Saltwater & Reef

**Mark Hewitt** · 01-04-2010, 07:44 AM

Hi,
I have a 17 gallon (64 litre) tank which is home to 5 black skirt/widow tetras.

Most of the time they are darting about all over the tank quite happily, even though the big one tends to chase the smaller ones!

The problem I have is they don't like the tank lights at all! If I put on the lights that came with the tank "Interpet Bright White Day 15w", they completely freak out and then swim to a shady spot to hide, they then stay there and refuse to budge for hours.. switch the light off and they immediately start swimming about again.

I've also tried with a blue "Cool Blue Moon" light, same result.

Then I tried just an ordinary 7w (35w equivalent) household bulb which they don't run away from immediately but after a minute or two they find a shady spot and again, they don't come out again, not even for food.

It's strange because in the store they were under bright fluorescent lights and they didn't seem to mind at all.

Blueiz · 01-04-2010, 08:12 AM

It's normal for them to be startled by it, they will eventually get used to it. How long have you had them?

**Mark Hewitt** · 01-04-2010, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blueiz

It's normal for them to be startled by it, they will eventually get used to it. How long have you had them?

3 of them have been in there for 3 weeks and a further 2 for 2 weeks.

I've expected them to get used to it, but they just don't, and I don't want to stress them out! One time I left the light on to get them used to it and I couldn't find any of them! Some of them had wedged themselves as far underneath an ornament as they could get!

They seem ok with the table lamp as long as it's not too close to the tank.

**dkpate** · 01-06-2010, 04:14 AM

Are you letting them get accustomed to the light, and not just lighting the tank light up?

**Mark Hewitt** · 01-06-2010, 04:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkpate

Are you letting them get accustomed to the light, and not just lighting the tank light up?

It makes no difference as to the ambient lighting at the time, the reaction is the same.

**dkpate** · 01-06-2010, 04:46 AM

Hmm, that's weird then, I dunno lol.

**joy13** · 01-06-2010, 10:06 AM

It sounds more like the light is adding to an additional stress. What is your ammonia, nitrites and nitrates? Are you using strips or liquid for tests?

**Mark Hewitt** · 01-07-2010, 08:14 AM

It could be that. I'm leaving the lights off at the moment while the cycling process completes. (I know with fish cycling = bad!).

But they were like that from the moment we put them into the tank.

I'll try it with them again once my readings are down to zero.

**meegosh** · 01-07-2010, 08:49 AM

When I upped my lighting to closer to 3 wpg my Angelfish would freak out when I turned the lights on. Now he is fine, after just a few days. I agree that maybe they are stressed and the lights just add to the problem. What are your parameters?

**Mark Hewitt** · 01-11-2010, 09:02 AM

Now that the ammonia has gone to zero. I've tried them with the lights again, and although they do still prefer not to be in the full glare of it, they haven't reacted too badly.

Having said that, the light I'm currently using is actually a normal household compact flouresent 7W bulb, the type you'd have in a bedside lamp, so it's quite yellow compared to the original 'daytime' bulbs, but it's also a fair bit dimmer so possibly useful for getting them used to things.

Hopefully I'll replace the 7W with the original 15W daylight bulb once they get used to the lights being on.