Very nervous Fish!

[Eebie]

Hi
I've just set up a new tropical aquarium and appear to having a problem with my first new fish.
I've set the tank up, it's been running for 6 days, I've been checking the PH regularly since the first day, and is at 7.0. The water isn't cloudy, the plants are growing and everything appears OK.
So, I've added my first fish today. I started with 3 small tiger barbs.
I waited about 20 minutes before introducing them, and they swam around for quite a while without any problems, mostly swimming at the back of the tank and venturing towards the front and looking pretty good I thought.
Anyway, after a few hours, when I would walk up to the tank or past it, they suddenly would scatter and are now mostly hiding behind the filter area near the top of the tank.
The look very nervous as their mouths and fins appear to be moving rapidly.
Is there something wrong with the water or is something else going on?
Or is it just a case of the fish being nervous anyway from the stockist I bought them from?

Please help, I thought I had everything covered, but now not so sure.
Kind regards.

 

[Morrgan]

Hello there and welcome!

So your tank isn't cycled yet? Looks like you'll be cycling with fish then. I'm no expert on that subject nor do I know how much you know about it, but for info go to the topic pinned at the top of this forum: Avoiding and Treating New Tank Syndrome

Other than I'm afraid I can't help you, since I haven't cycled with fish for 10 years and can't remember how they are meant to behave.

 

[CFC]

You need to get a test kit that allows you to test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, pH is not really that important if you are just keeping common community fishes.

A increase in the ammonia and nitrite levels will have a stressful effect on the fish and would cause the skittish behaviour and fast respiration you are seeing. Since you are cycling the tank with fish you will need to start testing the water and doing small water changes daily for the next few weeks until you get a test result of 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite and the nitrates have started to rise.