Fish having trouble swimming

[Tempestuousfury]

I have fry, black skirt tetras, and a cory in my 50 gallon that have a hard time staying in one spot b/c the current keeps pushing them. The danios don't seem to have a problem, but they don't stay still for very longI turned off two of the three air stones I had in there and I turned down the flow of water from the filter, but they still have that problem. Any suggestions?

(The fry are 1/2" juveniles and the black skirt tetras are half as big as my full-grown ones)

 

[Lateral Line]

Depends what is causing the problem. If it is the airstone - take it out, if it is the filter and you've turned it as low as it will go - then it sounds like it is to big for the tank.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

I told the guy at Petsmart that I was using it for a fifty and he said it would work. He was actually worried that it owuldn't work for goldfish, so I'm not sure it is the filter.

The air stone I left in there isn't blowing air very fast (albeit it is probably 18" long)b/c the pump is pretty weak. Turning off the other ones didn't have any effect.

 

[Lateral Line]

Well lets look at it logically - you have too much current in your tank. There are two things which are producing current - if turning one off does not alter the problem - then the other one must.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

You know what, a better question would have been "Is it ok if the current in the tank is too fast for the fish." However, just by reading that sentence I know that it is not acceptable b/c of the enormous expenditure of energy and the lack of a stable environment. I'll see what I can come up with...

 

[MAM]

out of curiosity, exactly what kind/model of filter DO you have on there?

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Second nature whisper filter... Uses regular whisper cartridges.

 

[teknikz]

tetra's like slower waters dont they?

i know my guppies love a current.......so i use a spray bar on my filter.....so the water isnt gerttin stirred round too fast but theres still a few spots that have a fast flow for the guppies

 

[mike777]

No it is not good if they are getting carried by the current I just had a similar experience with my baby honey gourami and he sadly passed away. So if you have a smaller tank (much smaller maybe like 5 gal.) put them in there until they get bigger and then they will be able to take the current.

 

[Debo]

Mike,
Sorry to hear your little honey passed away.
Deb

 

[Opcn]

The Guppy is a river fish by nature it spends all it's time in pools in rivers avoiding pike chichilids and killifish

 

[Tempestuousfury]

I've got the fry in there as the first batch so I can cycle. Once that's done, my 5 gallon will be the rearing tank and I'll put the adults in the 50. What do you think?