Offset Of Daylight Hours

[beej]

Hi,

Just added my fish fish yesterday - 6 pearl danios - and they look GREAT. Introduced carefully (I think), letting the temperatures equilibrate, releasing, leaving them unfed in darkness for an hour, turning on lights and then waiting another hour before feeding. They seemed hesitant at first but very happy after exploring and being fed.

I'd already been running the tank for a week or so and used some pre-packaged liquid (sorry!) to speed up the fishless cycling. Ammonia was zero and NO2- was at the lowest level detectable by the indicator.

The tank is sited in a fairly dark spot in my house so I'd also been running the fluorescent tubes from 12 noon until 12 midnight. That way I reckoned I'd see inside the tank for many more hours a day without overly disrupting the day/night cycle of the fish and plants (I am out at work 8-6, Mon-Fri).

Can I first ask whether it is OK to offset the daylight hours in this way? Will it harm or upset the fish in any way?

If it is OK to do so then what is the best strategy for feeding? I guess most fish in the wild (except nocturnals like catfish and the coolie loaches I plan to get later) will only feed during daylight? Since I leave for work when it is still 'night time' to the fish, is it best to feed them:

1. At 6pm and midnight - both during daylight but quite close together?
OR
2. At 8am and 8pm - the first of which is not during daylight?
OR
3. Some other combination?


Thanks in advance for your advice.
Jon

 

[wuvmybetta]

The day/night cycle that works best for you will be fine. Your fish will adjust and know no different. I'm a creature of the night and my fish deal with me as such. I feed mine at like 3 in the morning

With that said, find the schedule that works best for you. As long as they get that eight to twelve hours of down time, they'll be fine.

 

[timmystood]

Hi

Glad to hear that your enjoying the fish life!

My routine is...

Fed them flake food in the morning just as it gets light outside (my tank is in a well lit area).
Then fed them different foods every afternoon about 5 (live foods, tablet food etc. on a rota basis, one type of food a day - for variety).
As for lighting - mine goes on at 3.30PM (just as it gets dark) and goes off again at about 10.30 - i've got one of those electrical timer things so it handles itself and works perfectly.

Just get your own routine and find one that is comfortable for you that you can maintain!

Happy fisk keeping!

 

[beej]

Fed them this morning while the tank was still in darkness. The danios seemed just as happy to take the flake as they have done during lit-up times!

Thanks for your advice