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My large tank has quite a number of active fish that seem to mellow-out and "sleep" (not move hardly at all) at Night.

But the 8 Silver Dollar fish are Extremely active...racing around following each other back and forth, back and forth for hours across the 6' length of the tank!

However in the daytime they mostly hide in the plants, except some come out at feeding time.

Are they "nocturnal, or what"?

Nope theyre not.
Theyre also highly vegetarian.

In my 125g tank, then, I guess they are just waiting until all Congo Tetra school(14) the 18 extremely active Rosy Barbs and the big Bala Sharks(10) to "sleep" and the tank is "quieter" activity-wise and have no hinderence to racing back and forthing the tank...because most of the Silver Dollars stay hidden in the plants until night. Then the All (8) become extremely active jamming back and forth the length of the tank in groups.

Could that be why?

Vegeterian?
I think their breeder feed the high protein Discus food, because no matter HOW much algae wafers, spirulina, etc. I put in the tank for them...they ignore it and gobble up the high protein flakes and Discu granules instead (leaving the vegie stuff untouched)

What do you make of those things, Please?

I think you have answered the first question your self.
If all the other fish are too active during the day the SDs are keeping out of the way and the only safe time for them is when the tank is darkened

Can you try this out, darken the room and turn the tank lights off and see what happens then?

No idea about the feeding but it could be because of the breding and with the previous owner.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info
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Keith

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thanks keithgh,
But that isn't enough to make the other active fish "dormant". I've read that (unless you have live plants, and therefor need the light on) the lights are mostly for the fishkeeper, not the fish needs.

So, even though I generally only use the lights at feeding time and infrequently otherwise, the lights are most all the time off...and the tank is generally in a very low light area in which I can still see all the fish cruising around the tank, and the fish are very active even with the room lights off. It is during the night, even with a table lamp lit that the other sink to the bottom dormant...while the SDs race back and forth the length of the tank unimpeded. Their wide silver bodies reflect the lamp light to be very active and cool.

But I wish all the SDs would venture out during the day. They have been in the tank only for about 2 weeks...maybe they will feel confortable to do that with time, I hope because they are very cool fish to watch swim!.

Regarding the feed preference, could be less about the food's substance and more about the food's float-a-bility.

If a food hovers at the level a fish is most comfortable feeding at they will respond. If they feed in the mid region and the food sinks they will ignore it. Even if it is something they should like. A wafer will sit untouched on the floor. Flakes in the midregion will attract them because the movement triggers a response.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

thanks wish-ga,
But they are eating well now. Everything I feed gets eaten (algae wafers, Discus granules, flake food, and spirolina pellets, so I guess they are now becoming accustomed to my feeding regime/menu.

But they are still skittish (except for 3 individuals that stay out of the plant cover all day)...the other 5 still dart out for food, then hide in the plants until night when the other fish are sleeping.

And all 8 of them put on a cool display of racing back and forth the 6' length of the tank for hours. It's cool because in the low light of only a table lamp about 10' away...they reflect the light and shimmer silver with their whole round bodies as the swim hard, back and forth.