Bright Gravel...Stressed fish?

B

Brooklyn

AC Members
Dec 30, 2005
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Ok, so I got a 30g for Christmas....I've been cycling it (haven't lost a fish yet, all seem healthy) but the Betta I added on Friday seems to be stressed. I am wondering if my gravel isn't too bright and un-natural. I am new at this...does a natural looking environment make a difference in the fishes moods.

Here is a photo of my tank....(I couldn't reduce it...sorry :)

fishtank-reduced.jpg
 
I think you have missed the point of cycling a tank. It is supposed to be cycled with NO fish in it, only water gravel and decoration. This gives the tank time to build up bacteria and other good stuff the fish will need.

As far as im concerned a tank should be as near to a natural habitat as possible, id never use plastic plants or anything but black or natural gravel in a tank. Fish and plant colours will be far more vibrant against a dark colour
 
When I looked up cycling a tank (it was a problem that was killing my fish), it said that tank cycling didn't start until you added fish to it. You can see the article here, though:
http://www.bestfish.com/breakin.html
I might've mistunderstood.

And I've never tried using red gravel before... all I use are white, green and blue, though I'm going to change that all to grey-black soon. But the bright gravel has never stressed out my fish.
Sorry I couldn't help more!
 
I've used everything from natural gravel to rainbow colored gravel. I personally prefer a darker more natural look. The gravel should not really stress out the fish. Some tanks are bare bottomed and the fish do fine. I've kept happy healthy fish for years in a rainbow gravel tank and the same in a natural gravel tank. My view is that the gravel is for your aesthetic enjoyment. The fish could care less about the color of the gravel.
 
Cycling can be done with or without fish. Unless I'm mistaken, the important thing is to make sure you have a source of ammonia to get things going, be it from natural fish wastes or from a bottle. Generally speaking, it is much safer and less tedious to cycle without fish, and that's why it gets recommended around here a lot.

Anyway, what sort of symptoms is the stressed out betta displaying?

When I first put my betta in a filtered tank, he had troubles dealing with the current for the first week or so. He spent a lot of time flaked out on the bottom, just exhausted from swimming-- apparently some pet store bettas never really get the chance to swim in moving water, and its quite a workout for them at first (especially with those long flowing fins to pull along and all). It was something of a mystery to me at first, since his water conditions were perfect. But eventually, I saw a significant improvement in his behaviour, and he's been fine ever since. You could be having a similar problem, but I would still suggest testing your water parameters just in case there's something chemical going on. In any case, doing more frequent water changes to see if it perks him up couldn't hurt.
 
There are articles at the top of the forum that are "stickied" about fishless cycling. It's better for the fish.

Me...I'm always feel sorry for fish in tanks with garish colored gravel, I think it is more stressful. I have a Baensch aquarium atlas which is a reference guide on a lot of fish types, and it even included the notation on what kind of substrate fish like, and the majority are dark.
 
Very nice looking tank you've got set up.

I don't think it's your gravel. It's most likely the fact that the tank is new that is stressing the fish, as water properties have probably not quite evened out yet.
 
I know about Cycling....Added a female betta.

About the fishless/fish cycling.....

I had a ten gallon tank that i replaced with this one. I still had the algea eater and three tetras. I transferred about half of their water for some of the nitrates to keep my tank from developing "new tank" syndrome. I also took plants and rocks from the old tank to help with the bio load on the initial transfer. So, basically the fish upon transfer had approx. 5 gallons of cycled water, farmiliar plants and various rocks. I olnly added in an additional 15 gallons of spring water which I treated before adding to the tanks. So initially they started out with only 20 gallons in a 30g tank. I added a heater and then began to add water each day for 5 days until th tank was full. Then I began my water testing and water changes as too prevent any water issues with the fish.

SO, I understand Cycling.

Behaviors: All of the old fish took to the tank awesomely!! They seemed overjoyed to be in a bigger tank and flew around like they were dancing for joy...I know fish can't dance...it was a metphor :)

I am only adding one to two fish per week until I get the tank full so as to monitor the water issues.

About the Betta: When I added the betta he did not swim around and acted quite depressed. I added a femlae this weekend to see if that might help in his depression since I knew it wasn't sickness related. It worked nicely. He started swimming around and strutting his stuff...puffing out and fanning his fins.. But now she's depressed and seems afraid of him. I think it might just be a adjustment period.

????????Can I add more than 1 female betta???????? She might dinf more peace if she had a group to run with and offer her some protection from the male. If he does become aggressive towards her, I have a bowl primmed and ready for his grumpy self :)

Any imput.....

Sorry it got long.
 
Thanks for the nice comment on my tank.....I wanted an eye catcher...that's why i used the red gravel...

To minimize the stress I was afraid it might cause the fish I don't turn the tank on when I'm not at home. So bascially they are only in the light in the evening for about 5-6 hours. (I heard somewhere that fish don't like the light on all the time...how do people know that??? ;) )
 
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