Scared Jardini :-(

[eatme]

Hi folks ...

I've had my Jar for about 5 months now - he's in a 5x2x2 tank and he's about 7-8".

The problem is he's ****-scared of everything ... if I go anywhere near the tank he'll freak ... even when I'm putting in food he still takes ages to come out of his hiding place to eat it. Also his tail is pretty ragged which I take as a sign of stress. He seems fine when there's no movement near the tank tho.

The tank lights are dimmed really low, I have enough space and quite a few plastic plants and wood for him to hide behind. I've recently added loads of bits of plastic plants to just float on the surface to give him a bit of extra cover.

He's currently sharing the tank with two clown loaches and a Syno catfish. When he does swim about he'll chase them from time to time so I'm sure its not them that are bullying.

Do Jar's chill out over time? If not - I might have to find him a new home as to be honest he doesn't look too happy and I'd prefer happy fish.

Stewart

 

[KenyanSandBoa]

Are there any shadows being cast into the tank?

The reason I'm asking is because I had a problem with my Jar getting spooked only when someone would walk past a certain spot in the room. It ended up being the track-lighting that was angled towards the tank would suddenly cast a HUGE shadow and scare the crap out of him. I busted out the ladder and angled it towards the floor and he's been fine ever since.

 

[Justin94565]

Hahaha busted out the ladder

 

[headbanger_jib]

remove the other fish
that has helped my jar

 

[MoMoMo]

i think Jars stress quickly . I remember me that my own was stressed due to the white colour of my substract (natural substract of course ) which bacame flashy whenn i switched on the light .

 

[Acex626]

Hahaha busted out the ladder

Busted out the ladder? DERAIL?

jars are like this when they're young they got kinda jumpy but overtime it should get used to you and the tank and it won't be so jumpy patience is the key for the jar to stop being jumpy try watching him/her for 20 mins a day or so to get it used to who you are

 

[irgaa]

maybe you can try this. covering your tank using newspaper or something, leave it at least 2 weeks, then open..

 

[hbluehunter]

Mine was the same way for awhile... He'd go shooting across the tank and hide when i came up to check him out but after he got a little size to him and tankmates he was fine and comes rushing to food now...

 

[EpiC]

yeh this is normal jars go through spells of being spooked especially when young.
I cured mine after about 2 months of him being an absolute wimp he was scared of anything and race around the tank..
funny I put a really big goldfish in with him probably just small enough for him to possibly eat he hid from it for a whole day and slowly grew bolder and then started looking at it like he didnt know what to do about it.. needless to say i came back that evening and he had a big goldfish in his gob.Ever since then he has been ferocious and very bold unorthodox way of doing it but it worked wonders.

 

[Edwin]

i have a similar problem but my jar acted like that ever since i got him a new home, 120g. when i had him in my grow out tank he did very well wouldn't get scared at all, but since i got him in the 120g he freaks out and hits the heater pretty hard. so wat could cause the problem?