my aro turned nocturnal!!!

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peewee

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Feb 24, 2009
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ok here's the situation, 2 weeks ago i saw my aro hiding beneath the dw, thought it was chilling out or something so i didn't mind. 2 weeks later still doing the same thing so i asked my dad (the only person in the family inclined in keeping fish) if he had fed anything unusual to that particular aro why it acts that way, he said none but instead told me that while he was cleaning the glass from the outside it spooked my green aro and slammed to the glass pretty hard. couldn't argue with him because his temper is pretty high. lol. anyways, i observed it and it does swim normally actively only that it does it at lights out or at total darkness. spends it time like a normal aro does only at dark. it eats only at lights out. anything i could do to turn it to normal again? it does eat. it does swim, and even chases some tank mates only on dim to total dark settings.
 
idk what to really do but my suggestion would be to keep the lights off during the day and on at night it may reverese this problem
 
your aro slammed hard into the glass and is now shakin up. give it some time , maybe a couple days with low lighting but still keep them off at night.
 
Will def take its time.. some time back i had the same problem.. my gran went and bumped the glass.. my aro would us freak out on seeing her and lay low.. depends on the aro itself to get out of the situation.. you can help by not having the tank lights on at night but by having a zero watt night lamp around the tank.. very dim lighting.. cheers.. :)
 
same thing happened with my lil guy.

Here's what worked for me.

week 1, used no tank light, just light from the room. at night time, i used a blue light on the tank and left it on all night, turned off the light in the day and relied on the daylight only.

week 2, cover the sides of the tank except for one section where i tied a ballon, and left the normal top lights on 24/7.

-I used the balloon because it resembles a human head. I figued the fish was shocked from humans. and so in order for it to regain the courage and trust in people, i used the object to get it to be used to people. I would also just sit there at the uncovered section and wave my hands slowly, it would frighten the fish, and send it swimming crazy in all directions, but after a few sconds it calmed down. I would do this for 5min 3 times a day during week 2. Each time the aro would be more and more calm until it started to be normal again.
Now it swims confidently in the light again with me walking into the room and not going berserk,
 
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