Why do my fish do this?

[Wolf89]

I have rabbit fish, tangs, butterfly's, anthias, but none of them really swim around, just hang around in the two sides, below the powerheads. They just hover there and swim up and down. Is this due to extremely high sps flow? Its 66x flow in the tank, is that why? It's weird seeing all these fish just swimming up and down in this big tank. What should I do? I turnt down the flow from 6000gph to maybe 1-2300, but it hasn't seemed to do anything.

 

[Wolf89]

Anyone?

 

[S2G]

They're not comfortable or secure in their environment. Too much flow, not enough rock, etc.

It sounds like that's the only comfortable spot they can swim. 66x is a crazy high flow imo. I'm not an sps expert but maybe turn it down or create random surges. You need to find a happy medium it sounds like

 

[sfin52]

I agree to high of flow. It's the only please they can find to be comfortable

 

[KrisReef]

Shut the powerheads off for an hour and see if they start to move around more. (I am presuming your flow is not 66X through the sump.) GL.

 

[sfin52]

Shut the powerheads off for an hour and see if they start to move around more. (I am presuming your flow is not 66X through the sump.) GL.

That shinny new badge looks good on you

 

[Wolf89]

They're not comfortable or secure in their environment. Too much flow, not enough rock, etc.

It sounds like that's the only comfortable spot they can swim. 66x is a crazy high flow imo. I'm not an sps expert but maybe turn it down or create random surges. You need to find a happy medium it sounds like

I agree to high of flow. It's the only please they can find to be comfortable

Shut the powerheads off for an hour and see if they start to move around more. (I am presuming your flow is not 66X through the sump.) GL.

I have turnt them down a lot and and turned one completely off already, no difference

 

[PatW]

Hmmm, I don’t think flow is the issue. My tank is SPS and my flow is about 50 times. My fish are fine with it. In facts, flow is not an issue even for fish that are not great swimmers. They all use all of the tank and it is 300 gallons.

I think that you might lack structure and refuges for the fish. Fish feel much more confident if they can dive into cover whenever they want.

 

[Wolf89]

Hmmm, I don’t think flow is the issue. My tank is SPS and my flow is about 50 times. My fish are fine with it. In facts, flow is not an issue even for fish that are not great swimmers. They all use all of the tank and it is 300 gallons.

I think that you might lack structure and refuges for the fish. Fish feel much more confident if they can dive into cover whenever they want.

I have a good amount of rock and hiding spaces

 

[Jon Fishman]

How big is that tank?

 

[Wolf89]

How big is that tank?

4 feet

 

[Jon Fishman]

See any aggression? What type of tangs?

 

[Wolf89]

See any aggression? What type of tangs?

No aggression at all. Convict, sailfin, hippo and choclate. Convict is an inch, sailfin is 1.5, hippo is 1.5 inches chocolate is maybe 3
Do not bash me for tangs in a 4 foot tank. They are all very small. We are moving cross country next summer and can't take any of the fish, and I will rehome them to members of my local club. I doubt they will grow more than 1-3 inches in the next 10 months.

 

[Wolf89]

All the other fish are swimming about now, except the copperband butterfly. I don't know why, hes been in the 3rd longest. The rest got here Wednesday

 

[Jon Fishman]

4’ tank and 4 tangs is probably part of the problem, if not the entire problem