tilting fish!

[brybot]

When I go to clean my tank, I take the overhead light off and place it on the side of the tank so I can actually see what I am doing. Otherwise it would be too dark to actually clean the thing. The fish are all a little freaked out whenever I do anything in the tank (they are tetras), but the funny thing is how the react to the light. They all begin to tilt at about a 45 deg angle towards the light. Once I put the light back on top, they return to normal. I figure their orientation of the surface gets out of wack a bit when the light gets moved. Anybody else notice this?

[Scrup]

Mine do it all the time when the tank light is off and the overhead light is on.

I panicked the first time till I noticed they were all doing it in sync...

[tetra]

thats cute, I never notcied. I will have to pay attention more next time i clean my tank lol.

[Jaster]

Mine do that too... I think they get confused when their "sunlight" moves to the side. lol :hmm3grin2orange:

[Oscar_freak12321]

Only my pacu does that, and when he does, he is about to flip some serious water! lol

[thatcichlidguy]

Most fish (excepting bottom dwellers and specialized top water fish) will instinctively try to orient themselves to the light source. In nature this is always up, in an aquarium this is normally true as well. When we move the light to a different possition instinct kicks in and the fishes brain tells them they are not upright and they try to possition themselves accordingly. Once the light goes back where it should be then all is well.

[ISquishWorms]

I think I am going to give this ago later and change the position of my fishes sun. :hmm3grin2orange: