Unusual behaviour

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zach_1_6

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Mar 25, 2010
Messages
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Location
Ontario, Canada
My girlfriend set up 30 gallon long planted tank 2 months ago. We seeded the media from my established tank and let it be while adding some food for an ammonia source. As of now there are 9 mollies and 3 swordtails that we added 3 at a time to avoid a huge bio load increase. All the fish are hiding in the plants and will only come out for feeding but are acting very skittish. All was fine until we added the 2nd set of 3 fish and since then they all hide. They all look healthy without any signs of stress or sickness, no red gills and they are breathing fine, no ich, they just hide 24-7 and if they come out it's for food or they just get scared and back into the plants they go.
30% water change weekly
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate- was high due to dry ferts being dosed incorrectly so we stopped and continued water changes to lower them. As of now I don't know what the nitrates are at but I can't see this being the main problem.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
 

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Honestly, every time I approach my guppy/quarantine tank. All the guppies hide.

I think, they think I might move them (about 20 guppy) back into a small jar which I got them in. Lol
 
They are all hiding in the same corner behind a bunch of Rotala and we have never witnessed the males grassing the females more then a few quick bursts every now and then. I don't understand why the swordtails are hiding as well
 
Can anyone else verify they need to increase the females? Seems like the op doesnt believe me?

Also yes, the nitrates could definitely be paet of the problem. Ideally you want them 10-20 ppm in a planeted tank.
 
The Male/female ratio would explain hiding females not all of the fish. Sounds like a comfortability issue, if your parameters are ok. Check params again, are you injecting co2? See if your pumping in too much because you may be depriving them of oxygen which could lead to hiding and hanging around at the bottom, gasping as well with some fish. I would maybe add some other dithers and see if their more lovely activity convinces your mollies and swordtails to come out of hiding.
 
I under stand the ideal male to female ratios completely, but yes this doesn't explain all of the hiding fish. No CO2 injection, il just keep up with water changes and watch my parameters, it must have been the nitrates getting too high
 
That is really pretty tank set up you have. Just out of curiosity, how long since you added the last batch of fish ? I wonder if they are simply having some trouble adjusting to the new environment. If so, they should come out once they have some time to settle.

Getting some small dither fish may be useful but they shouldn't be so small they later become snacks. Perhaps a few Danios ? They are usually very bold, lively fish. Gold zebras are also very pretty fish, like tiny goldfish but without any of the drawbacks you get with real goldfish. They are big enough they won't be seen as snacks even if the swords and mollies get to the large side of their range.
 
That is really pretty tank set up you have. Just out of curiosity, how long since you added the last batch of fish ? I wonder if they are simply having some trouble adjusting to the new environment. If so, they should come out once they have some time to settle.

Getting some small dither fish may be useful but they shouldn't be so small they later become snacks. Perhaps a few Danios ? They are usually very bold, lively fish. Gold zebras are also very pretty fish, like tiny goldfish but without any of the drawbacks you get with real goldfish. They are big enough they won't be seen as snacks even if the swords and mollies get to the large side of their range.

Idk of any dithers mollies or swordtails could swallow? Lol but yeah danios, tetras, plenty of dithers to try.
 
I was just thinking if they got some nano fishes, say, chili rasboras, when the mollies or swords got to full size, nano fish might become snacks. I'd think Danios would suit the water conditions for mollies better than tetras would, though of course most fish are pretty adaptable.
 
The newest additions have been the swordtails who only have been a couple days, but all of the mollies have been doing this for 2-3 weeks now
 
Very strange. I'm inclined to say that the nitrates would not be the issue just because mollies are very hardy fish, and a couple months ago I switched out my substrate and in the process a large amount of detritus was released, causing my nitrates to reach 160+, and all my mollies and my angel were acting perfectly normal.
I think the suggestions of adding some smaller dither fish might be a good idea. Also, try not feeding them for a few days to see if that will coax them out of hiding.
 
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