Question about "lights out" for my fishies

[ILoveMyFish]

I'm disabled and I really hate to say this.....it's painful to say it .....its embaressing and i dont want to admit it.....but I'm a sick woman and I have to take a nap in the middle of the day. I turn the aquarium on between 8am and 10 am and take a nap between 12pm and 3pm and sleep 1-4 hours. Is it ok if I turn the aquarium lights off when I take a nap so I can enjoy them the rest of the day? I always seem to feel better later on in the day anyways. I usually go to bed 8-12am. I have a hard time keeping a schedule. I sleep when my body allows me too. I hurt all over sometimes. Anyways, if I keep the aquarium lights on continuously for 6-10 hours I miss seeing them alot of that time. I've had my aquarium for 5 days and today and yesterday when I took my nap I turned the lights off and turned them back on when I got up and they seemed happy and they were playing and acting normal. ??? help....
tense in TN :41:

[jbeining75]

try to simulate natural lighting with your fish. You'll find most on here turn them on in the morning and leave them on until nighttime..... the fish will feel less stressed and more secure if the natural habitat is offered....

[Pr0eve]

get some one to put the lights on a timer aswell.

[ILoveMyFish]

I was afraid you were going to say that. ....so it will make them unhappy to be on my schedule? Isn't there thunderstorms and cloudy days in nature? ....probably not every day tho, huh? ha ha. Thanks to all for helping me.

[Pr0eve]

fish sleep like man does, but it is to their clock,,. fish need a closer nit schedule then man dose, fish do not take naps, I am sorry...

I edited this, I was half asleep.

I was meaning to say. fish need a schedule, better them what some people have, and by placing the lights on a timer, they will have a nicer schedule. more like living out in the wild as for them dieing, would be to over stressed to having a bad schedule.like up all day and most of the night,,, but that will not happen over night it would take a long time.. but can happen.


sorry,


/me note to self no more sleep-posting.. :)

[ILoveMyFish]

Wow. I didn't think they would die. I guess this is just a matter of having to do something for my fish because I love them and not be selfish. very disappointing :luxlove: What is a good schedule for them to have with basic lighting? Also, the tank is beside my recliner and I keep my lamp on for a while AFTER I turn the lights off. How dark in the room does it have to be for them? I sure hope I don't have to figure out how to move this thing. 40 gallons X 8lbs. whe[Only Registered Users Can See Links.] I don't know if this information is important or not but they keep moving when the lamp is on and even when i turn the lamp off there's just enough light to see them from the street light outside.....very very suttle light (your eyes have to be adjusted) and they STILL move. I think they were up all night the first 3 nights we had them because I slept in the living room and whenever I would turn over I looked at them and they were still moving. I wonder if they ever sleep. When I get up in the morning their moving too.
Thanks to all

Oh, one more thing, they have so much more fun and movement when the lights are off.

[Fishalicious]

It is not unheard of to have the lights to go off for 2-3 hours in the afternoon....actually I know loads of people who do it here in holland as they work all day and want to enjoy the fish at night. Some people even swear that it keeps algae down to a minimum...

I did it myself for a 5 month period - the lights went off for 2 hours in the afternoon and there were no ill effects to the fish at all.

I had at the time 9am - 1pm then lights off from 1pm - 3pm - then the lights were on again from 3pm to 11pm

[ILoveMyFish]

Oh lordy. Now I'm real confused. ha ha. Thanks for all your advice.

I guess this is my red devil: :27: :wink2: ha ha

gnight kids

[Lady Hobbs]

The lights are for you, not your fish. The room lights are plenty for them. I often don't turn the lights on the silver dollar/parrot tank until the afternoon. As long as you don't have natural plants, I can see no problem.

I take a nap everyday too. :)

[Hailey]

i agree with what everyone else said, but I was wondering, what kind of fish do you have?

[karbomb]

i have a friend and they have a 20g tank with goldfish and black skirt tetras and i think a few danios in it. (i would not recommend any of this at all)
they turn the filter off for about an hour and a half when feeding them cos they think its a bad idea to have it running cos food will get sucked into it. though i have never heard of anyone doing this. they also leave the light on 24/7 to keep the temp in the tank up.
i tried explaining that it's a miracle that everything in their tank is doing well, but they swear by their methods.
i almost got them a heater, but all of their fish have been alive for 5 years, so i figured i wouldn't mess with the tank. amazing huh?
so i think you'd be ok turning the light off for a few hours a day. i think as long as it's some kind of schedule the fish will adapt to it.

[Lady Hobbs]

That is dumb. Fish need their time to sleep and rest and bottom feeders need their time to do their thing.

About turning the filter off..........just as dumb.

[Lady Hobbs]

That is dumb. Fish need their time to sleep and rest and bottom feeders need their time to do their thing.

About turning the filter off..........just as dumb. :c5:

[karbomb]

That is dumb. Fish need their time to sleep and rest and bottom feeders need their time to do their thing.

About turning the filter off..........just as dumb. :c5:
i tried to tell them that.. but yesh such a subborn family.
in fairness the fish have all been alive for 5 years... guess it can't be that bad.
edit:
still nothing i would promote or pratice. ever.
i think it is a miracle that the tank is ok.
guess all those fish are fairly hardy though.

[ILoveMyFish]

blood parrot
yello lab (electric yello)
orange cichlid fish with white spots - would love to know the correct name for this fish
and ....sigh.... red devil...

i wonder why they turn it off for a whole hour and a half.

thank u all for your help.