puffer_girl said:
Hey Puffer Girlie..!
Be careful what you use.. Because the Palembangs come from Asia, and there isn't alot of black water over there! Although it might dim your water a little, the effects of messing with your water quality might be detrimental to your lil puffer.
Try using some floating plants, and put a 'sheath' over your bulb.. They are long tubes designed to fit over a flourescent bulb, in order to change the color of your lighting.. Often popular with the kiddies, but there is a dark amber colored one that will dim your lighting quite a bit. Combine this with some floating plants and more cover at the top of the tank, and he should become more active.
If you liked the look of the tannin stained water, I prefer to use almond leaves, as they seem to not cause as many water paramater problems.. I could be VERY wrong on this one, but HarleyK will give a better answer.
I have also had light skittish fish, but I trained them with food to be more active during the lighted hours.. Such as my black ghost knife and elephant nose.. I keep their tank dark 90% of the time, and only feed them right after I turn on the light.. They quickly learned when I turn on the light, that it is feeding time.. Now they become VERY VERY active whenever the light is on.
You could also look into getting a smaller light fixtures that uses incandescent screw-in bulbs, in which you could place some very low wattage ones in the fixture .. like night lights
Hope that helps!
