Chilli Rasbora activity

Hi, I’m fairly new to the hobby, my first tank has been established for about 3 months now and my chilli’s were my first live addition. Since having them Every now and then they would swim and sit in the top left hand corner of the tank, above the filter behind the flow outlet and then swim off around the tank with their usual behaviour. However I’ve more recently added 6 Cardinal Tetras and 6 Galaxy Rasbora about 3/4 weeks apart. Since they have been very shy and are either hiding or most of the time sit in the same spot above the filter. I have noticed when I turn off the light they move from there back into the main body of the tank, so could this be an issue with light? I know they don’t like a lot of light, I’m looking to get some floating plants to reduce this but having problems with the current situation of plants in the uk.

Water parameters
Ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0.5/10
PH 6.6
GH 6 KH 3
Here are some photos, any advice would be great thanks, I just want my chilis to be happy.

How big is your aquarium? Also I would really recommend adding floating plants to make them feel more confortable. They're shy fish so they might have to get used to the others you added.

What is your light wattage and aquarium size?
Your light might be too bright.
Any light with wattage above 10W can be too bright for a small tank.

Firstly, as suggested, put more floating plants such as Anacharis Elodea, Hornwort or Cabomba to block the light as they prefer dim light.

But if you can't get any plants at the moment, just wrap your light with some plastic wrappers for wrapping gifts (red or blue colour) to reduce the brightness of the light. Wrap it a few rounds and the light brightness will be greatly reduced.
See photo below for the plastic wrapper. You can buy this from a stationery store.

Chili Rasboras don't like tank that is too empty.
Add some tall driftwoods to make them feel more comfortable. The driftwoods can be sticking out of the tank if you don't mind.

Probably you can give us a full photo of your aquarium.

Some extra info:



Hardscaping your tank:

These guys like to feel cosy, lots and lots of plant about 50% of the volume of the tank and floating plants as well. Can we see a photo of the whole tank, thanks

Hi guys thanks for all the helpful advice.
The tank is 60ltrs and I’m pretty sure the light is only 10w and I run it for 7 hours a day at the moment. I’ll try covering the light as you have said until I can get hold of some plants.

Here’s a photo of the tank currently this was just before adding the galaxy rasbora. I can add a photo when I’m home from work with them if needed. Thanks

Cardinals get too big for a tank that size, and need to be in a larger group...they aren't aggressive, but much more active than the other fish you have in the tank, which may be intimidating to the chilis.

Your tank has quite a number of plants.
I'm afraid if you reduce your light brightness, some of your plants may not survive.
Monitor your plants if you reduce the light brightness.

I guess the only way to encourage the fish to come to the front is by putting more driftwoods and plants at the front part of the tank.