Has anyone else…

[Joshuakahan]

Noticed their fish all tend to stay on one side of the tank? It’s weird but mine do this and both sides are the same. Each side has a spray bar from a canister filter, each side has a the same heater set to the same temp, and each side is decorated almost identical, but all my fish seem to prefer the left side

 

[PhishMon84]

mine just stay on whatever side im on- i feel like aquaman

 

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

Noticed their fish all tend to stay on one side of the tank? It’s weird but mine do this and both sides are the same. Each side has a spray bar from a canister filter, each side has a the same heater set to the same temp, and each side is decorated almost identical, but all my fish seem to prefer the left side

And I thought I was the only one with fish that did that! Left side too! ?
I suspect it may have to do with the environment outside the tank. My tank is roughly the same as yours in terms of the above criteria (except the decor), but even when I made the decor on both sides identical, they still preferred left.
However, the right side of the tank is far more 'exposed' (less furniture and whatnot surrounding it).

 

[Joshuakahan]

And I thought I was the only one with fish that did that! Left side too! ?
I suspect it may have to do with the environment outside the tank. My tank is roughly the same as yours in terms of the above criteria (except the decor), but even when I made the decor on both sides identical, they still preferred left.
However, the right side of the tank is far more 'exposed' (less furniture and whatnot surrounding it).

I think it is outside environment, the tanks in the garage and the door from the house to the garage is near the right side

 

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

Wow!! That's exactly how it is with my tank too, right side is much closer to the outside door.
I'm amazed at how similar the scenarios in our tanks are.

 

[esoxlucius]

It's common knowledge that different fish hang about in different levels of the water column. Top dwellers, midwater dwellers and bottom dwellers. We all know this.

But did you also know that different fish like to hang about at different ends of the tank!!

Looks like you need some fish that hang about at the other end, lol.

Joking aside, I've never experienced this phenomenon, my fish are all over the tank.

 

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

I will say that before the rescue Siamese fighting fish I had in that tank was killed from a heater malfunction, he was more than happy to spend a lot of time on the right side of the tank. Maybe the more aggressive-interactive the fish in question is (and Siamese fighting fish are top tier in that regard), the less the outside environment worries it.

 

[Deadeye]

Also probably has to do with decor and territories.
In my bigger tanks, some fish pretty much only use the right, and others the left, just based on how much cover they want and which parts have been claimed.