Timid Odessas

[FishyJames]

Hi, im new to the forum (just signed up today =D) and was gonna use this as my greeting to everybody and an asking for advice on my odessas.

Well i have six of these guys, one of them has one eye and is named One Eyed Jack, and they're really really timid.
I have them in a 20L and all they do is cower in the corners untill feeding time, then they just run back in.

I've had the tank up for about 5 days and was just adding them a couple a day.
The devorations are fake for now untill i get some bio waste down for some plants.

So anyone know how to make my fishies more outgoing?
Because right now the most interesting thing in my tank is my snail
=/

 

[mikev]

Being timid is very atypical for Odessa's....usually they are obnoxious.

Let's check a few things:
Is 20L 20 long or 20 liters ? If latter, it is also way too small to keep them.
Is the tank cycled? Possibly bad water parameters have a negative effect on the fish.
How large are they? Is the coloration ok?

 

[FishyJames]

well its a 20 long

and yea its cycling
so i guess that could be ok

they're colors seem ok from the pictures i've seen
in the petstore they seemed alot darker coloration, only one has stayed like taht
the rest are a paler brown on top, then red, then just pale color

so i dunno

and theyre about 1.5 inches

 

[mikev]

Make sure that water parameters stay as good as possible (use Prime and lots of water changes). Odessa's IME are sensitive to water parameters and are not a fish to cycle tanks with (not that cycling tanks with fish is ever a good thing to do).

hth

 

[FishyJames]

alright
ill try my best to keep the water up

and thanks alot =D