Planted Tank, Datnoid, lighting Qs.

[Fogs]

I currently have a planted tank with some Mermaid Weed, an Amazon Sword, Ludwigia, and one other plant idk what its called.

Anyways, i have a juvenile Silver Datnoid (Datanoides Polota) and he is clearly light sensitive. Possibly he is sensitive because hes young or it might just be a species thing? When the lights are on he mostly sits in the darkest corners of the tank and just sits there for hours. Even if i have only the blue lights on hes somewhat sensitive. My parameters and water quality is great thats never been an issue. The tank is adequately sized, hes about 20 times smaller than the length of the tank.

Almost the second i switch all the lights off he starts becoming more bold and soaring around the tank much more. I am wondering what i should do because i have a double-edged sword here. If i deduct the lights my plants might suffer, if i leave the lights on the Datnoid might be stressed. Ultimately, im thinking if theres some simple way for me to diffuse the lighting, but even if i diffuse it a little i dont see much of a reaction from the dat unless the lights are fully off. Maybe i should leave the lights on multiple days and just let him get over it himself? Ive heard dats become more bold as they get older?

I currently have two Aqueon LED Clip-on plant lights, one on each side of the tank. They are pretty bright/strong lights for their size.

Any suggestions?

 

[DrownedFishonFire]

Throw in some floaters maybe it can help? I was worried about it in my tank setup. The fish group: clouded archerfish being a top column species and they appericate the dense covering of the floaters. I kept tube rings floating on top to keep light coming in certain spots. Its a win/win

 

[kno4te]

I’d wait it out. The dat will get more bold as it grows. If u want to lower the light then dose some fertz in the water and provide some root tabs.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; I agree with the plant tab fert. The sword is a root feeder. I stick a plant tab into the substrate at the base of the sword.

The tank looks good as pictured, but since you asked here are a couple of suggestions. You have structure well placed but from the photos it does not appear to offer many hiding spots. I have found with some shy fish they stay out and about when they have plenty of hiding spots. I do like the look of the tank and making that sort of changes might spoil the look. If you like it as much as I do then perhaps let it stay that way for a while and see if the fish adjusts. You can change things around later on.

I hope the plants do well. One thing I have been doing for a while is to have a thicker layer of substrate in a planted tank with rooted plants. Usually four plus inches. I use roughly bb to small pea sized gravel however. It looks like you have sand and there can be an issue with a deep sand bed. The fine sand can pack to the point of forming anaerobic pockets which can lead to some problems.

One thing about tanks is they usually change over time so you will likely need to do something later on. But nice setup and good luck.

 

[Fogs]

Thanks for the input guys. Ive decided to stick with the current lighting to see if he grows more bold in the coming weeks. Today he was hovering around his little area with a bit more roaming and less sitting which seems to be a good sign. I also like the idea of the tabs. Secondly I might install some egg crate plaskolite on the top of the tank as a lid to diffuse the lighting and im also considering a floating log or something al i dont want the tanins from it to cloud the water.

These are some more recent pictures with the final plants i installed. It covers more of the tank leaving less open space which hopefully helps. One of my lights is a newer model than the other which bothers me because its brighter but hopefully i can upgrade it to match soon.

My rhino pleco seems to have no problem with the light as you can see him chillin on the glass in the pics. Hes always out and about.