[readingbabelfish]

Ok guys, here goes. I have had a 4-5 inch rhom in a 20g high for about 1-2 months. He has been hiding in this cave I have in there the whole time. I have never seen him outside of this cave. I just moved him into a 55g tank. I also put the cave in there to make him feel more at home. So guess what, he i in the cave again. My question is, should I move the cave to make him come out. All I have in the tank are some crappy fake plants. There would not be much cover. Thank you for all the input!

 

[Croz]

take out the cave. get some real plants maybe a pice of driftwood. i am lucky my reds have lots of places to hide but none of them do unless i am cleaning the tank.

 

[readingbabelfish]

I have the lights dimmed so that the rhom is more comfortable. I am unsure if this light is sufficient to sustain live plants. I may get some driftwood also but this is for a black rhom not reds. My reds have plenty of places to hide. I don't want to stress this fish out so it dies. It was sorta expensive. Thank you!

 

[Croz]

well get plants that don't need a lot of light. he will still hide but i think he will be more active without the cave.

 

[audiction]

remove the cave and replace it with a driftwood. put this in the middle of the tank, you can also remove your fake plants. this way he won't have any hiding places and thus be more bold. when you do this make sure to give it sometime to adjust.......be patient and good luck.

 

[Judazzz]

well get plants that don't need a lot of light. he will still hide but i think he will be more active without the cave.

Yeah, try plants like java fern, java moss and anubias: they will do fine in a low-light tank!

Also, go with one or two pieces of bogwood or some rocks to create alternative hiding places.

And maybe adding a couple of dither fish (like danio's, tetra's or similar) will bring him back to life as well (prepare to loose those though, so choose a couple of cheap ones!)

 

[Xenon]

Take the cave out and follow the instructions on this thread....however, you might need to come to the realization that you couldve bought a very skittish rhom. What is your water temp?

 

[Xenon]

take a look at SMTT's "How to make rhoms aggressive" thread:

It is a little scrambled from the board move but if you scroll down about 3/4 of the way you can see his original post.

http://www.piranha-fury.com/forum/pfury/in...t=ST&f=16&t=431

 

[Sir Nathan XXI]

my suggestion is to turn his tank light off, and turn on a dim light somewhere in the room so you can faintly see the fish, watch him for a while and see if he comes out and swims around

if so, you will need to dim your light, tank temp needs to be around 80 as well

 

[Winkyee]

Mine both stay at the back of the tank until the room is darkened (it is pretty bright in the room). Both tanks are dimmed with foil in between the light and the glass and the lid, the foil is poked full of holes for the desired amount of light. As soon as the light in the room dims down both fish will actively and aggressively follow and try to attack your finger. I suppose it's possible that so many of us have such different experiences with our Rhoms due to variations in the amount of natural light admitted to the room as well as the amount of activity in the room. I'm in the process of reorganizing and adding decorations and plants to my Rhom's tanks to hopefully get them more active during the day.

 

[RhomZilla]

Well if your complaining that the Rhom keeps hiding andbeing shy, why dont yo just take most of the decors out? It will help him get used to the traffic and also your presence, instead of hiding all the time.

 

[Piranha King]

take the cave out and add driftwood like codo said.
wes

 

[Azrael]

I did had the same problem with my 2 young piraya.

After they checked their 200 l tank, with many plants and driftwood, they were never seen again...
believe me, they only ate in the nighthours, they runned for the food, picked up and,...where the hell are they?

so I decided to shoal them with 2 young RBP's.

What do you think had happened ?

The young nat's driving around the holy day, you can see them swim and eat and fight ,...

and the piraya ?

Out of sight !

I got angry after some days !

And removed the driftwood and many plants...

and now ...ah , I can see them ín action, shoaling with the nats.

But after I have lost my 2 old RBP's ( R.I.P ! thanks for 10 years !), I decided to mix the young shoal with my 2 large Cariba( in a 300 l Tank, with many plants and WOOD)...

I made the mix today , and to my horror

the 2 pirayas are gone....

The remaing P's (2 cariba, 25 cm and the young nats, 8-9 cm) shoaling togeter...

the pirayas hide behind some plants, hope to see them in the next days,( or do I have to wait the next years?)

Will look at them tomorrow, and hope to make some pics...