HOW TO SEE NOCTURNAL CATS?
- Thread starter cichlid savage
- Start date
You can use either moon lights or a darkroom lab lightbulb for best results. Also, most species of bottom fish aren't geared to see red light(1st color to refract through water). So, a plain old Wal-Mart red bulb should let you watch the cat act normally in a darkened room.
I tried using a blacklight to view my cats in my 10g tank once (got a pictus and an eclipse and had to keep 'em in there for 2 or 3 months until I could get my 55 going... they get to take their first dive into the 55 tomorrow) and the fish got really skittish really quickly. Any idea as to why they might have done this? Is a red light really that effective for night viewing of catfish? If so, I may construct an array of red led's for my tank so I can watch them at night.
Ok thanks for the tips guys. I think i'm gonna try the cheap way first and go buy a red ligtbulb. I'll give it a shot tonight and let you know the results tomorrow.
I have used a few different type of "moonlights" in my tanks over the past few months. My largest tank is a 75 gallon, which is posted below, and it holds 3 young Red Bellied Piranhas. It's amazing how active they are when the lights go out and all that is on is my moonlight. The best part is that at night I can see in, but they cant see out. I posted some pics to give you an idea...
The first tank is a 10 gallon with 3 blue leds. It had an awesome spotlight effect but was way to much light for such a small tank. I know use a cold cathode tube like I do in the pictures below for that 10 gallon. Still way to bright, but it's just a guppy breeding tank.
The second shot is of my 75 with two 12" cold cathode tubes. It was neat because it lit up the entire tank, but I didnt feel I was giving the fish enough darkness so I went for the next setup.
Ok in the final setup I'm using 1 12" cold cathode tube centerd in my tank. It gives a great spotlight effect in the middle of the tank and on the outsides it's nice and dark. I find that my danios spend most of the night time swimming in the blue light, while the P's swim through the entire tank.
****Also I fed my P's last night with the lights on (this is how I normally feed), but they didn't seem to active. So I figured I'd shut the lights off and use jsut the moonlight and it was amazing. Within seconds of the lights going out they were all over the tank gobbling up all the silversides they could find. I feel that a moonlight of any type is essential to any tank that you want to view at night. I would almost rather not have any lights and always view my tank like it is in the pictures!
Best of luck!
The first tank is a 10 gallon with 3 blue leds. It had an awesome spotlight effect but was way to much light for such a small tank. I know use a cold cathode tube like I do in the pictures below for that 10 gallon. Still way to bright, but it's just a guppy breeding tank.
The second shot is of my 75 with two 12" cold cathode tubes. It was neat because it lit up the entire tank, but I didnt feel I was giving the fish enough darkness so I went for the next setup.
Ok in the final setup I'm using 1 12" cold cathode tube centerd in my tank. It gives a great spotlight effect in the middle of the tank and on the outsides it's nice and dark. I find that my danios spend most of the night time swimming in the blue light, while the P's swim through the entire tank.
****Also I fed my P's last night with the lights on (this is how I normally feed), but they didn't seem to active. So I figured I'd shut the lights off and use jsut the moonlight and it was amazing. Within seconds of the lights going out they were all over the tank gobbling up all the silversides they could find. I feel that a moonlight of any type is essential to any tank that you want to view at night. I would almost rather not have any lights and always view my tank like it is in the pictures!
Best of luck!
Don't try a black light. A standard blacklight is longwave UV (like those used for poster art). More expensive black lights are shortwave UV. To your fish, this will feel like sunlight and has the chance of causing eye damage to your fish. Also, if you keep your tank alkaline by way of limestone, suspended particles will fluoresce under UV and make seeing in your tank impossible.