painted tanks

[jimjon]

Will the apistos feels more comfortable in tanks with the sides painted? I find that many of my apistos are swimming up and down the glass all day long, as though trying to get to the other side of the glass.

 

[Neil]

Probably. They might also settle down a little on their own with time. I usually allow algae to grow and remain on the sides and back of my tanks. I just clean the front. That saves on time and it seems to make them feel more "bordered", so they have their controled little home or territory. They can still see through to other tanks and pretend battle other fish, but it is not like there is so many other places to go with clean glass. The other things that the algae helps with is that it reduces minor bio spikes from large water changes and low filtration. And as an added bonus, it give the fry something to work on when they are young in between meals because of the inherant organisms.