I got a longnose dace earlier today. when i left (and when I got home) he was behaving as expected, sitting on the botton, occasionally dashing from one spot to another.

But now he's started a strange behavior, vertically dashing up and down the tank wall at a high rate of speed. He's done it on several sides of the tank but prefers it between the bubbler and the power head.

This worries me as the power head is the only uncovered part of the tank (the cover could not fit their) and it looks like he could easilly jump out from this.

Is he doing this to reach the current? (I got him from a high current area) to hunt snails? (snails stick to the tank walls) or for another reason?

I got a longnose dace earlier today. when i left (and when I got home) he was behaving as expected, sitting on the botton, occasionally dashing from one spot to another.

But now he's started a strange behavior, vertically dashing up and down the tank wall at a high rate of speed. He's done it on several sides of the tank but prefers it between the bubbler and the power head.

This worries me as the power head is the only uncovered part of the tank (the cover could not fit their) and it looks like he could easilly jump out from this.

Is he doing this to reach the current? (I got him from a high current area) to hunt snails? (snails stick to the tank walls) or for another reason?

This is fairly normal. I think it may just be related to how they act in streams, they like (just a guess I've never asked one) to use the current to hold them close to boulders and such making the mad dashes occassionally. In the tank they may just be using the glass to orient their bodies to some structure especially in higher flow areas. Better cover that area they do jump.

Edited by keepnatives, 23 June 2009 - 12:26 AM.

I got a longnose dace earlier today. when i left (and when I got home) he was behaving as expected, sitting on the botton, occasionally dashing from one spot to another.

But now he's started a strange behavior, vertically dashing up and down the tank wall at a high rate of speed. He's done it on several sides of the tank but prefers it between the bubbler and the power head.

This worries me as the power head is the only uncovered part of the tank (the cover could not fit their) and it looks like he could easilly jump out from this.

Is he doing this to reach the current? (I got him from a high current area) to hunt snails? (snails stick to the tank walls) or for another reason?

I had a longnose dace at one time. He did this same thing. He would swim up and down vertically in the tank. He didn't dash, but would swim up and down.

Also, do you have a background on your tank? I have noticed that sometimes with new fish, you can wrap the sides and back (if you dont already) and it will help them learn boundaries. They haven't encountered glass confinements and that may help. I wish you luck with your longnose - I know they can be hard to keep.

my current longnose dace (big red and little grey, yes i sort of nicknamed them on size and color) fare much better than my first one and act more stable. But I noticed a new and odd behavior today.

It's not uncommon for ANY of my minnows to chase smaller fish in front of them. Ususally they do not persue them far. In fact this rough and tumble behavior of chasing and finding out who is boss has at times had me think of minnows as "community fish, if your idea of a community is a football game".

But I was shocked, i never thought i'd see one actually tackle another fish.

It was feeding time and big red (the king of my tank as the largest fish) suddenly took off after a fathead minnow and pinned it to the bottom for a few seconds. This behavior was odd and seemed new to me. Is this unique? could this grow to be a problem?

I think it's pretty common for a lot of fish. I remember many of my tropical catfishes doing "laps" around the perimeter of the tank for unknown reasons....never had any problems with them other than a slight feeling that I am rasining goofy creatures.