Fish that draw out shy fish

[brett559]

I have a question. I've got a beautiful, but shy royal gramma. I've read that some fish (some wrasses, lyretail anthias) may "help draw out shier fish that share the aquarium" (quote from liveaquaria).

I'm planning on adding a melanarus wrasse and a male lyretail anthias at some point, and those both seem to help with shy fish.

Have you seen that happen in your tank? Why is that so? What is the new fish doing that gets the shy fish out in the open? Just curious really. I would love to see my royal gramma more (other than when it's time to eat)!

 

[cloak]

Along with the Royal Gramma, what other fish do you have?

I'm not sure what kind of qualities the two fish you mentioned above might possess, but there is that old saying that there's "safety in numbers." You don't want to overstock your tank, but perhaps a few more appropriate fish might help the Royal Gramma to settle down. GL.

 

[brett559]

Two clownfish, two tangs, a coral beauty, and a purple firefish (the firefish is shy too).

 

[biomek]

my gramma was the first fish into my tank. after I added a few more fish (matted file and a watchman goby) the gramma started to stray from her spot much more regularly. Like Cloak stated, safety in numbers assuming the additions won't be aggressive towards the RG.

 

[Vgyoung]

I would say the best bet would be to have that shy fish added first. My Firefish (known to be shy) Was the first fish in my tank and now he is fine with all his tank mates.

 

[shesacharmer]

What kind of Tangs?

 

[brett559]

Blue (small juvenile) and yellow (2+ years old).

 

[JohnnyBoyPerth]

Yes i agree with this.

Had a number of fish that did not want to come out, gobbie's and blue tang. Then i added 5 chromis and they are now all (generally) out and about. Much nicer to watch.

I think the other fish get confidence that other fish are in the open

 

[Vilas]

I also had luck with chromis drawing out the any fish. But that is pure luck, as I randomly and oddly seem to have gotten the fluke chromis who get along and school nicely instead of war.

 

[MMacro]

How big is your tank?

 

[Waters40]

I have had two different species of wrasses (Lubbock's and Leopard) and they both made the other fish in the tank feel more comfortable. I had to remove the Lubbocks due to coral picking...the rest of the fish went into hiding and were very skittish until I added the Leopard.