3,895 answers about fish & aquatics
A healthy aquarium is a balanced one — water chemistry, filtration, stocking and feeding all work together, and most fish problems start with the water. This page gathers the fish and aquatics library of KinsLe Answers in one place, organized by topic for freshwater and saltwater keepers alike. Every answer is original, written by KinsLe, and tied to a real KinsLe feature.
212 answers in Behavior & Training — page 3 of 9
A celestial pearl danio is quietly active and playfully shy, spending its day weaving through dense planting near the bottom and middle rather than performing in open water. Males are the lively ones, circling and fin-flaring at each other in miniature displays, while females slip between plants on their own routes.…
A cardinal tetra is moderately active and gently playful, spending the day drifting and darting as a loose school through the middle of the tank rather than racing it end to end. Short chases and parallel displays ripple through the group, especially when food arrives, but the overall tempo stays calm. In too small a…
A bumblebee goby is active in short, characterful bursts rather than constant motion, hopping between perches on the tank floor and defending a favourite shell or cave. Its playfulness shows as curiosity and boldness for its size: it will watch tankmates, dart out for food, then return to its exact spot. Long still…
A boesemani rainbowfish is highly active and genuinely playful for a schooling fish, cruising the middle and upper water for most of the day and chasing companions in harmless morning displays. Males flash their blue front and orange rear halves at each other, especially early in the day, without the biting or injury…
Ghost shrimp do not swim together in a school or shoal, since each one wanders and grazes the bottom on an independent route. You may see several converge on a dropped pellet or a rich patch of detritus, but they arrive separately and drift apart as soon as it is eaten. Most of their movement is walking and short hops…
Bamboo shrimp do not school or shoal, and they barely swim at all once settled, preferring to perch in the filter current and fan-feed in place. Several bamboo shrimp may line up along the same piece of wood or outflow, but each chose that flow for itself and faces the current alone. They relocate slowly, on foot,…
Amano shrimp do not swim together in a school or shoal, because each one grazes and scavenges on its own route around the tank. They often end up clustered in the same place, but that is several independent shrimp finding the same algae patch or food pellet, not coordinated movement. You will see brief swimming bursts…
Threadfin rainbowfish are independent, gentle fish that do not form affectionate bonds with their owners, though they become tame enough to feed calmly near the front of the tank. Their attention goes to each other, especially males extending their long fins in display to females and rival males. Expect curiosity…
Rummy-nose tetras are independent rather than affectionate, showing their bond with each other instead of with the person outside the glass. They may learn that your approach means food and gather hopefully at the front, but that is anticipation, not attachment. Their real social life is the tight school, where the…
Ghost shrimp are busiest after lights-out, grazing and scavenging through the dim hours while resting in cover during brighter periods. You may still see a few picking over the substrate by day, especially around feeding time, but the steady foraging, climbing, and exploring happens at night. Keep daytime hiding…
Fork-tail rainbowfish are independent schoolers with a lively streak: they do not bond with an owner, but they learn the feeding routine quickly and will gather, bright-eyed and busy, where food usually appears. Their affection-like energy is mostly aimed sideways, at each other, in constant sparring and display…
Clown killifish are independent and naturally shy, the opposite of an affectionate pet fish: they live at the surface under floating cover and treat an approaching shadow as a possible predator. With patience they do learn the feeding routine and will rise to take tiny foods from the surface near you, which is trust…
Boesemani rainbowfish fall in between: they are not affectionate in a bonding sense, but they are among the more owner-aware schooling fish, learning fast who feeds them and crowding the front glass in anticipation. Males flash their blue-and-orange colour at each other far more than at you, and the school's real…
Bamboo shrimp lean toward the evening and night, but current matters more than clock: a settled bamboo shrimp will fan-feed in its chosen current spot through the day, then range and reposition more after lights-out. The clearest activity signal is the fans themselves, held open and swept to the mouth when fine food…
Amano shrimp are active around the clock rather than strictly day or night, but their most visible grazing happens under the lights, when they work steadily over wood, stone and leaves. After dark they keep feeding at a lower tempo, and the cover of darkness is when vulnerable freshly moulted shrimp stay hidden and…
Amano shrimp are firmly on the independent side: they do not bond with owners, seek contact or recognise a person the way a dog or even a betta can. What they do learn is the feeding routine, so shrimp that swarm toward the front glass or gather under the usual feeding spot are responding to food signals, not showing…
Leopard danios are daytime fish, and emphatically so. From lights-on the shoal is racing — chasing, courting and patrolling the upper water — and that energy runs right through the light period with the liveliest spells early in the day; at night the same fish go quiet, resting low among plants with their spotted…
Leopard danios shoal rather than school. A settled group travels the tank as a fast, loose crowd — drawn to each other's company, surging in the same general direction, but with individuals constantly overtaking, cutting across and peeling off to chase — rather than holding the aligned formation of a true school; the…
Celestial pearl danios are active during the day, with their liveliest behaviour — males displaying with fins spread and colours at full strength — concentrated in the morning part of the light period. Through the day they pick among the plants, court and spar gently from their individual positions, and at night they…
Celestial pearl danios do not truly school or even shoal tightly — they are one of the exceptions among small danios. Each fish, males especially, holds a small position in or near the plants, and the group lives spread through the vegetation, gathering loosely only at feeding time or when startled, when they may…
Congo tetras are active during the day. In the light period the shoal travels the length of the tank, males display to each other with fins extended, and the whole group feeds with enthusiasm — the hours when their iridescent colour shows at its best; at night they settle among plants or in a quiet corner, movement…
Congo tetras shoal loosely rather than schooling in tight formation. A group travels the tank together and clearly takes confidence from numbers, but the fish keep wider spacing than the small tetras, break away to feed or display, and regroup without the synchronised turning of a true school; males in particular peel…
Glowlight tetras are active during the day, drifting and feeding in their loose shoal while the lights are on, and they rest quietly at night. Their famous orange stripe is a daytime feature: after lights-out it fades noticeably, and fish checked by torchlight look pale and stay almost motionless among the plants,…
Glowlight tetras shoal rather than school. A settled group drifts together through the lower middle of the tank in a loose, relaxed association — fish a few body lengths apart, turning independently, wandering a short way off and returning — rather than moving in the locked formation of true schoolers like rummy nose…
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