What fish motion is unhealthy and neurotic?

[Sk8r]

Repetitive motion...back and forth, following the same track endlessly and nervously. In zoos this is called 'perimeter pacing.' It's neurotic behavior, and some fish are inclined to it.

How to stop it?

An obstacle, a rock, is one way, making 'pillars' of your rockwork, and arches.

Enlightened zoos have taken to using 'folded space,' making obstacles and pathways in a cage, so that the animals utilize all the space in the cage, not just the edges: result, healthier animals, better feeding, and more natural behaviors. Plus they're more fun to watch, 'doing' something.

One of the best ways to 'fold space' in a tank is to randomize the flow/currents in your tank with a wave or motion device. I use two opposing Sea Swirls in a wedge-shaped tank. There are Wavemakers, etc, a number of brands, but the general idea is this: the currents are as solid and real to the fish as the chairs and tables in your room. They lean on them, rely on them---but they're used to a lot more room than your tank has. So you change the scenery, by making the currents move and shift, and even the most determined place-holding fish or pacer will have to wake up, adjust, and reorient---plus get a workout in the process.

I'm convinced this is a big help to fishy health, overall. They haven't got much mind, but imho, it needs exercise, and so do their bodies.

Plus you'll notice an improvement in growth of your corals, particularly lps and mushrooms, which will have food a lot better distributed to them.

[silverwolf72]

Good suggestions

[HPD Turbo]

WOW!!!!!!

I have a Tang (Hawaii) that is a kind of loop swiming in circules under a rock.Is this bad?, he is afraid all the time when he see me. It has been in the tank for 3 weeks.

[Sk8r]

A motion generator might help him: tangs are like ramjets---they swim hard, breathe in tons of oxygen, and are tremendously strong swimmers for their size.

You know those swimming pool devices you can get, where you turn a little swimming pool into a really big one by swimming against the current this thing puts out---you swim practically in place, and you can swim the equivalent of Olympic laps in a 10 foot pool.

I don't think you can do that much for a fish, but you can complicate the currents and give him something to swim against, so long as it doesn't make your sand get up and walk.

I think a tang would be really much happier if he had to work harder.

[techigirl78]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9922968#post9922968 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by HPD Turbo
WOW!!!!!!

I have a Tang (Hawaii) that is a kind of loop swiming in circules under a rock.Is this bad?, he is afraid all the time when he see me. It has been in the tank for 3 weeks.

Is it eating? I thought that this was a symptom of neurological damage, but I may be wrong.

[Sk8r]

It definitely can be, when there's traumatic injury to the brain---it can also manifest due to prolonged confinement in a minimal environment, under-stimulation, I suspect. Fish that are caught in a self-directed endless loop or series of loops may not eat well, even if they are eating. Certainly they don't thrive.

A fish that is looping frenetically, particularly in an entirely unvarying and fairly short path, may be manifesting more acute neurological symptoms, from trauma. But this fish reported shows fear of approach...so he is processing, mentally, in some regard, so I'd try varying the flow, even redirecting an outflow, or adding a second pump, to see how he reacts.

[Sepeku]

I have a yellow tang that for roughly 3 weeks would never "come out". If you saw him, it was because you were looking at the tank from the other side of the room.

If you ever got close, he'd hide and look at you from behind a corner.

Now he's the most visible fish being the first to wander around in the morning and the last to go to bed. :lol:

And I never noticed it till now, but I think he started being more active when I added the SCWD equipped closed loop.

Edit: (With still camera shyness)
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/146071Picture_020rc.jpg

[r0bin]

I must have strange fish. One side of my tank has more flow than the other due to the way my powerheads are aimed. The weird thing my fish avoid that side of the tank and all have there territories on the lower flow side of the tank. Are they Lazy, lol? See fish list in my signature. Also I think swim behavior is sometimes an indication of something being off in your water quality. I had an dwarf angel swim back in forth constantly, turned out my PH was low.