Blacklights???????????????
- Thread starter Roberto C. Wells
- Start date
in college i had black lights and strobe lights, fish didnt care, people pooring beer in the aquarium "i was just gettting the fish drunk" was much more of a problem. personllly i love black lights and if you have some cool stuff to put in there that work with a black light its very cool, great night light.
Black lights (poster type) emit longwave UV light. Prolonged exposure to this UV will cause blindness in your fish.
The most common blacklights aren't strong enough to penetrate more than a couple of inches through water. It's enough to blind fish near the surface but, not enough to fluoresce any decorations coated with fluorescent paint. Industrial and mining blacklights will quickly blind your fish and the UV is so strong that all suspended particles will glow and make the entire tank look like milk.
The only non-abyssal fish that I can think of that will fluoresce under black lights are the genetically-engineered glow zebra danios, SW pineapple fish, and SW flashlight fish.
The most common blacklights aren't strong enough to penetrate more than a couple of inches through water. It's enough to blind fish near the surface but, not enough to fluoresce any decorations coated with fluorescent paint. Industrial and mining blacklights will quickly blind your fish and the UV is so strong that all suspended particles will glow and make the entire tank look like milk.
The only non-abyssal fish that I can think of that will fluoresce under black lights are the genetically-engineered glow zebra danios, SW pineapple fish, and SW flashlight fish.
My friend kept a vampire pleco in a tank backlit by a blacklight mounted on the wall behind the tank for years. The light pointed down rather than on the tank and I never knew it to be a problem. But everything I've ever read says it's a bad idea. SO meh. Stock with Blind Cave tetras and call it a day.