daninthesand
09-17-2003, 06:01 PM
I have been making repeated observations of a reproducible phenomenon.
Its not rocket science but it seems to make a difference.
I have this one tank which is built into the wall in the basement. Above that is the kitchen, a well travelled area. I used to think the fish would get scared by the sounds above.
So I sat quietly on the basement couch across from this tank, drinking errr coffee, while my wife putters around upstairs in the kitchen. She walks around (hardwood floors) in shoes (don't be talking about barefeet and all that hahahah!)and some days it sounds like it should bother the fish. There willl be pans dropped, brooms dropped , vacuming etc etc etc. I even had Rachel jump and and down a few times to watch the fish and their reaction. Unless its a huge bang like a hammer dropped or something, the fish don't care.
What does this have to do with light? Well, you see I have noticed the fish get spooked at times, mostly due to a light going OFF suddenly. This tank can be viewed from both sides. The couch side and the storage room behind it. I have a removable background on the storage room side. When I forget to replace it, the fish have two sides to look out from. This is when the fish are particularly skittish.
So I did an experiment. There is a light immediately above the tank. And another one in the storage room behind it. And another one in front of it in the sitting area.
I leave the tank light on. I leave the background ON. I shut the light off in the sitting area and the fish jump only slightly. They don't care if I turn the light back on.
So now with the tank light still on, I take the background OFF. And I shut off the light in sitting area again. WHAMO! The fish freak like there is no tomorrow. I turn the light back on. No reaction. Turn it off again. Slam! I can repeat this several times before the fish seem to get used to it and stop reacting. If I try it again an hour or two later, same thing.
This happens even worse if the light I turn on and off is in the storage area (again with the back ground off) If I have the back ground on, the fish can't see the light go out in the storage room so they don't react.
This leads me to conclude two things.
1. They react to the light going off suddenly. (not going ON)
2. The reaction is worse with the background off.
Is the background giving the fish some sense of security so they react less? And is the light going off a signal of an approaching predator? I'm sure to them it seems so.
This same tank has sunlight almost hit it around noon. The wall opposite it gets full sun. So they see this wall. If I walk by and block the sunlight so that they now see a darker wall, they freak out here too. Its worse with the background OFF. When there is no sunlight, i can walk run, do cartwheels (well i can try) in front of the tank and they don't care. With the lights out or not.
This may all sound silly, but I've stopped forgetting to replace the background. (moslty 'cause Rachel hates looking through the tank into the messy storage room.) And I try to avoid shutting off lights when ever I have the background off.
It has made a difference. A noticeable difference.
BTW These fish are wild fish so they may have a more intense reaction, having possibly encountered this in the wild with dire consequences to their siblings.
just my 2 cents.
Daniel
Its not rocket science but it seems to make a difference.
I have this one tank which is built into the wall in the basement. Above that is the kitchen, a well travelled area. I used to think the fish would get scared by the sounds above.
So I sat quietly on the basement couch across from this tank, drinking errr coffee, while my wife putters around upstairs in the kitchen. She walks around (hardwood floors) in shoes (don't be talking about barefeet and all that hahahah!)and some days it sounds like it should bother the fish. There willl be pans dropped, brooms dropped , vacuming etc etc etc. I even had Rachel jump and and down a few times to watch the fish and their reaction. Unless its a huge bang like a hammer dropped or something, the fish don't care.
What does this have to do with light? Well, you see I have noticed the fish get spooked at times, mostly due to a light going OFF suddenly. This tank can be viewed from both sides. The couch side and the storage room behind it. I have a removable background on the storage room side. When I forget to replace it, the fish have two sides to look out from. This is when the fish are particularly skittish.
So I did an experiment. There is a light immediately above the tank. And another one in the storage room behind it. And another one in front of it in the sitting area.
I leave the tank light on. I leave the background ON. I shut the light off in the sitting area and the fish jump only slightly. They don't care if I turn the light back on.
So now with the tank light still on, I take the background OFF. And I shut off the light in sitting area again. WHAMO! The fish freak like there is no tomorrow. I turn the light back on. No reaction. Turn it off again. Slam! I can repeat this several times before the fish seem to get used to it and stop reacting. If I try it again an hour or two later, same thing.
This happens even worse if the light I turn on and off is in the storage area (again with the back ground off) If I have the back ground on, the fish can't see the light go out in the storage room so they don't react.
This leads me to conclude two things.
1. They react to the light going off suddenly. (not going ON)
2. The reaction is worse with the background off.
Is the background giving the fish some sense of security so they react less? And is the light going off a signal of an approaching predator? I'm sure to them it seems so.
This same tank has sunlight almost hit it around noon. The wall opposite it gets full sun. So they see this wall. If I walk by and block the sunlight so that they now see a darker wall, they freak out here too. Its worse with the background OFF. When there is no sunlight, i can walk run, do cartwheels (well i can try) in front of the tank and they don't care. With the lights out or not.
This may all sound silly, but I've stopped forgetting to replace the background. (moslty 'cause Rachel hates looking through the tank into the messy storage room.) And I try to avoid shutting off lights when ever I have the background off.
It has made a difference. A noticeable difference.
BTW These fish are wild fish so they may have a more intense reaction, having possibly encountered this in the wild with dire consequences to their siblings.
just my 2 cents.
Daniel