I currently have 5 chub i had six but came in from work today to find one dead. May problem is they keep bumping there heads on something dont know what yet havent actually seen them do it but they have the marks from doing it. Is this normal behavior and how can i prevent it from happening again?
Creek chub problem
Started by
Guest_Matt N_*
, Mar 12 2014 08:24 PM
11 replies to this topic
#2
Michael Wolfe
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- Board of Directors
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- North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage
Posted 12 March 2014 - 08:35 PM
doesn't sound normal to me. creek chubs are pretty agile, they are not clumsy enough to bump into the side of the tank. what kind of "marks" are you talking about? are you familiar with breeding turbucules? how big are these fish? how big is the aquarium?
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
#8
Guest_Erica Lyons_*
Guest_Erica Lyons_*
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Posted 14 March 2014 - 11:54 AM
I recently visited the fish room of my friend who breeds fish. He has very bare tanks; four glass walls and a glass bottom. There is an air sponge bubbling and sometimes a breeding cave and that's about it. I asked him why he covers all his tanks with tailor cut bubble wrap, and he said it's because they jump out a whole bunch. He gave me one of his species to try breeding, and I set them up in my tank. I don't cover or use a lid at all, but none of the fish have jumped out. Here's a picture:
http://img.photobuck...zps0a9fd09d.jpg
The fish don't jump out because they don't want to jump out. They have plants to hide in, a synthetic coral vertical sheet to divide the horizontal sight lines, a substrate to dig around in and spawn on, snails to hunt, shells to poke their heads in and look for food. You can see there's a big gap for them to jump out if they wanted to, but I don't think they will.
Back in 2008 I first learned this lesson with our native palaemonetes shrimp. I got a dozen shrimp and put them in my 10 gallon tank and they all jumped out. I found shriveled up pink shrimp bodies on the desk next to the tank. Add a plant floating at the surface, and they stop jumping out. Fear is a state of mind. The light may have startled your creek chubs, but it was their fear and insecurity that allowed them to be startled. Fat and happy creatures rooting through the sand for food, meandering about lazily and slowly, don't jump as high when the lights turn on.
http://img.photobuck...zps0a9fd09d.jpg
The fish don't jump out because they don't want to jump out. They have plants to hide in, a synthetic coral vertical sheet to divide the horizontal sight lines, a substrate to dig around in and spawn on, snails to hunt, shells to poke their heads in and look for food. You can see there's a big gap for them to jump out if they wanted to, but I don't think they will.
Back in 2008 I first learned this lesson with our native palaemonetes shrimp. I got a dozen shrimp and put them in my 10 gallon tank and they all jumped out. I found shriveled up pink shrimp bodies on the desk next to the tank. Add a plant floating at the surface, and they stop jumping out. Fear is a state of mind. The light may have startled your creek chubs, but it was their fear and insecurity that allowed them to be startled. Fat and happy creatures rooting through the sand for food, meandering about lazily and slowly, don't jump as high when the lights turn on.
#10
Guest_Matt N_*
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Posted 15 March 2014 - 08:01 AM
Thanks for the tip erica. I will try to add more plants later on in the year when they start growing agin. So far after changing the lighting I havent see any new injuries. Would it help if I add more fish (the whole safty in numbers thing).
#12
Guest_Matt N_*
Guest_Matt N_*
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Posted 02 April 2014 - 08:27 PM
Got the problem figured out with the chub. They were actually hitting there heads on the sharp edges of the rocks in the aquarium. I have since changed the rocks out with some land scapping ones that are much more fish safe and prettier.
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