e-101011

i have 3 red bellies, 2 about 7", 1 about 4". they had been living with my cichlids (rather peacefully) since i got them as 2" puppies about 4 months ago (2 months for the smaller guy).
in the cichlid tank they always had a white fluorescent light and didn't seem to mind it one bit.
when i put them into their new home i gave them a blue light just because i happened to have a blue light. well, they froze as soon as they hit the water...not floating, just kinda hovering as if catatonic. the little one buried his face in the rocks. i thought maybe they were just stressed from the move across the room (my net was shredded in the process). but when i shut the light off, they began swimming around and eating, as i had dropped a few krill in earlier. they even started chasing the goldfish that had been in there while it was cycling.
being the sort who enjoys experimenting, i decided to turn the light back on. they froze again. it seems that they're afraid of the blue light. i have no qualms with giving them a white light if it would make them more comfortable, but is there any reason for them to have such an issue with the blue? i'm not even sure if fish can see color or not, though i'd presume that they can.

aquarist48

Hello E,

The fish may need more time to acclimate to their new environment. It's always a good idea that after you add the fish, or new fish, or move fish to another tank to keep the lights off for several hours and let them adapt for a while. I can't say if the color difference in the lights is making them "freeze" so to speak or not. I wouldn't think that it would though.

Hold on for more responses.

Ken

I have moved your thread to the Freshwater Tank Equipment/Lighting section of the forum and added Piranha into your title.