"Sleeping" fish

[D.C._United_Caps_Fan]

Ive been noticing, espeically with my Zebra and Leopard Danios, that they seem to be "sleeping" when the lights in the tank go off. I have the photo period set on a timer right now for 12 on, 12 off. Im going to knock that back to 10 on / 14 off in about 3 more weeks.

The specific behavior that I am referring to that seems like it might be fishy sleep, is the Danios will kind of "suspend" in varying places all over the tank. They stay in the same general area for long periods of time, and occasionally "twitch" as they slowy start to sink. Ive seen them sing over half of the dept of the tank before they would sort of "jerk" slightly, seemingly so as to stop the slow sinking. Most of them though do this little "jerk" about once every few seconds or so. Other than that, they dont move, they stay where they are, and remain facing the same direction (usually horizontal to the front of the tank) with no turning or swimming. Its really kinda neat to see them just suspended "mid air" like in the water.

Is this sleeping behavior? It would seem to me that it would be something similar. Does anyone know for sure? Seeing this has made me very curious about their sleeping/ resting habits.

I also am interested because I am going to get into "moonlighting" my tanks, so I can have light in it at night while im still awake, but not full daylight. I also love moonlighting, as it is just the coolest look to the tanks I have seen it it. I think Moonlighting has been mostly marine/ saltwater tanks up until recently. Im starting to see it more and more in freshwater tanks nowadays though.

Do any of you ever observe your fish when the tank lights are off, but there is enough ambient light from twilight or other small, not so bright room lights? Do they seem to do similar things? Can you tell if they are in sleep/ rest mode?

Interesting stuff in deed! :c12:

[xoolooxunny]

my fish do the same thing. I have danios that will do that, but all my community fish do it for some period of the night. You can definitely notice an extreme slow down in activity during lights out. A couple of my male guppies in my 10 gallon actually have rested down on objects in the tank, but not on the bottom.

[siymdapolio]

I have mountain minnows and when the lights go off they tend to really calm down and twitch enough to keep themselves in a little stream at the top of the water. When the lights go off, our house lights dont so we can still see them, so i think the lamps and tv does not bother them at all they tend to quite down after lights off.

[Sasquatch]

Our platies do the same thing, they all head to one corner of the tank and kinda suspend there ... until I decide it's time for the catfish's nightly feeding ... they seem to wake up then. :18:

[siymdapolio]

:19: Nice those buggers, al they think about is food

[D.C._United_Caps_Fan]

Yep! Exactly what I thought, fishy sleepy time! LOL! In fact, now that im paying close attention to it, I can kind of tell when the Otos are "resting" too. They suck to the glass, usually close to one another, and stay there for long periods. During the lights on / daytime hours they are pretty active, cleaning all over the place and dont stay in one place for too long. My corys well, theyre just corys. Occasionally ill catch them all 3 huddled together motionless, but usually they are always moving around. They tend to be somewhat spazzy, espeically 2 of them! Up and down and up and down and up and down and back and forth and back and forth, almost like they are racing eachother. If the otos happen to be on the glass where they are doing there racing, they just bump the little otos aside! Its kinda funny to watch.

[siymdapolio]

Same with my bristlenose active all day long cleaning like crazy! but when hes tired or phisy sleepy time :19: he hangs himself upside down ( At least hes comfertable!! :D) my angelfish has his own little bed and sleeps in the bottom back right corner. And he gets up when I get up lol unless the light timer beats me !

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

I love watching Clown Loaches sleep. They roll over on their side and almost look dead. The funny part is that they do it during the day and trick people into thinking they are dead. At night though if you have a good school of them they will pile up in caves like a big pile of wood.

[smcurry83]

My cichlids disappear completely when the lights go out. They each go to their respective hiding spots until the morning.