When should I worry about glass surfing?

So right now I have 2 male Endlers Livebearers and a mystery snail in a 2.5 gallon tank (kind of random I know, but it's semi-temporary until I can get my 10 gallon up and running and it's a long story as to how I ended up with this in the first place, so I'll spare you all )

One of my endlers spends a very good portion of his day glass surfing. It's usually on the same side of the tank and it doens;t really make a difference if my light is on or off. He will only stop to eat or sleep and sometimes swim around and check out the rest of the tank, but really most of the day is him glass surfing. My other endler does not do this at all really. He will go and check out what the other guy is doing, do it with him for maybe a minute, get bored, and then continue exploring the rest of the tank.

My tank is moderately/heavily planted and it also has one hide. It's heated & filtered and is currently being cycled. The params were .25/0/10ish before I did my water change (25%) today. They have been in the tank for about 3 weeks.

His colors are very bright, not pale like when I got him from the store or like he is during water changes, so this leads me to believe that he isn't stressed. And like I said, my other fish doesn't do this, he just goes about his day pretty happily.

I am new to endlers so I guess I am just not sure what behaviors are normal and which are not. I am still entertained by how much energy they have! I only had a betta before them, and yes he was very active, but that seems like nothing compared to my two little guys! I can't wait to get my 10 gallon up and add some more (no females though because this girl ain't got the space for frys!)

So should I be worried or am I just over thinking this? x

 

That's a pretty small tank, to have a mystery snail in. Ammonia and small tank size may be stressing your Endler out a bit. I've also had many, many Endlers swim into the glass. They are pretty much always going full speed all the time. I wouldn't worry too much. A bigger tank that is cycled will probably help calm them down.

I had a big group of Endlers peck a mystery snail to death. If you are planning on keeping a bunch of Endlers, you may want to move the snail.

 

Yeah I know it's not ideal but like I said, I didn't really plan on this tank, and it is only temporary. I check the ammonia every day and do water changes when it gets over .25 and I also check the nitrites and nitrates about every other water change just to make sure those aren't too high either so I'm not 100% sure it's the water. They don't really pay attention to my snail so that's a non issue. If other endlers were bothering him once I get my 10 gallon up then I have someone with a large community tank that would have no problem taking him.

I actually turned up the current on my filter last night (had it on the lowest setting) and he hasn't been glass surfing nearly as much today. Maybe there wasn't enough oxygen getting into the water? I'm not sure exactly how that all works, but it also might have just been a coincidence and he just found other things to do today.

I'll just keep my eye on him and if any other signs of trouble show up then I'll start to worry. Thanks!

 

well if there's any ammonia in the water, then something is wrong with the cycle. but you're doing the right thing by doing water changes frequently. using prime will help too.

how did you cycle this tank? or did you not know to? welcome to fishlore

 

The tank is currently cycling. I don't remember the exact date this tank was started, but I believe it has been running for about 2 weeks now. I have cycled 2 tanks before, but this is the smallest tank I've ever cycled. I am aware that cycling and holding a cycle in a smaller tank is more difficult, which is why like I said, it's only temporary. But I am not too worried as everyone seems nice and happy, it was really only the glass surfing that worried me, but he is not showing any other signs of stress, and his tank mates show no signs of stress either. The plants in the tank are really starting to grow in now, and I have some floating plants coming in I think tomorrow, so maybe that will give him more things to play around with instead of the glass