fish sees reflection, will he ever stop?

[mnowicki]

Hey all,

As long as my tank lights are turned on my powder brown will swim along the glass, often pretty violently, spreading his fins, turning dark in color, etc. I figured he would eventually realize its a reflection or just simply ignore it, but its been weeks. Will he ever stop? I feel he is stressing out, and even scratched himself against some rock twice already, so i haven't been turning the lights on lately. Any ways to alleviate this?

Matt

[Lynnmw1208]

I was wondering the same thing myself! My kole tang does this as well especially when the sun starts going down because it's dark in the room. I just hope he doesn't stress himself out!!

[mnowicki]

yeh, instead of him getting used to it, it seems like it stresses him out more and more. I can leave the tank lights on for about 4-5 minutes now and he is breathing hard, completely black, and racing all along the glass. I haven't had my tank lights on for days now and don't know what to do. I'm FOWL but just spent $200 bucks on DIY LEDs making the tank look awesome and now i can't even use them bc of this gorgeous but dumb fish.

[bamf25]

yeh, instead of him getting used to it, it seems like it stresses him out more and more. I can leave the tank lights on for about 4-5 minutes now and he is breathing hard, completely black, and racing all along the glass. I haven't had my tank lights on for days now and don't know what to do. I'm FOWL but just spent $200 bucks on DIY LEDs making the tank look awesome and now i can't even use them bc of this gorgeous but dumb fish.

Are your led's on a dimmer? If so turn them way way fown than gradually bring them up over a few days. If you can raise them up away from the tank to change the intensity do that also. if they are constant level try partially blocking the light out with a screen or something like that.

[mnowicki]

not on a dimmer but i can just put something in front of them. worth a shot, i'll start tomorrow.

have you tried this method and got it to work?

[disc1]

One of these days when you have a tank that doesn't have anything in it but water, sick your head in there and look out. No reflection. That is an optical effect from looking through the two panes of glass. The front glass refracts a high angle reflection from the side and makes it look as though it is mirrored. But from the inside, you wouldn't see any reflection, you would just see out.

The fish isn't freaking on his reflection, he is freaking on a glass wall. He wan't to swim out into the rest of the room. He has no idea that there's not water out there too. It's just like any other animal that paces in front of the bars of its cage.

[Caetano_Thiago]

interesting..

[sandwi54]

One of these days when you have a tank that doesn't have anything in it but water, sick your head in there and look out. No reflection. That is an optical effect from looking through the two panes of glass. The front glass refracts a high angle reflection from the side and makes it look as though it is mirrored. But from the inside, you wouldn't see any reflection, you would just see out.

The fish isn't freaking on his reflection, he is freaking on a glass wall. He wan't to swim out into the rest of the room. He has no idea that there's not water out there too. It's just like any other animal that paces in front of the bars of its cage.

that's a great explanation on the misconception of fish seeing its reflections. i was going to use an easier explanation that when we look at the tank, we see what's inside it and not our own reflection! it's the same way when fish look at the tank glass... they see what's outside and not their own reflection!

[bamf25]

I was thinking more stimulation by the high light leve.

[ed102475]

I tapped some paper to the side of the tank that my tang was doing this on . It stopped after that , I took the paper down after a week.

[AaronM]

Nahh not keen. Fish can sometimes see their reflection. Put ya head in ya tank, turn the room lights off and the tank lights on...and wink at yourself. Maybe just turn your room lights on at night...and admire your reflection in the window...i'm doig it now....can't see everything, but from what i can see...adonis....enough for me to wanna have a dig.

[Lynnmw1208]

I tapped some paper to the side of the tank that my tang was doing this on . It stopped after that , I took the paper down after a week.

Thanks for that. I think I will do this. My tang does only do this on the 2 front corners. The rest of the time he is picking off rocks.

[Bigcefa]

Who sticks their head in their fish tanks for serial...

[BIG_KAHUNA]

I thought about it lol but then again I wouldn't expect the fish to stop either. I'm pretty sure fish aren't self-aware.

[AaronM]

Silliness aside, fish can see some kind of reflection at some times. Common sense/face value/observation tells you this. Sometimes i guess the reflection can trip a fish out, especially in a novel environment when the fish is on higher alert. OCD fish maybe ;)

Paper seems like a great idea... breaks the view the fish is used too, and hopefully the routine of attention to reflection...