Gabby

One of my neon tetra's goes absolutely insane when i turn off the lights in my tank. Just got him today and not sure why he doesn't like the dark. What to do?!?!?! Thanks!!

sirdarksol

You say "one of your neon tetras" does this mean you have more than one? Neon tetras are a schooling fish, and it could be that the little guy is, for some reason, feeling defenseless in the dark. I have read that schooling fish without tankmates will act skittish.
It could also be that he's just feeling weirded out by his new surroundings and that turning the light out literally leaves him in the dark in a place he doesn't yet know.

Jim

I agree with sirdarksol, neons are most comfortable in a school of 6 or more. How many do you have?

Neville

hi gabby, welcome to fishlore, i don't think he is mental , i think he is scared , put some more tetras.

Gabby

I have 4 at the moment, getting 4 more soon, but they told me thats all i could have as its my first lot of fish in my first tropical aquarium. hopefully he'll feel more at home soon! thanks for the help!

wolfman21

I think it will help once there are more in there. He may just be scared and unwary of other potention tankmates that he doesn't feel comfortable with, especially if he's new.

PPK9110

lol my fish gets scared when i turn the light on, complete the opposite lol...he started freaking out when i turn on the lights....but its a cichilid though.

Beeboy

My fish are faded in color when I turn the light on in the morning but very slow and take a long time to get active.

Beeboy

lili70

Same here. My 8 neons are all very sensitive to "lights-on".

sunda

LOL.....guess it's bit stressed in it's new home....will be okay in short....

swords3711

fish can be jumpy at first
Thats why u must gradually bring them to light when turning the light on to prevent them from getting too stressed out

Lucy

Jim

Lucy, I have a lot of plants, so of course I also have a lot of lights. What I do is all of my lights are on seperate timers so that only 1 comes on at first, a tiny moonlight LED for an hour, then a smaller 22 watt. After another hour one of the 65 watt lights comes on, 30 minutes later the other 65. This way the light gradually builds up and doesn't blind my fish all at once. Even if you don't have more than 1 light, they make all sorts of cool dim little LED "moonlight" lights. Yo could get 1 of these and switch it on first to wake up your fish before you turn on your main light.
FYI, a tank under a din twilight light looks VERY cool!

Lucy