Fishes (or no fishes) that hide most of the time

[jucario]

Which fishes or shrimps do you think are the ones that hide most of the time (without other factors as being harassed or newly introduced).

IME Lysmata debelius hides a lot, I have had one for two years and I just know he is there because I see his exoskeleton once in a while.

A fish I would love to have is the marine betta, but I have read here that it hides most of the time, so I have passed.

Any other fish that you think it is cool but unfortunately hides most of the time?

 

[Allmost]

adding some anthias or chromis or cardinal or any schooling fish, would make all those little guys feel its safe and come out more often.

 

[SecretiveFish]

I agree Lysmata debelius hides a lot IME and so does our coral banded shrimp (he comes out at night though).

Worst hidey fish IME? Dusky brotulid. Of the 8 months we have owned him I have seen him exactly twice, once when I put him in the tank and once when I moved a rock that evidently contained him to another tank 5 months later. I assume he is still alive in the new tank but have not seen hide nor hair of him.

Current runner up? Scissortail darfish pair. I only see them when I feed the tank, otherwise they are in their hidey hole. I am really starting to despise hidey fish; I saw a "Malachite Secretive Wrasse" on LA DD. Hmmmm, I think the name gives that one away.

You should try a marine betta! Seriously after ours settled in, we see him all of the time although the settle in time was a couple months. I would not trade that fish for anything! He is tied with our indigo hamlet for my favorite fish in our house of way too many fish tanks. Our indigo hamlet did hide most of the time until we got rid of a yellow foxface, but now we see him all of the time.

 

[velvetelvis]

I once kept a cherub angel who spent so much of his time darting in and out of the rocks that I barely saw him for more than a few seconds at a time. The top prize for "invisible livestock", though, goes to the yellow assessor I bought last winter. I'd waited a long time for my LFS to get some in, so I was excited.

After he was acclimated and released, I didn't see him for weeks and unhappily assumed that he had died. Finally, one day I caught a glimpse of him at the back of the tank before he ducked back into hiding. He was in my old 34 Solana and would tuck himself as far back as he could between the glass and the overflow box...the only way I could ever spot him was to shine a flashlight back in that corner and look for a flash of yellow.

He was a beautiful little fish, but he gave new meaning to the world "cryptic"! He now lives in a 600G vat at a friend's coral farm, where he has no doubt finally achieved complete invisibility.

 

[SecretiveFish]

... he has no doubt finally achieved complete invisibility.

LOL So has our brotulid. Only time we will ever see him again is if we take 'his' rock out of the water for 15 minutes again...

 

[Khemul]

For me it is Zebra Dartfish. I have 3 that group together. They'll disappear for anywhere from 2-6 days without a trace, then pop out for feeding time, then disappear again.

As for non-fish, Crown Conch (Whelk). Nocturnal, only eats meat (fish tend to drag any meat behind the rockwork), lives under the sand. On rare occasions I see it climbing the glass shortly after lights out (not sure why).

 

[Khemul]

For me it is Zebra Dartfish. I have 3 that group together. They'll disappear for anywhere from 2-6 days without a trace, then pop out for feeding time, then disappear again.

As for non-fish, Crown Conch (Whelk). Nocturnal, only eats meat (fish tend to drag any meat behind the rockwork), lives under the sand. On rare occasions I see it climbing the glass shortly after lights out (not sure why).

 

[jucario]

For me it is frustrating to carefully prepare the stock list and wait fot that prized fish just to see (or not to see) how it hides and hope it is just a matter of time for the fish to feel comfortable but the months pass and the fish just stays all the time hidden.

I am with SecretiveFish, I don't like hidey fishes; I just think of something worse than a hidey fish, it would be a fish that hides all the time and just comes out to harass other fishes or eats them at night, but that would be just too bad luck.

 

[betamed]

I have a yellow gobie I only see every few weeks. Also See my starfish every few weeks.

 

[MikeandNicole]

Fish wise I would say basslets but that is their natural behavior hiding out in rock caves. Flaming prawn gobies are another one that you will never ever see.

 

[phasezero]

I have a pair of gumdrop coral crouchers that pretty much hide most of the time. In order to feed them i have to poke the end of a turkey baster into rock crevices to find them. Then they will start pecking at it waiting for mysis. This is not my picture or my fish.

Photo Credit: Ace25

 

[NatureNerd]

I had a rainfordi goby that vanished and was not seen by anyone for four months. He shows up for an hour and then gone again for a couple more months. This is just a 75g. How could he hide so well and still eat?

 

[Khemul]

I had a rainfordi goby that vanished and was not seen by anyone for four months. He shows up for an hour and then gone again for a couple more months. This is just a 75g. How could he hide so well and still eat?

Depends on the diversity of life in the tank. The average saltwater tank has plenty of alternative food sources for smaller fish to survive off off. Copepods, amphipods, algae, detritus, etc.

In the case of a Rainfordi Goby, probably sandsifting and/or algae eating.