Bizarre Behavior

[kebber1223]

Just wondering whether or not anyones knows why fish will frantically swim back and forth from one side of the aquarium to the other. Why do they do this? This is a saddle back butterfly.

 

[bimmerzs]

Maybe not enough room??????

 

[melev]

It could be:

Stressed
Seeing its reflection in the glass and wanting to fight 'the enemy'
Stray electricity in the water
Vibrations in the water (excessive sound in the room, loud pump in the tank)

 

[Capthlp]

Training for the next reef marathon??? Seriously, I actually tried to google this for you and could not come up with any good hits that would explain it.. Sorry.

 

[True Perc]

I would say is usually for the same reason you find big cats, like tigers, pacing back in forth in small cages. We're taking them out of the ocean and trapping them in small jail cells relative to what they're used to. Not all animals are going to adapt well to these situations. No idea how big your tank is but anything smaller than 100 gallons is way too small for a butterfly, IMO, other than a small juvenile.