Firefish scared

[Maxxingout]

I've had my firefish for a little while now and has been doing great. Well he was until I added a larger fish in recently. I can see the ff looking at the larger fish as a predator. It has not come out to eat in a week but once and when he catches a glimpse of the new fish he flies back into his hole.

Anybody else have/had a firefish with larger tank mates and warmed up the them over time? I have a bad feeling he's not going to make it.

 

[Deinonych]

How large is the new fish? My firefish was a bit wary of my foxface (around 4" at the time) when I first added it, but it only lasted about a week or so.

 

[CoralNerd]

This is a great article on firefish.
Read the area that talks about aquarium care. I have a decent amount of experience with firefish now so if anyone has questions don't hesitate to ask. Good luck with your firefish he probably will get weak and die.

http://www.tfhmagazine.com/saltwate...e-gem-from-a-familiar-family-full-article.htm

 

[Maxxingout]

How large is the new fish? My firefish was a bit wary of my foxface (around 4" at the time) when I first added it, but it only lasted about a week or so.

About 4", it's a tang so it swims around a lot. It never minded or got scared of the 2 wrasses but I'm guessing since the tangs body looks bigger is part of the problem.

I'll keep putting food by it's hole in hopes that it'll eat something and hopefully at some point it'll acclimate to the tang.

 

[MellowReefer]

I've had a firefish for three years and after I got a tang it stayed in a cave for over a year catching whatever pieces of food floated in there. Even though the tang didn't really chase him I guess he just intimidated him. I finally decided to remove the tang after it was picking on my anthias. Now firefish is out all the time. My only large fish is a foxface. I prefer lots of small peaceful fish.

 

[CoralsAddiction]

I have been having the same issue with my purple fire fish. Added a bicolor chromis to make it feel safer to no avail. It only comes out to eat once a day and then darts back into a cave.
Over the years I've noticed that strong flow can deter fire fish from coming out. There's is a gigantea (carpet) anemone in my tank that requires strong flow. I wonder if that's also contributing to reclusiveness.

 

[Maxxingout]

I hope things change cause it really adds nice color to the display. The fish came from a tank that had multi tangs in it so I thought I was ok.

 

[MellowReefer]

I have seen videos of tanks with firefish out in the open and they have tangs and lots of fish. These are usually tanks that look heavily stocked. I'm not sure if maybe having a lot of fish around make them feel more comfortable.

If he doesn't come out after another week or so you could try rearranging your rocks, specifically where the firefish is hiding. Sometimes just forcing them out into the open makes them realize they're not in any danger and they might stay out.

 

[Maxxingout]

Sometimes just forcing them out into the open makes them realize they're not in any danger and they might stay out.

That's actually a pretty good idea. I really can't move my rocks around due to the way I have things setup. But maybe forcing the fish out and blocking the hole for a bit.

 

[Irishdolphin]

If it has only been a week I would give him some more time to figure it out for himself