Orange Sunburst Tetra Acts Funny

My orange tetra glofish has always been a little strange. I have had him for maybe 5 or 6 months now and even when I first got him, he would float in one place for a while by the filter. I thought maybe something was wrong but every now and then he shows crazy signs of energy zooming all around the tank for a bit. After that he always went back to floating in one spot for a while. His latest thing now is going underneath the air bubble stone which is a device that makes it look like a river but its all the bubbles and he can fit comfortably underneath. He will literally sit down underneath there for awhile, moving every now and then. Maybe he likes the bubbles going passed him and kind of hitting him. I put a home in the tank and he will sit inside the home on the bottom. He never lays on his side, always sitting up right. Once he is done sitting, he will go and zoom about the tank and go crazy and then either hang out in the plants while floating and moving or he will sit back down on the bottom, under the bubble machine thing, or sit in the house. He could just be a funny fish since he has been like this ever since I had gotten him. Has anyone seen this before? Is he just a weirdo? Thank you! I attached a picture to better show the bubble machine with him underneath it. Sorry for all the terrible grammar, thank you.

 

Is he being kept by himself? Also what size tank is he in?

 

No he has always been with other fish. The other show no signs of sickness. This one doesn’t seem sick just different since he was always like this. Ten gallon tank with good filtration, the air bubbles, and I maintain it pretty closely.

 

Are the other fish tetras as well? I saw a Cory cat I just want to make sure that he has a decent school as a single tetra alone can exhibit the behavior you are seeing.

 

Yes, there are two other tetras and three of the Cory cats that have their own school as well.

 

Okay, I’ll leave this question open to the other fish experts as I’m not sure. I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t from a small enough school causing depression.

 

Thank you, what is a good school size for this breed?

 

The optimal school size is 5-8 or more for them to be completely secure they are most likely slightly stressed with a school of three but it should not be enough to have that tetra exhibit that severity of depression, like what you would see with a lone tetra in a small tank.

 

Think it could hurt to add another and see if anything changes? I also noticed when I turn the lights out he swims around a lot more not sure if this could mean anything.

The fish does swim a lot though it is just at times he does this

Also, how many fish would be too many in a ten gallon tank? It is well kept

 

Depends honestly on your water parameters and what the gallon per hour rate of your filter is and also how often you do your water changes. If your water parametershave been stable for a while now with low nitrates you can add one more tetra and see how stable the water stays. At max even if you’re over-filtered I would add a max 2 more fish if that but you would most likely have to increase the frequency of your partial water changes to keep the nitrates under control with the increase in stock.

 

I have a 20 gallon size filter in a ten gallon tank and do water changes at least once a month. Usually 50% water change. Think it’s too much?

 

I usually don’t recommend more than a 25% water change at a time as a large water change can alter the water perimeters suddenly and cause stress for the fish. Do you happen to know the brand of the filter so I can find out the gallons per hour? Some of the common ones are aqueon, Aquaclear, fluval, tetra whisper, and marine land. Just knowing the gph can help me estimate how much you can add it the tank.

 

It is an aqua tech and it is for a 20 gal tank. I’ve been thinking of getting a new one.

I will also start doing 25% changes

 

If you do decide to upgrade since I’m reading some mixed reviews on the aqua tech, had to look it up since I was unfamiliar with it, my recommendation would be either the fluval c2 which is a 5 stage filter or a aqua clear which is a 3 stage filter like the one you have. Both give you more freedom on what filter material you can use in it and have pretty good gallons per hour. If you do decide to add another tetra to the tank you would have to increase the frequency of the water change probably to every 2-3 weeks depending on what your nitrates are at now.

 

Thanks man appreciate all the help I’m going to look into it now. Think having a max of ten fish would be the limit? Or that’s just too much

Would it hurt to add a second filter such as a fully submergable one?

 

That would be too much unless you mean nano fish. my max recommendation would be two more tetras to make a school of 5 but to add them one at a time and monitor the water perameters before add in the second one. With a ten gallon tank it’s such a small body of water levels can shift suddenly so you’ll need to keep up on the water changes if you decide to add the fish.

Do you mean a sponge filter or do you mean a underwater filter?

If you’re talking about a sponge filter that would be fine. For a fully submersible filter it would depend on the gallons per hour it wouldn’t be too good to create too large of a flow rate and stress out the fish.

 

I’ll look into a sponge filter or a better filter altogether. I have had these fish for maybe 6 months. How long would a sick fish live for?

So a 20 gal filter along with the right sponge filter wouldn’t be too much?

I have a random question as well. For some reason my phone won’t let me post in other threads or make one on this site. Do you know anything about African dwarf frogs? I have had two for about six months and they’re very active and both eat as far as I can see when I feed them. One may be female because this frog is much fatter and I have read female tend to get bigger. It is not an African clawed frog. The other frog is much skinnier. About four months ago I saw the other frog had gotten a pebble lodged in its mouth. I mean this thing was really, really stuck. It took about two hours but I was about to carefully remove it with tweezers and a toothpick. I did this without harming the amphibian that I could tell. The jaw was propped open for about a week and a half so I was feeding it worms since they were soft and he had become skinny so I could plump the poor guy up. Since then he has remained skinny but still eats and is very active. Is there any concern possibly? He seems good I will attach a photo

 

Yes a sponge filter would be a good way to increase aeration and biological and mechanical filtration if you don’t want to get a whole new filtration setup. It would not be too much because they don’t tend to create a giant amount of flow. He most likely got an fractures or injured jaw during the removal process since amphibians bones are extremely delicate, you did do the right thing in removing it. Females of frog species do tend to be be substantially larger than the males of the same species. As long as you see that he is eating he should be fine. Tutu may just have a skinny frog. If you’re really worried you could try tong feeding him blood worms or spiralina brine shrimp that have been frozen

 

The frog (from what I can see) looks to be at a healthy weight. Males stand to be much skinnier than the females. He's eating I wouldn't be too worried unless you're seeing ribs and his stomach is really sunken in

 

Ok cool thank you everyone. I took jacob's advice and went with the fluval filter. It goes up to 100gph and even th0ugh the aquatech said it was 120, I notice a drastic difference in overall water movement. I believe the aquatech is poorly advertised. How do you know if there is too much gph? As in, how do you know if it is too much power for the fish?

 

Also, the fluval has three separate filters as to the one in the aquatech so I can see my tank benefiting way more

 

Yes the fluval separate stage filtration really helps with overall filtration rather than the cartrages. There isn’t really so much as too much filtration there is only too much flow. the only time you should slow the rate is if it’s either stressing your fish out from high currant rates . If this is the case I would look up how to make a baffle . I believe you can make one from an empty water bogie or a sponge. But usually more filtration is better.