using?

Aqua-Tech 30 (something like that..)

7. Are you using a CO2 unit?

Not sure what that is, I have a bubbler strip?

8. Does your aquarium receive natural sunlight at any given part of the day?

4 hours a day I move a curtain so half the aquarium has natural light and is brighter, the other half is the dark side... where the catfish like to stay...

9. When did you perform your last water exchange, and how much water was changed?

Today, it was approx 25% water change with gravel suctioning.

10.How often and what foods do you feed your fish?

Twice a day. A mix of TetraColor Granules Extreme, BloodWorms, and "Tropical Premium Flakes"


11.Is your aquarium light incandescent or fluorescent and how often is it kept on?

Pretty sure it's fluorescent, I keep it on most the time, turn it off in the evenings before bed... say around 8-10 hours a day?

12.What specific concerns bring you here at this time?

My two catfish like staying in the right rear corner swimming in circles around each other up and down the glass... kinda like they're trying to get their own reflections. They don't do this all the time, but it's considerable and something I've noticed and wondered if I'm doing something wrong :/

13. Water are your water test results for:
pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate? 

I don't have numbers, but my dip test color results are all under 'safe'. Nitrite was a bit high this time... will wait until tomorrow to test again before treating.

Everyone appears and are acting otherwise normally. I've only recently gotten concerned with the catfish's behavior because now my bala sharks are joining them for short periods of time before getting bored with it. I've done several searches from google about behavior similar to this, and the only thing I've found is about rubbing... and my catfish don't appear to be rubbing anything... it's usually only their noses pressed against the glass as they go up and down.


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## Mr.Todd (Mar 8, 2007)

My cichlids sometimes do the ascend and dive routine. I donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t really know what they are doing. One time we caught like 5 of them doing it at the same time and I thought they where trying to tell my something. 

Its so funny how we try and read into fish behavior. What we see as playing could be desperate attempts to escapeÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ Who really knows?


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## joeshmoe (Aug 2, 2006)

my old mollies would ram there head into the glass that might just be away playing or some thing


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## xxthrwitdwnxx (Apr 23, 2007)

Tasymos said:


> Hello, everyone! I'm very new here, but I've been keeping an aquarium for a while now... started out with a 10 gallon upgraded to a 20 and now I'm at a 30 looking for yet another upgrade, hehe.
> 
> 1. Size of aquarium (# of gallons)
> 
> ...



CO2 Unit is for live plants it helps them grow if u have that u should be able to use the salt


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## saint (Mar 26, 2007)

twould be best to invest in a liquid testing kit as the strips dont alwasy give an accurate reading. then give us ur parameters


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## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

I noticed that you said you add salt. Is this to treat for a disease? If not then it's advisable to stop adding salt as your fish are freshwater.


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## Holly (Feb 28, 2007)

Only certain fish do well with a limited amount of salt in the water. Most livebearers to exact. Your cats probably don't like it very much.

I've noticed that loaches and cats like to "play" like yours are. I've had several loaches, I just don't do well with them!, and have 2 cory cats in my tank now and they always chase themselves in the glass. I think they're just playing, some say thier eating algea off the walls of the tank. Whatever reason they do it, I love watching them bein silly!! I'm sure they're fine..maybe even just settling in the tank.


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## dp0350 (Mar 31, 2007)

*Odoe*

I have an African Pike that does the same "dancing" thing. He swims up and down rubbing his nose on the glass. I had a Yellow Labid that did the same thing. I really wonder what it is.


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## dp0350 (Mar 31, 2007)

*Videos*

Forgot to include these they are the pike going up and down. Is this what your catfish is doing?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xAzn416Pwk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYSiIpZNCik


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