Strange or normal behavior?

[NETSECPRO]

A few days ago I introduced a Gold Stripe Maroon into my 29G tank, this is the only fish in the tank besides some small hermit crabs. He doenst seem to be too interested in eating, although it does eat a little bit when I give it some food, and the hermits take care of the rest. However, the fish seems to have a strange swimming pattern. It will go to the front corner of my tanks and continually dive up and doen, it kind of seems like he is trying to scratch an itch? Is this normal.

And another thing, when I turned my lights on this morning, I couldnt find the fish, I was beginning to think that it may have jumped out of the tank and I began to look on the floor. However my wife came out and found the fish hiding behind my MagFloat in the rear corner of the tank. Should I be concerned? Please tell me that I am being overly paranoid and that everything is OK.

Thanks!:confused:

[angelsj247]

My fish swam really weird the first couple of weeks i had it. now it hosts and sleeps ontop of the powerhead at night. so he might of just found his home behind the magna float.

[NETSECPRO]

Thanks for the quick reply. Now I don't have to worry about it while I'm at work all day. Maybe I'll set up a webcam so I can remotely view my tank from work.

[dantodd]

strange swimming patterns at first are not unusual. He's likely trying to determine the size of the tank. As for swimming with the magfloat. That is actually really good news. My guess is that he is a wild caught fish and he's looking for something to host. The magfloat is probably what he chose. This is good because you ca easily remove the magfloat if you want to disrupt his hosting behavior. (If you add an anemone and want his to host that, for example)

Most wild caught fish do have diseases though so do keep an eye on him. The big things to look for are labored breathing, gaping at the surface, clamping fins (constantly holding them close to his body) and any growth/damage on his body (white specks, fuzzyness or rot/loss of fin material.)

If you catch these diseases quickly most are treatable so just keep a very close eye on him.

Getting him eating is a big deal. Try frozen mysis, frozen brine etc. If you are not seeing the eating aggression you would expect try adding a little crushed garlic to frozen and flaked food.

I would personally get a little bit of live brine too. That is your best bet to stimulate the feeding response.

[NETSECPRO]

Yes, I called the LFS where I got him and they told me that the GSM's that they have are in fact wild caught.

As far as anything else, he's seems to be healty looking. But I will still be on the lookout for any thing weird.

As far as the eating, I don't think he knows where the food is coming from. Maybe after a little time, he will come to learn that when the lid on the tank opens that means it's feeding time.

Once again, thanks for the info. It is greatly appreciated.

[clord]

What are feeding him?

If you can't get him to eat try cyclo-peeze I have never seen a fish not eat it. Its sold in frozen bars or dry (like flake food)

[dantodd]

In the wild they do eat a lot of live food and seeing the live brine will train him quite quickly that anything coming into the tank is food.

[NETSECPRO]

OK, I'll pick up some cyclo-peeze this afternoon.

By the way, since this fish is only about 1.5 -1.75 inches in length and has it's gold stripes, can I assume that it is at least 1 year old and probably a female?

[dantodd]

no. Can't assume much of anything.

I have recently tried cyclop-eeze for the first time and was amazed at the feeding response it created. This was on fish that are accustomed to eating frozen/dried food so you may not see the same result.

Get some live brine shrimp too. As long as you're there it won't hurt, doesn't have much nutritional value but between that and the cyclop-eeze I'd be really worried if s/he didn't show a strong eating response.

[NETSECPRO]

OK, I went to my LFS and got both some cyclo-peeze and frozen brine. When I got home I thawed the brine for a few moments and put a little bit in the tank, and the fish went right for it. I'm glad to see it eat.

Thanks again for all of the advice.

[dantodd]

How has s/he been doing? Still eating? No signs of stress?

[NETSECPRO]

He is doing fine now. As happy as can be, eating very well, and swimming all over the tank. Thanks for the help.

[dantodd]

Glad to hear he's doing well.

Keep the script kiddies at bay.