How to encourage more roaming in tank

[stinkydavis]

I have 5 fish ( 2clowns, foxface, sailfin tang, and six line) and the cleaner shrimp all hang out in this one corner of the tank all day everyday. The only time they come out is when I feed. Should I change something in the aquascape to give them more confidence to roam? It is a very boring tank with the only thing visibly moving is snails.
parameters
1.025
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-12
Alkalinity-8.6
Temp-78.5

 

[jabberwock]

Try changing the flow.

 

[MrGisonni]

The clowns will probably stay put the fox face in the sailfin should really be swimming around nipping at your rocks same thing for the six line. Maybe try a wave maker or two to get a little more random flow. Hygger wave makers are small and relatively cheap.

 

[Gedxin]

What size tank is this? Have a full tank shot we can evaluate your aquascape?

 

[homer1475]

More fish. depending on tank size, could help too.

On the wild reef, when one fish darts for the rocks, it's usually a signal that a predator is coming.

 

[stinkydavis]

It is a 150gallon tank. The sailfin and foxface have a love hate relationship right now. I am not near the tank but this is a recent picture I have to show a majority of the tank

 

[stinkydavis]

Right now for flow I have a jeabo scp-120 running at about 50-60% power doing wave mode. On the other side is a sicce 1320 ac wavemaker about half way down aimed up and the overflow Box and then the return lines pointed towards the front corners of the tank.

 

[blaxsun]

What @homer1475 said - more fish.
There are 50 fish in here - can you spot them all?

 

[stinkydavis]

What size is that?

What @homer1475 said - more fish.
There are 50 fish in here - can you spot them all?

 

[Idech]

I just rehomed my Allen’s damsel and now that she’s gone, the fish are swimming everywhere, including the clowns. As before they were staying on one side.

Next I turned off one powerhead and now my firefish is moving about more. I guess he didn’t like the flow.

Those are two possible reasons why your fish don’t move a lot. But since it’s all of them, I would think there might be a bully that’s making them scared.

 

[Alexopora]

It is a 150gallon tank. The sailfin and foxface have a love hate relationship right now. I am not near the tank but this is a recent picture I have to show a majority of the tank

Could you take a picture of the entire rock work? Also how long have the fish been in the tank?

Also any plans for corals? I always notice that my fish are always at their happiest and bravest in tanks that full of corals. But then again keeping corals is not a must for keeping fish.

Another thing, have you tried observing them from a far? Do you see them out and about when you are not near the tank?

 

[freepizza80]

I think more you try to get theses fish out of the rock work, more they will hide. Just leave them alone. They will learn that you are the one bringing them food and will eventually come out.

 

[littlebeard]

Take a shot glass, fill it with tank water and frozen mysis. Leave it near the tank. With a pipette, every few times you walk past the tank give it a squirt. In a few days you'll have trained them to associate you with food, and every time you walk by they'll come out for food.

 

[stinkydavis]

Here is the whole tank. They do come out to me at first but when they realize I don’t have food they bail.

 

[blaxsun]

What size is that?

160 gallons. So just over 1 gallon per fish!