Scared Fish

[bruceanthony]

About half of the fish in my aquarium run and hide whenever they see me near the tank. I have to back away from the tank and wait there a while to see them behaving normally. I have the feeling that it's because I do a water change every weekend. Like maybe they think I'm always messing with them. Would it be possible to do water changes less frequently? Or will my fish get used to it eventually? The fish that hide are brilliant rasboras and clown loaches.

 

[Wiggles24]

My clowns do the same thing

 

[20GL]

I used the have that problem as well. I will tell you what worked for me and hopefully more experienced fish keepers can weight in. I originally had my tank in my room. I had no problems. I moved into my house and out the tank in the office. I would only go in there feed/clean tank really the first year as I was working and no longer a student. I think the fish "forgot" who I was and ran for dear life everytime I approached the tank. Only food would get them out. Then we did renovations on the house so I had to move the tank to the living room. After a couple of weeks, I think they "remembered" me - ie they got habituated to my noise and shape passing by the aquarium. They no longer hide. Other things to consider are: do you have enough plants (real/fake) to make the species of fish feel safe? Does it mimic their natural environment? Can you add a couple of new, curious fish to the tank? Sometimes, changing the dynamics of the tank can help fish be less shy.

 

[Babakapusta]

Do they do that when you feed them? Usually even my skittish fish beg for food when they see me and if I have a can in my hand they practically break the glass trying to get to it.

How long have you had your fish and how do you feed them?

My tin foil barbs that are a foot long and 13 years old will go away from me if I don't have the can of food in my hand. They are just a very cautious fish. They will never eat out of your hand. Most schooling fish won't.

I don't know about the clowns. I tried them but they died. They can be finicky about water. But my striped botias beg for food but hide at other times. They are fish they aren't dogs.

 

[bruceanthony]

You might have a point there. My tank's in my office, so I'm only in there a couple times a day, so I guess it makes sense that they're disturbed when I surprise them.

 

[bruceanthony]

And yeah they definitely all come out during feeding time. I haven't seen them beg though. They don't really seem to know it's feeding time til the food hits the water.

 

[bruceanthony]

And I've only had most of these fish for a month or two, so maybe they're still getting used to everything.

 

[20GL]

I hope you and your fish find your happy spot!

 

[Legit Fish]

thats weird my clown loaches come to me when they see me pass by and i only have 3