Mirror Glass Tank

[SunnyP]

My tank is reflective on the inside of the tank and produces a mirror of the tank. This fools all the fish so they wander along the edges of the tank.

Is there any way of reducing the reflectiveness of the inside of the tank?

Is it reflective to reduce the stress of the fish?

Cheers.

 

[1uke]

My Angels seem to spend hours talking to themselfs against the glass lol. I find it a good thing as it gets them on show.

At a guess I would say the lighter the room the less reflective it is for them. Put a lamp near the outside of the tank?

 

[Nick16]

i have found this to be the case and it massively stresses the fish out. the best thing to do is to put a black background around the back and sides of the tank (i used sugar paper) It has worked a treat and now they dont do it at all.
i doubt it will be the inside of the tank, more that they can see their reflection, so they think its another fish, the background stops it. If it doesnt feel free to write back! 😀

 

[SunnyP]

I have a black background on the back and on one side. It seems to have little effect.

The fish spend most of their time at the back of the tank but a couple wander to the front. The loaches never come out like they used to before.

 

[Chmura]

When I look at it on an angle you can see the reflection of the tank on the glass.

As for mirror effect you should educate yourself in the subject of physics ( especially optics ).

 

[SunnyP]

I think I'll just finish my degree in Biochemistry first.

 

[Egmel]

Hi Sunny,

If it's only when you look at the tank at certain angles then it's perfectly normal, as Chmura alluded to, it's to do with the interaction of light when it hits a boundary (in this case glass/water). It's unlikely that your fish are actually seeing a mirror (look from one end of the tank to the other and you should be able to see the other side).

You say the loaches don't come out like they used to before? Have you recently got a new tank or moved the tank? If so it may just be that they're not as used to the surroundings as they were previously and it's going to take a while to settle in. Maybe it's more open than it used to be and they don't feel as secure.

Good luck in getting them to be more active again.

 

[aaronnorth]

As said it appears mirrored at certain angles, when fish look at it straight on it is just like a window to them, they can see out.

 

[SunnyP]

Cheers guys. Thanks for a nicely explained answer.

I have tried feeding the fish in smaller amounts of food and feed them more often so they wander around the centre (where I feed them) rather than shoal along the back of the tank. It has worked with most of the fish as I have found the majority of them come to where they are fed more often than before.

You say the loaches don't come out like they used to before? Have you recently got a new tank or moved the tank? If so it may just be that they're not as used to the surroundings as they were previously and it's going to take a while to settle in. Maybe it's more open than it used to be and they don't feel as secure.

I have had the loaches for a while. They haven't been moved around since they have been introduced to the tank. They are always at the back or on the sides of the tank against the glass digging in the gravel and are active as usual.
I have been feeding them less as more Ramshorn snails have been appearing around the tank.
They go crazy after I have done a water change and start to do the 'WORM' vertically up the tank in synchro with the other loach.
Also I did lose a loaches a couple of weeks ago. It seemed to have jumped out of the tank when I was doing a water change. Didn't notice him till an hour later and was lying on the kitchen tiles dead.

I have found Tetra Pro Colour to make them go absolutely CRAZY and chase everything that they see eating the stuff.

Cheers Egmel and Aaronnorth.