Lights on

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ccdoido38

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 30, 2007
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Whenever I turn on my lights in the morning(i'm rushing), my fish freak out(especially id sharks) and stir up the gravel, bump their nose, etc.

How can I stop this?

I tried lifting up the lighting and pointing it towards the ceiling and then gradually to the tank but it is heavy and takes too much time(2 minutes in the morning is worth an hour for me)

And I also tried turning it on and then immediatley turning it off, as to make the lights "blink". i repeat this a few times but they still get freaked.


should i just not worry about their injuries? i'm most concerned about a nitrate bomb from them kicking the gravel. if i go bare-bottom, would i still get nitrate bombs like this?
 
Yea I have a similar problem. When I turn my light on in the morning my pleco and Bichir go wild. I have tried putting a lamp nearby and turning that on before the tank's light and it seems to help. At least that way its not too much of a shock.
 
Like everyone else says: Do you turn on the lights in the room first? Try turning on the lights in the room, then turning on the tank's light. Sometimes fish are just skittish, and there's not much you can do, but it's probably the pace at which things are happening that's freaking them out. Try doing it more slowly, or, just get up a few minutes earlier so you don't have to rush.
 
i'll try turning on the room first. good point. i leave early(dark)

but i'm seriously need to do something. the eye on my shark is peeling off and makes me want to just pull it off...
 
Scorponok;1419618; said:
Does the sun just pop up all of a sudden? If it does I would freak out too.
Click to expand...

Ha! Good stuff. I turn the room lights on and let them warm up to that for 5-10 minutes, then I turn one side of the tank lights on, wait a minute, then turn on the other side. I do the reverse when turning off.
 
Another thing that seems to work for me is a timer. They are very in-expensive and help a ton when it comes to the morning "freak-out"

I set the lights to come on shortly after sun-rise, so the sun does the natural, gradual "wake-up" period. I have them shut off about 8 pm every night and that doesn't seem to bother them. I realize that sunrise changes daily, so I make it a point to adjust the timer when I do my monthly water change.
 
All good advice... you also might try something like a moon light.. so that you have small light at night and it's not as much of a shock to go into full light in the day. I've never had any fish that do that though.
 
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