I have silver dollars who are extremely skittish even after I've had them for quite awhile. They're about 3 inches and I have 5 of them in my 90. They keep banging into the glass everytime I turn the room lights on or reach over the tank for maintenance. Do you guys have any ways of preventing this? So far I've gotten put plants on the edges of the tank
Skittish Silver dollars
- Thread starter shua71
- Start date
I have a few I've had a long time too. This is one fish that never seems to get settled with you. They will jet to the other side of the tank your at. I think its just there nature. I have mine with lots of other fish but they still act skittish and if startled will slam the glass in a panic.
Yeah, I have had SD for years and although they calm down a bit they are always skittish. I suppose that's what makes them so good to keep with CA/SA Cichlids.
We only ever get the plain ones here and on the very rare occasion we might get Spotted ones (Metynnis lippincottianus) so I got some when I saw them. I would love some of the Black Bar and Red Hook ones you see on here though!
We only ever get the plain ones here and on the very rare occasion we might get Spotted ones (Metynnis lippincottianus) so I got some when I saw them. I would love some of the Black Bar and Red Hook ones you see on here though!
CODzilla;5037124; said:Yeah, I have had SD for years and although they calm down a bit they are always skittish. I suppose that's what makes them so good to keep with CA/SA Cichlids.
We only ever get the plain ones here and on the very rare occasion we might get Spotted ones (Metynnis lippincottianus) so I got some when I saw them. I would love some of the Black Bar and Red Hook ones you see on here though!
I actually have the black bar ones. Just sucks seeing that some of them have damaged faces from banging into the glass. Would adding plastic plants to the sides of the tank help out?
I have several species of " silver dollars": both wide bar and thin bar Myleus schomburgki, Mylossoma sp. Myleus rubripinnis as well as red belly and black pacu; they all can be skittish with the pacu being the most anxious. I found that keeping dark covers over the tanks helps with the pacu as well as maintaining water quality. I once had to put two large parrot cichlids in with my red hooks and I did notice that the slow movng parrots seemed to create a sense of calm within the red hooks. I guess they acted like a slow moving dither fish. I am not a fan of hybrids so I gave the parrots back to a friend, and the red hooks are still relatively calm.
rurry44;5037791; said:
I don't think another fish would calm them as I have dats with them. I couldn't imagine a large skittish pacu that would be horrible. Have you tried painting the sides or covering with plants?
I know this is an old thread, but I have Pacu and Silver Dollars and used the same ideas. This is good information for anyone struggling with skittish fish. I placed a sheet over half of my aquarium until the fish settled down (to an acceptable level) after transferring to a larger aquarium. This essentially turns half of the tank into a cave type setting allowing the fish to feel comfortable. You will never remove the flighty behaviors entirely, but eventually the majority of fish will associate your presence with feeding times. A few of my Silver Dollars and Pacu swim up to the front and wait for food after seeing me in the evenings.
I had 9 red hook silver dollars ranging in the 9" mark and they were super skittish. It got so bad that I couldn't even enjoy my tank without them banging into the glass. So I ended up selling them all. Beautiful fish though.