Fish swimming patterns

[csababubbles]

Hi Lee,

I am aquascaping a tank and I was wondering what would be a better rock structure for the fish that swim in the water column (not gobies and such)......

1. Rockwork in the back with lots of open space in the front of the tank

2. rocks in the middle so the fish can swim loops in front and behind?

My rational is that the swimmers will think it's more space if they can continue swimming around a loop instead of having just back and forth to go along the front.

What do you think?

 

[leebca]

Actually, you bring up a very important subject -- one that isn't addressed in ornamental marine fish keeping. You see, in keeping caged larger cats (for instance) it has been determined that the worst cage dimension is rectangular and only allowing the cat to pace back and forth in a straight line. Modern zoos, now aware of these findings, have arranged the cage to be of unusual shapes, giving the cat a walking path of a non-linear path in its habitat. The question of course is. . .Does this apply to captive fishes? I think not.

The disadvantage of the 'island landscaping' is that there may be places you can't see the fish. In general, for proper and best circulation you don't want rock 'stuck' to the back wall. You don't want dead spots in the back, so bringing the rock slightly forward from the back wall is best for this goal. If you do block off the back, this means that your powerheads should be up front pointing toward the rear. This makes for a less attractive design, in general. No one really wants to 'see' their equipment in the DT.

So, to best reply to your question, it isn't best for the fish, but it is better for circulation to use an island or a not-against-the-back wall landscaping. Try to maintain a means to look at the back -- through the sides or by mirrors (when necessary).

 

[Krish]

I agree with Lee. Worse thing you want is rocks stacked against a backwall. The is usually a waste/ditritus trap as you tend to not have adequet circulation this way. I always aquascape off of the backwall for this reason. You can also aquascape more to one side than the other leaving more space for the fish to swim in open area depending on the size of the tank.

Here's a shot of one of my old tanks. Alot of space all around for the fish to swim infront of and in back of the tank as well as swimming area above the rockwork.