Awww :)

Intravenous · Post by **Intravenous** » 28 Feb 2006, 23:08

Aww

I feel like a mum watching her baby taking its first steps...my Vampire pleco has come out to eat for the first time since I've got him without the whole room being pitch black. The tank light is out, but normally thats not good enough...this time I can see him giving his prawn a good thrashing

Waldo · Post by **Waldo** » 01 Mar 2006, 01:12

haha. I don't think they are sensitive to UV and I've heard that LED lighting is great to show fish that don't like light.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 01 Mar 2006, 09:47

That's great news.

As Waldo said, you can have dim lights on in the tank. Back in the eighties or so, I set my tank up with a set of lights from my retired railway-set. Small, low power, lights with a transformer - preferrably with adjustable voltage so you can adjust the light up/down. I think mine were 0.5w/12v ones.

LED's are also available, and not very expensive. Again, you need a transformer and a resistor per LED - you can either use RED or WHITE ones. You need a resistor before the LED so that the current going through the LED is limited to some extent - how much depends on the individual LED. This page contains some White LED's. Datasheet.

Per Ohm's law you get 5v/250 ohm -> 20mA. So you need a resistor that is at least 250 ohm in series with the diode. An variable resistor along the lines would help control the illumination level, so you can dim the lights - but most variable resistors start at a resistance lower than 250 ohm, so you need a fixed resistor to determine the minimum resistance.

The long leg of the diode goes to the positive side of the power source, the short leg is negative.

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Mats

jd_7655 · Post by **jd_7655** » 04 Mar 2006, 01:17

I train my plecos to come out with the lights on. I havent had a pleco yet that I couldnt get to come out in the day.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 06 Mar 2006, 09:24

Sure, they do come out during light hours. But some take a lot longer to teach than others, and if you want to see what they are doing during dark hours, then having night-lights installed is a good way of achieving this...

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Mats

Intravenous · Post by **Intravenous** » 15 Mar 2006, 20:46

I have heard of some people "conditioning" their plecos into coming out during the day. How exactly is this done?

My pleco has very recently started coming out in the light in the evening (6, with lights out at

. He also comes out within half an hour of me puting food out after lights out. Do I just change the feeding time to encourage him?

I think his recent confidence must mean hes more comfortable with his surroundings, unfortunately soon he is to be bagged and taken 100miles! That will really put a dent in progress

Fish Soup · Post by **Fish Soup** » 15 Mar 2006, 21:35

I have discovered that my L333s and Zebras come out during the day much more often than I had thought. They just do it when I'm not in the room.

I resently added an extention to my webcam's cable allowing me to view their tank from another room. I saw more action and interaction in the first hour than I had seen in a year. But as soon as I walk down the hall towards the doorway, they vanish! I guess they can hear my footprints!

Don

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 17 Mar 2006, 11:35

Yes, these fish can "hear" the vibrations when you walk around the house, for sure. Eventually, I think you'll find, these fish will get used to _YOUR_ footsteps, and come to see you when you arrive, but others will make them hide...

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Mats

T · Post by T » 17 Mar 2006, 12:32

My vampire was a bit iffy about coming out when the lights were on but as hes grown hes become so bold he even shoves my big cichlids away from his prawns and bloodworms.