Lights On At Night And Off In The Morning?

HI everyone!

Is it okay to keep the lights off in the morning and on in the evening? I have my timer set to turn on at 630pm and off at 1130pm. Reason for this is because I'm never home in the morning or afternoon.

My tank is a 23g (L: 60cm/H: 40.5cm/W: 36cm) and stocked with:

1 betta
1 cory
6 rummy nose tetras

I intend to add:

8 cardinal tetras
1 or 2 cory
Possibly some red cherry shrimps

My light is an Aquarien Eco 5730SMD 60 full spectrum which outputs 25w. No dimmer.

I read somewhere that lights are somewhat unnecessary unless and mainly for our benefit and not the fish.

I also read that lighting an unplanted tank promotes algae growth. I did have a plant in mine but it died so I have to get new ones.

 

Hello,
I can't see a problem with your lighting schedule. Lighting is good for live plants yes, I haven't heard about the algae growth in unplanted tanks but it might be true, yes lights are more for our benefit so we can see the fish clearly and they look nice too, fishes natural habitats are of course lakes and streams ect with dark murky waters, so our lights don't really benefit them much.
I do see a problem with your stock though, Cories are best kept in groups of 6 or more, though I'm not sure you have the room for more..

 

Lights aren't unnecessary if you have plants and are actually very important, for some reason in some tanks with no plants I never had extreme algae issues.
Not sure how it affects fish but in my house some of my tanks are in very dI'm areas and without the lights on I think my nocturnal species think its still sunset/sunrise since they are more active. I set my timer to 12-7pm though depending on what type of timer you have it may be better to set it to be on in the morning off in afternoon and come back on when you are at home.

 

If you don’t have any live plants then yes you are just using the lights for your entertainment. I think that would be decent schedule. Maybe an hour less possibly.

I’d also add that corys do best when in groups so try to have 6 at a minimum if you want to see the most natural behaviors and have them thrive and not be stressed, which is what happens when they are in smaller numbers.

 

If you don’t have any live plants then yes you are just using the lights for your entertainment. I think that would be decent schedule. Maybe an hour less possibly.

I’d also add that corys do best when in groups so try to have 6 at a minimum if you want to see the most natural behaviors and have them thrive and not be stressed, which is what happens when they are in smaller numbers.

Hello,
I can't see a problem with your lighting schedule. Lighting is good for live plants yes, I haven't heard about the algae growth in unplanted tanks but it might be true, yes lights are more for our benefit so we can see the fish clearly and they look nice too, fishes natural habitats are of course lakes and streams ect with dark murky waters, so our lights don't really benefit them much.
I do see a problem with your stock though, Cories are best kept in groups of 6 or more, though I'm not sure you have the room for more..

I see, okay noted. I'll be taking an hour off my lighting schedule until I get new plants.

As for the cory, I didnt want to "shock" my bio load since I got the 6 rummy nose and the cory on the same day. I'll be adding more corys soon. Will they school together even if I get non-albino corys? The current one I have is an albino.

 

Cories have to be part of the same subspeices to school.

If it helps you out any my tank is on from 11pm-9am. This is because I work overnights and want to be able to see my fish when I get home.

 

I see, okay noted. I'll be taking an hour off my lighting schedule until I get new plants.

As for the cory, I didnt want to "shock" my bio load since I got the 6 rummy nose and the cory on the same day. I'll be adding more corys soon. Will they school together even if I get non-albino corys? The current one I have is an albino.

Cories will only school with their own kind so you'd need to get more albino

 

Lights aren't unnecessary if you have plants and are actually very important, for some reason in some tanks with no plants I never had extreme algae issues.
Not sure how it affects fish but in my house some of my tanks are in very dI'm areas and without the lights on I think my nocturnal species think its still sunset/sunrise since they are more active. I set my timer to 12-7pm though depending on what type of timer you have it may be better to set it to be on in the morning off in afternoon and come back on when you are at home.

Okay, I see what you mean. So in order for the fish to distinguish day/night I still need to give them a fair amount of lighting time?

I'm just very cautious about algae growth since I know that in some cases, it can be really hard to control. And plus, the heat coming from the light adds to the temp of the water which I need to regulate since I live in the tropics.

Cories will only school with their own kind so you'd need to get more albino

I see. I will get more albinos soon but will be adding them probably 2 at a time in the next few weeks. This is getting expensive haha

 

He could get brozen if they are albino brozen. Albinos will shoal with their colorful counterparts.

 

He could get brozen if they are albino brozen. Albinos will shoal with their colorful counterparts.

Brozen? I'm sorry, not too familiar with the terms yet. I just learned rcs and lfs recently

So they will school together even if they aren't albinos?

 

Brozen? I'm sorry, not too familiar with the terms yet. I just learned rcs and lfs recently

So they will school together even if they aren't albinos?

Ignore the mess. Does your albino look close to this one?

 

Ignore the mess. Does your albino look close to this one?
View attachment 417948

Somewhat, yes... he's fairly small thpugh and the lfs guy told me he won't get any bigger than that. The label on the store read Corydora - SterbaI Albino. Here are pics of him/her:

 

Somewhat, yes... he's fairly small thpugh and the lfs guy told me he won't get any bigger than that. The label on the store read Corydora - SterbaI Albino. Here are pics of him/her:
View attachment 417950View attachment 417951View attachment 417952

He is so cute! He is a sterbai, pretty sure at least. You can get normal sterbais to shoal with him, or more albinos that are sterbai. People tend to like 3 albino/ 3 regular.

 

Okay, I see what you mean. So in order for the fish to distinguish day/night I still need to give them a fair amount of lighting time?

I'm just very cautious about algae growth since I know that in some cases, it can be really hard to control. And plus, the heat coming from the light adds to the temp of the water which I need to regulate since I live in the tropics.



I see. I will get more albinos soon but will be adding them probably 2 at a time in the next few weeks. This is getting expensive haha

LED's may be a better option due to them not producing heat also I would get more of those 'Corydoras Sterbai' as I am not sure if they mislabelled them and they are actually albino (corydoras aeneus) instead or if an albino sterbaI actually exists.

I don't think algae is hard to control and I actually purposely grow algae in a few tanks as a food supplement for snails/shrimp. If you do get any you can just manually remove it and cut back on how long the lights are on for or do a water change if nitrates are high. That should prevent it from coming back. I also make sure to not leave my light on too long at night to ensure they get at least 10 hours of complete darkness due to fish also needing sleep. Not sure if fish really need direct light during the day but I put them on anyway to replicate the sun as it seems more natural to me.

 

LED's may be a better option due to them not producing heat also I would get more of those 'Corydoras Sterbai' as I am not sure if they mislabelled them and they are actually albino (corydoras aeneus) instead or if an albino sterbaI actually exists.

I don't think algae is hard to control and I actually purposely grow algae in a few tanks as a food supplement for snails/shrimp. If you do get any you can just manually remove it and cut back on how long the lights are on for or do a water change if nitrates are high. That should prevent it from coming back. I also make sure to not leave my light on too long at night to ensure they get at least 10 hours of complete darkness due to fish also needing sleep. Not sure if fish really need direct light during the day but I put them on anyway to replicate the sun as it seems more natural to me.

Abput replicating day/night, my intention was to reverse it (at night time, make the fish think it is daytime and vice-versa). Will this work?

He is so cute! He is a sterbai, pretty sure at least. You can get normal sterbais to shoal with him, or more albinos that are sterbai. People tend to like 3 albino/ 3 regular.

Thank you! My son adores hin for sure calls him Al ( short for Albino).

I think I will try 3 albinos and 3 regular sterbais for variety. They would look interesting shoaling together

 

I'll invite DoubleDutch in to help ID the catfish. I thought it was a Corydoras Aeneus, which is a Bronze Cory and will school together with other Bronze and Albinos. planet catfish says there is a sterbeI Albino has recently come available so I wonder if they all just get mixed in together and/or misidentified?

 

Looking at the orange pelvic fins these are SterbaI to me. They were labeled that way too do think that is what they are.
Needs some fatting up !

 

Looking at the orange pelvic fins these are SterbaI to me. They were labeled that way too do think that is what they are.
Needs some fatting up !

Is what I'm feeding my rummies and betta okay? He seems to love it but I'm wondering if I need cory-specific food (if there's such a thing)?

Also, any tips as how to feed my rummies? The betta seems to go after most of the food since the rummies hover in the lower section of the tank.

Here is what I feed them all: