my sunfish always come to the front of the tank and begs whenever someone walks in the room. The darters freak a LOT out if someone passes by the tank. I've had them for a few weeks now, are they always goign to be like this or will they adapt to seeing people frequently.
ALso my ghost shrimp population was cut in half, without any bodies. Is it safe to say it was the rainbows?
my darters don't like people
Started by
Guest_Zephead4747_*
, Sep 01 2008 04:11 PM
16 replies to this topic
#2
Guest_Irate Mormon_*
Guest_Irate Mormon_*
-
- Guests
Posted 01 September 2008 - 04:58 PM
The darters freak a LOT out if someone passes by the tank.
This is not normal behavior. Is the tank exposed to intense light for any period of time (like near a window or something) ?
#3
Guest_JohnO_*
Guest_JohnO_*
-
- Guests
Posted 01 September 2008 - 05:24 PM
My darters are quite gregarious. They don't run and hide, and if I walk up to the tank with a cup in my hand, they all sprint to the corner where one of the filters dumps out. (I usually pour the bloodworms into the filter stream, so they get taken to the bottom quickly)
The other day, I was scraping algae off of the glass. The darters all gathered around to watch, and one came over and pecked at my fingers. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you...
The other day, I was scraping algae off of the glass. The darters all gathered around to watch, and one came over and pecked at my fingers. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you...
#4
Guest_schambers_*
Guest_schambers_*
-
- Guests
Posted 01 September 2008 - 06:50 PM
The darters freak a LOT out if someone passes by the tank.
Do you have small, noisy children? They tend to make fish nervous. I've also found that one neurotic fish can 'infect' a whole tank. Is your tank in a high traffic area where people walk back and forth a lot? They should adapt, but adult fish can take longer than juveniles. Something about being older makes them less adaptable.
#5
Michael Wolfe
-
- Board of Directors
-
- North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage
Posted 01 September 2008 - 07:31 PM
my sunfish always come to the front of the tank and begs whenever someone walks in the room. The darters freak a LOT out if someone passes by the tank. I've had them for a few weeks now, are they always goign to be like this or will they adapt to seeing people frequently.
ALso my ghost shrimp population was cut in half, without any bodies. Is it safe to say it was the rainbows?
No you can't just blame the rainbows, although they will get smaller shrimp, they are not the only ones. Your sunfish will definitely hunt and eat the shrimp. Sunfish are always hungry... and really rainbow darters are too... they will likely coalm down and learn to recognize you as 'the food guy'.
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
#6
Guest_Zephead4747_*
Guest_Zephead4747_*
-
- Guests
Posted 01 September 2008 - 10:22 PM
the sunfish isn't in this tank.No you can't just blame the rainbows, although they will get smaller shrimp, they are not the only ones. Your sunfish will definitely hunt and eat the shrimp. Sunfish are always hungry... and really rainbow darters are too... they will likely coalm down and learn to recognize you as 'the food guy'.
#7
Guest_Zephead4747_*
Guest_Zephead4747_*
-
- Guests
Posted 01 September 2008 - 10:23 PM
Do you have small, noisy children? They tend to make fish nervous. I've also found that one neurotic fish can 'infect' a whole tank. Is your tank in a high traffic area where people walk back and forth a lot? They should adapt, but adult fish can take longer than juveniles. Something about being older makes them less adaptable.
no children, semi high traffic. It's on a stand up against my basement wall.
#8
Guest_BTDarters_*
Guest_BTDarters_*
-
- Guests
Posted 02 September 2008 - 03:37 AM
Zep,
Have the darters associated you with food yet? I always try to be active near the front of the tank when feeding and spoon their food in slowly. When I say "active", I don't mean that I do jumping-jacks near the front of the tank, I just mean that I stand or sit near the front of the tank and don't shy-away if they look like they're going to hide. Usually, after a little while they recognize me and become more relaxed.
Have the darters associated you with food yet? I always try to be active near the front of the tank when feeding and spoon their food in slowly. When I say "active", I don't mean that I do jumping-jacks near the front of the tank, I just mean that I stand or sit near the front of the tank and don't shy-away if they look like they're going to hide. Usually, after a little while they recognize me and become more relaxed.
#9
Guest_dafrimpster_*
Guest_dafrimpster_*
-
- Guests
Posted 02 September 2008 - 09:21 AM
Mine come out of the wood work when I approach the tank. They think I am going to feed them. (and I usually do)
#10
Michael Wolfe
-
- Board of Directors
-
- North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage
Posted 02 September 2008 - 09:43 AM
the sunfish isn't in this tank.
Then yes, you can blame the darters... On the topic of them coming out to see you... they will eventually learn... I have some darter only tanks and similar to what others said, they literally come out of the wood work, or the pant work, or the rock work, when they see me comin... If you are concerned, you could add a couple of shiners to the tank... shiners are so greedy they eat anything (sometimes the same day that are caught), and they 'teach' the darter to eat... in my expereince darters in darter only tanks stay picky about food options... darters mixed in with shiners learn to eat everthing, even flake food... now that I think about it, the darters that eat flake the best are the ones with shiners in their tanks???
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
#11
Guest_threegoldfish_*
Guest_threegoldfish_*
-
- Guests
Posted 02 September 2008 - 10:33 AM
n my expereince darters in darter only tanks stay picky about food options... darters mixed in with shiners learn to eat everthing, even flake food... now that I think about it, the darters that eat flake the best are the ones with shiners in their tanks???
Interesting. I have four swamp darters in a tank. Three of them eat flake and pellets, the fourth refused and basically starved until I started feeding frozen, even with other fish in the tank that would eat the processed stuff. The picky darter doesn't even seem to register it as food, doesn't even mouth the stuff, while the rest of the darters are hovering all over the place, sucking it right up.
#12
Guest_schambers_*
Guest_schambers_*
-
- Guests
Posted 02 September 2008 - 03:26 PM
It definitely helps to have some other fish to teach the new arrivals about food and the food person. I collected some logperch yesterday, and they came out of hiding to see why the other fish were so excited. They didn't eat anything, but they were out looking around at the commotion. They aren't hiding today, and I expect them to be completely spoiled, er I mean socialized, in a week.
#13
Guest_Zephead4747_*
Guest_Zephead4747_*
-
- Guests
Posted 07 September 2008 - 08:34 PM
they are still perpetually scared. I guess time will help.
edit:
I'll probably be going to the petstore in the next few weeks. What kind of tankmates could I get for the middle/top of the tank on the cheap?
edit:
I'll probably be going to the petstore in the next few weeks. What kind of tankmates could I get for the middle/top of the tank on the cheap?
Edited by Zephead4747, 07 September 2008 - 08:36 PM.
#14
Guest_Zephead4747_*
Guest_Zephead4747_*
-
- Guests
Posted 07 September 2008 - 09:57 PM
they are still perpetually scared. I guess time will help.
edit:
I'll probably be going to the petstore in the next few weeks. What kind of tankmates could I get for the middle/top of the tank on the cheap?
I'll probably look for 2x german blue ram chichlids.
any issues with this?
#15
Guest_schambers_*
Guest_schambers_*
-
- Guests
Posted 07 September 2008 - 10:12 PM
I believe Rams like the temperature around 80 degrees F, while rainbow darters prefer to be around 65.
#16
Guest_Hyrb_*
Guest_Hyrb_*
-
- Guests
Posted 08 September 2008 - 04:35 PM
One of the things I've learned is that fish with a lot of plants and rock work to hide in actually show themselves more. Feeling they can get to safety whenever needed makes them a lot more bold and playful 
On the Rams, Don't mix them. Rams are very skittish and high strung for the most part and love the warmer waters. The Bolivian and some Columbian ones are tollerant of cooler temps but still...
On the Rams, Don't mix them. Rams are very skittish and high strung for the most part and love the warmer waters. The Bolivian and some Columbian ones are tollerant of cooler temps but still...
#17
Guest_JohnO_*
Guest_JohnO_*
-
- Guests
Posted 10 September 2008 - 12:20 PM
I built a couple of darter housing complexes in my tank, out of stacked flat creek rocks, pebbles in between to leave room to hide. This gives several levels of hiding places. Some hide most of the time (fantail, dusky), some hide some of the time (variegate, emerald), some tend to stay out in the open (rainbow, greenside, banded), and some have very un-darter like swimming habits (frecklebelly). Frozen bloodworms cure any shyness, they all come running when that hits the water.
For tankmates, how about some shiners? There are some very pretty ones that will really decorate the tank nicely. They're a bit fragile in transport, but if you can get them in the tank and alive for a couple of days, they're good to go. Not at all aggressive, and they don't grow too large. A few schooling fish contrast nicely with the random sprint and sit motion of darters.
For tankmates, how about some shiners? There are some very pretty ones that will really decorate the tank nicely. They're a bit fragile in transport, but if you can get them in the tank and alive for a couple of days, they're good to go. Not at all aggressive, and they don't grow too large. A few schooling fish contrast nicely with the random sprint and sit motion of darters.
0 user(s) are reading this topic
0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users
NANFA Youtube Channel 
