Lights on or off at night??

[flyfishfordiscus]

Hello all,

Just wondering how many of you leave your tank lights on 24 hours. Does this bother the discus? I just hate seeing them slam into the sides of the tanks when I turn the lights on in the a.m. No matter how calm I am around the tanks, I just can't seem to keep them from spazzing out as soon as the lights go on.

Do fish tend to grow slower with lights on 24/7? I've had trouble getting my fish to grow past 4" to 5" even with 50-60% water changes 4-5 times weekly and beefheart/bloodworms 3-4 times daily.

With the lights on, I'm sure they're more active and burning more calories. Could that explain the smaller sizes?

Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

John

[AADiscus]

We only turn the tank lights on if we are working in the tank or feeding. Other than that the lights are off. We do keep a night light on in the fish room.

I don't think keeping the lights on will make them grow slower.

[White Worm]

Lights come on at 730am, I feed them around 8am, lights go off about 930am but they have light all day from the room windows. Lights come on 530pm, I feed them around 6-630pm, lights go out 1130pm. I dont have a night light or anything so they are sleeping in pitch black darkness until morning.

[Audrey]

Lights out at night.:) I think my discus enjoy their quiet time, they seem relaxed.

I have a small lamp in my fish room with a 15-watt light bulb in it that stays on at night...so they never go from complete darkness to instant bright light...heck, people don't even like that! LOL

Audrey

[Harriett]

When I bring in young new fish and they are unfamiliar with the environment and the humans, I do leave the lights on at night to avoid crashing incidents. Once they are acclimated in the QT tank after a week or two, I turn the lights out fairly late in the evening except for a small night light. In the morning, sunlight gives enough visibility; I come in the room and move around for a few minutes before turning on the lights. They recognize me and know they are getting breakfast in a minute. They wait for me in the corner of the tank that I feed from.
Best regards
Harriett

[Westie]

I had a tinfoil barb that used to shoot out of the tank when the light would come on. I always told him one time i wouldn't be there for him...

[diskboy]

i turn my light on and wait 15 min. before i turn the tank light on so they can adjust

[yeomans]

I used to cringe when i would see the discus smash into the tank in the morning when the lights came on, I think this is something that is unavoidable, however i personally think that the fish benifit from having the lights set up on a timer, becuase it establishes sort of a routine that the fish get use to. But it still doesn't solve the quick darting and smashing problem.
a nightlight might help though.

[White Worm]

Daylight is already coming through my windows in their room by 730am when the tank lights come on (timer). That way, they are pretty much already adjusted and the lights dont startle them at all. Then they see me coming down stairs and they all rush to the side of the tank where I feed them. When I am standing at the freezer in my kitchen, they can see me from their tank so I look over and I see 20 little discus faces staring at me for breakfast. Problem is though.....whenever I go to the fridge and they see me, they think they are gonna get some food. They get the most excited when they see the tinfoil glimmer of the hikari bloodworm cubes. They are practically crawling over each other to be the closest and first to eat. I always drop in about 4 cubes so everyone gets plenty to eat. Plus I feed tetra bits and dried blood worms at the same time because I have a few picky eaters.

[sleonard]

My lights are on a timer. They don't come on till 4:30 pm and go off at 9:30 pm. During the day when we are all at work or school, sunlight thru the windows provides them with plenty of light. They don't seem to be bothered when the tank lights come on.

I like this schedule as it saves electricity, cuts down on algae, gives them a more comfortable amount of light during the day and gives us good viewing light in the evening.

[AmazonRainbows]

If the room is dark and I open the light my fish drop in the bottom and bang on anything just like if they where blind. I add a white moonlight and it doesn't help. If I want to open the light without blinding them I have to wait 15 minutes after day light start to show. Leaving a desk light help my fish remain clam because they are in a new tank. The moon light doens't stop young for sleeping but keep the older couple dancing all night. I open the light in the morning around 5h30 ~ 6h30 for feeding and close it 1/2 hour after feeding. They are all day on ambient light. I open the light around 4h30 PM for feeding and close it around 11 at night.

[Carol_Roberts]

I LEAVE A SMALL LAMP ON 24/7

[lora]

I bought a led moon light on ebay to avoid spooking the fish, and it works great. You can get them in different lengths depending on what size tank you have and it gives a moonlight effect when the lights are turned out. I think it's great and the discus seem alot calmer, especially in the morning when I turn the lights on. Another good thing about them is they hardly use any hydro.

[flyfishfordiscus]

Thanks for all the replies!! I didn't expect so many opinions. Guess I'll just go ahead and use the nightlight. Thanks for the ideas.

John

[tpl*co]

I LEAVE A SMALL LAMP ON 24/7

On the breeder tank, I do the same, others get turned off at night :). I have one of those little power compact betta bowl/tank lights that I use on the breeding pairs tank and no other light while the others have full strip lights for the day.

Tina

[Jarrod]

I turn my tank lights off at nite...only lites I leave on 24/7 are the ones in my 2 mt tanks..that does 2 things for me...one gives me some lite when I walk into my room and it's dark lol so I don't trip and fall head first into a tank and two gives my other 2 tanks just enough lite so the fish don't freak out when I come in and start moving around..just how I do it is all
Jarrod