Swimming At Bottom Of Tank?

[JK515]

I added 5 white cloud mountain minnows to my 30 litre aquarium yesterday and they're swimming at the bottom of the tank, although they're usually mid-level swimmers. Could it be that they're still scared? Or are the ammonia levels to high? (I don't have a test kit)

What could i do to solve this?

Thanks

 

[ghent_3rd]

I had a similar problem with some Ember Tetras that I have had. I just did a water change, changed the decor round a little and just checked I had the biotope set-up right. I only did this yesterday and I have seen them loads since then compared to normal!

 

[JK515]

I had a similar problem with some Ember Tetras that I have had. I just did a water change, changed the decor round a little and just checked I had the biotope set-up right. I only did this yesterday and I have seen them loads since then compared to normal!

Thanks for your reply Can you explain how you did the water change and how much you changed?

 

[MrNiceGuy]

I added 5 white cloud mountain minnows to my 30 litre aquarium yesterday and they're swimming at the bottom of the tank, although they're usually mid-level swimmers. Could it be that they're still scared? Or are the ammonia levels to high? (I don't have a test kit)

What could i do to solve this?

Thanks

i had the same problem with my pristella tetras... really frustrating actually. I thought if i bought more they might calm down so i ended up with 12 of them and very little improvement. Recently though I added six zebra danios (which are very active, fearless, top dwelling fish... literally, they swim at the top of the tank even when my hand is in there.) and it has really helped. Most of the tetras are much more willing to hang out in the middle of the tank knowing that other small fish are swimming above them... I know you have a small tank but even if you were to just add three zebra danios i think it could make a difference. they're very cheap and widely available.



Also, you might want to try dimming the light for a while, that sometimes helps too.

 

[LellowFish]

When I first introduced my Neons, they were very shy and only swam at the bottom of the tank. Now, however, they swim everywhere. When I sit in front of the tank to watch them, they swim right up to the front of the glass. And when I'm feeding them they swim right up to the surface to grab the flakes. Just wait a while until your fish become more accustomed to their surroundings and eventually they will come out and swim around.

 

[Joe97]

in my experiance (with the exeption of corydoras) fish roam at all levels, even if a book or site say they roam at a certain level my fish happily swim everywhere.

 

[JK515]

Thanks for all your replies, i did a 20% water change and they seem to be fine now

 

[mini_matt]

did you cycle the tank?, you sounded like you didn't know how to do a water change? if you haven't cycled the tank you need to do daily water changes of about 10-20% if you have cycled the tank you should be doing water changes once a week!