I have a 55 gallon, and these photos show how heavily planted it was at its densest. One side was super heavy, one side was super open. When I arranged it this way, my barbs, betta, and bumblebee goby pretty much disappeared. I never saw them anymore, but I thought they must just like the dense foliage.
I got more worried with time, especially after seeing a barb pass. All my parameters were perfect though and my dwarf catfish, kuhli loaches, and bristlenose pleco were all doing wonderful.
Today I finally decided it's too stressful for me, I want to be able to keep an eye on my fish, and I cleared the forest. There are still live plants but nothing densely packed. I only see my betta and two of my barbs left, and they've all noticeably lost weight in the past month. I don't know why, but it seems having such a densely planted option resulted in them staying in it to the point of starvation. Immediately after removal of the forest, the barbs are exhibiting normal behavior again out in the open.
Has anyone else experienced this? Or have any ideas why a densely planted side of the tank could cause this reclusive behavior and die off?
Posted by pipple7373
1 Comment
At night the pants use up a lot more dissolved oxygen (DO). This causes a DO crash and can suffocate fish. Also depending on how densely planted it could be making it harder to swim leading to exhaustion but that seems like a stretch. I’d try putting a decent bubbler and seeing what happens.