# My Fish Hide From Me



## MXS (Jul 13, 2009)

Why do my fish hide from me? All of the other people I know with fish have ones that swim up to the front of the tank or the top of the tank excitedly. My fish hide behind my giant plant or behind the rocks and stay at the bottom of the tank. I don't stick my hands in, shake the tank, or slam the lid. My fish seem to be very unfriendly.

I have:
4 black tetras
1 zebra danio
2 orange-finned tetras
2 neon tetras
1 chinese algae eater
1 pleco

Why are they hiding?


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## Zombie (Jul 14, 2009)

If you just purchased the fish they are still getting used to their surroundings. Just be patient with them.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

Assuming this is the 30g tank in the videos (nice aquarium by the way), a couple of suggestions. Add a background, something as simple as plain black (or dark gray) paper covering the outside rear wall. That will make quite a difference to the fish and the appearance, to help show them better; avoid "scenes' which tend to distract from the fish and lants in the aquarium. 

All the fish you have are shoaling fish, living together in groups; such fish are naturally somewhat timid when kept singly (the zebra) or just two or three. If you had 6+ of each of the tetras and zebra, you would probably see quite an improvement. Also, these fish all come from quite dark waters, due to overhanging vegetation, aquatic plants, and/or blackwater (tannins). Darkening their environment by adding the background will work in this direction, as would a few more plants and some dark bogwood to replicate their natural habitats. I like the natural appearance of your gravel.

Aside from the above, how often are you (or others) in the room? Fish in a store are used to people passing them constantly, but when we put them in our home aquaria, they quickly become accostomed to more quiet, especially if there are not people regularly moving about near the tank.


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## MXS (Jul 13, 2009)

Byron said:


> Assuming this is the 30g tank in the videos (nice aquarium by the way), a couple of suggestions. Add a background, something as simple as plain black (or dark gray) paper covering the outside rear wall. That will make quite a difference to the fish and the appearance, to help show them better; avoid "scenes' which tend to distract from the fish and lants in the aquarium.
> 
> All the fish you have are shoaling fish, living together in groups; such fish are naturally somewhat timid when kept singly (the zebra) or just two or three. If you had 6+ of each of the tetras and zebra, you would probably see quite an improvement. Also, these fish all come from quite dark waters, due to overhanging vegetation, aquatic plants, and/or blackwater (tannins). Darkening their environment by adding the background will work in this direction, as would a few more plants and some dark bogwood to replicate their natural habitats. I like the natural appearance of your gravel.
> 
> Aside from the above, how often are you (or others) in the room? Fish in a store are used to people passing them constantly, but when we put them in our home aquaria, they quickly become accostomed to more quiet, especially if there are not people regularly moving about near the tank.


Thank you! I will probably buy 2 more tetra and 4 more zebras. I am in the room quite a bit (it's my bedroom).

I will also try getting a background and more plants like you suggested, thanks for the help!


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## Guppyluver4ever (May 19, 2009)

Remember that tetras have very small bioloads, this means that tetras dont follow the inch per gallon rule. ANother thing, the chinese algae eater, you have to get rid of him, either donate him to the store, give him to a friend, but your tank is too small for him and once he grows a bit more he will become pretty agressive toward your other fish. 
My suggestion is get 
2 more orange-finned tetras 
5 more neon tetras 
4 more zebra danios 
and get rid of the chinese algae eater 

that means you would then have 
4 black tetras
5 zebra danios
4 orange-finned tetras
7 neon tetras
1 pleco

and may i ask which type of pleco, because plecos can get oftly large... it has to be either a bristlenose pleco or a starry night pleco or any pleco that only grows to 4-4 1/2"


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## MXS (Jul 13, 2009)

Wow I didn't know I could have so many fish, thanks for the advice!
I've heard some bad things about the algae eater so I probably will get rid of it.

I have a 'Hypostomus plecostomus', it's pretty big but doesn't cause any problems, it just latches on to my giant plant all day and feeds at night.


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## Fishin Pole (Feb 17, 2009)

going with that many tetras, just make sure your filter is adequate to handle the bio-load and peform a weekly water changes to ensure thier survival


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