I'm planning on building a better stand for one of my tanks. I read somewhere that fish are less spooked if their tank is head level as apposed to waist level. Any thoughts or experiences?
Head or waist?
- Thread starter Cheifwalnut
- Start date
I have kids who love to stand and stare and get my glass all buggered up. That being said, all my fish seem to do pretty well as far as skittishness. My stands are all 30-32 inches except my double stand which puts one of the tanks at head height but there are Oscars in it and they don't spook at all anyway.
I think I can defensively tell with some species that if you have tank waist level they are more skittish. Seems like a huge predator walking there way. The flowerhorn in my avatar is an example.
One thing to consider: how are you going to reach inside the tank if it's at head level? I have a tank that comes up to shoulder height on me, and it's a pain to reach anything anywhere near the bottom. I have to get a step stool just to reach the bottom. You'd need a high step stool to get into a head-height tank, and then what happens if a fish makes you jump back?
I think that the tank at head level would be calmer do to less movement. Tanks at foot level are the worst because of foot and leg movement. So if your fish are skittish make the stand the higher option.
yes I love head level to. I think it's better to look at. Fish stores do the same thing to see more fish, higher tanks sell better because they are more visually appealing. The fish like it more to in my experience. My arowana would freak out when I had it in a lower tank
The most common predator of many aquarium fish, other than other fish, are birds.
Shadows over the top can be especially alarming to to fish such as cichlids, I've found they are much calmer in higher tanks.
I watched this cormorant fish for cichlids, and catfish in a cenote in Mexico.
Shadows over the top can be especially alarming to to fish such as cichlids, I've found they are much calmer in higher tanks.
I watched this cormorant fish for cichlids, and catfish in a cenote in Mexico.
IME generally no difference between the two, most fish will adjust to either or.
Interesting, I wonder if it was more to do with floor vibrations, vs movement and/or the height of stand? I have friends in town that keep Asian aros and I have never seen any issues, including one friend who used to import Asian aros (a dozen or more at a time) from Singapore. His holding tanks were stacked floor to ceiling and I never noticed any behavioral differences between the fish kept on the floor, vs those stacked up top.
Interesting, I wonder if it was more to do with floor vibrations, vs movement and/or the height of stand? I have friends in town that keep Asian aros and I have never seen any issues, including one friend who used to import Asian aros (a dozen or more at a time) from Singapore. His holding tanks were stacked floor to ceiling and I never noticed any behavioral differences between the fish kept on the floor, vs those stacked up top.
it was I'm a 220 gallon at around waist level and every time I went into the room it would go nuts smashing the lids. Sold it to a friend who put it in a 280 that was at eye level and it never freaked out. Another thing I noticed is it did not like the color red, if I had a red shirt or sweater on watch out because he was leaving the tank