Is this normal for firefish?

[Feeshrfriendsnotfood]

So I recently added a firefish to my temporary 13.5 (getting a reef octo T90 in May) and was doing fine actively swimming and even ate day one. Now he’s either “hiding” behind the return or has half it’s tail in the overflow. It almost seems like it’s having a hard time with the current. Is that normal? I thought he would have immediately gone into my old Gobies cave which is still unoccupied.

 

[KrisReef]

This does not seem normal for average Firefish behavior. Post a picture for better dialogue

 

[Feeshrfriendsnotfood]

Here’s a video

 

[Feeshrfriendsnotfood]

Or not. Vid wasn’t working but he’s been there all day so far

 

[PatW]

I have had fire fish. They can hide out for an extended period of time. Generally, they will have a cavern or hollow they like and they will suspend themselves in the water column nearby. I guess they stay near the cavern so that they can beat a quick retreat.

 

[fryman]

Are any other fish picking on him? I believe if there's good water quality and plenty of available food firefish are hardy, but tend to be very sensitive to bullying.

IME firefish can suddenly get very shy and hide for long periods, but then when comfortable they stay out in the water column all day. Usually I figure the hiding is due to aggression, particarly from other firefish. But that's just my experience.

 

[JumboShrimp]

I bought one from my LFS that was hanging out openly in their tank. Brought it home to my tank (different tank mates than the LFS, obviously), and it went immediately into hiding for 2-3 days. Now it has settled in and seems comfortable with other fish— but won’t hesitate to dart into hiding if frightened.

 

[Feeshrfriendsnotfood]

There’s a banggai cardinal and a tiny blue and yellow damsel but the cardinal spends her time by the gorgonian and the damsel spends its time hanging out in a cave some dead clamshells made on my live rock. My main concern is he looks like he’s fighting the current… and loosing

 

[Llyod276]

Hmm. Doubt he's losing to the curent. If you wanna test that theory spook him with a net. Youll see him *dart* faster than you can track it. These fish do just that hover. They dont really swim around. And as for the cave maybe or not.

 

[i cant think]

There’s a banggai cardinal and a tiny blue and yellow damsel but the cardinal spends her time by the gorgonian and the damsel spends its time hanging out in a cave some dead clamshells made on my live rock. My main concern is he looks like he’s fighting the current… and loosing

Fish will not lose to current, remember, the currents and tides in oceans are VERY fast compared to our tanks. These fish cannot stand any sort of aggression. Do you have another cave? If not then that’s your issue, these guys need caves to be happy and not scared all the time. Also to check for any aggression, set your phone down somewhere where it can catch the fish, then video the tank for 45 minutes (You MUST be out of the room for this). Then skip through the video and see if there’s any aggression.