Shy Fish...

[jbrown03]

I have recently introduced two Three Spot Gourami in to my 30g tank. For the first, maybe three or four days they have been fine, as can be seen from the full tank shot in my gallery. However they are now in hiding, separately.

I thought that I might be over feeding them, as I do tend to overfeed rather than underfeed. Since I have reduced the amount I have been feeding, and I think the fish generally in the tank have benefitted, making them more active and inquisitive.

Unfortunately the Gourami are still in hiding, although as it comes to feeding time they do venture out to see if there's any food around. They are still shy when doing so, running back to cover if they see any movement outside the tank.

Okay so we have a few options left...

1) Bad water quality. (all is fine)
2) They are not eating the food I am giving them. (they would appear to be eating it)
3) There is something in the tank they are not liking.
4) There is something outside the tank they are not liking.

The only thing I can come up with is the presence of two panther catfish. These catfish are always on the move, and quite often fight with each other, although only with each other and at low levels. All other fish in the tank keep themselves to themselves.

I intend to hand the panther catfish over to my LFS who have said they will take them. I don't really like them anyway, and I would love the Gourami to make themselves a bit more available to the eye.

One other thing to note is my tank is in the lounge where the TV is on during the evening, although this did not bother them for the fist few days.

 

[ferret]

When I was first taking pictures of my tanks, my 29 gallon had been setup for over 5 months with its current residents. Every picture I tried to take, the gouramis somehow seemed to know what was going on and would hide behind something.

I think gouramis in general are a somewhat shy fish.

 

[madasafish]

Well, some are... some aren't. The paradise gouramis at the LFS are African-Cichilf-like in their attention to anyone passing by the tank. Flame gouramis are the same. IME, dwarf gouramis aren't particularly shy.

You know sometimes it just depends on the number of fish in the tank at any one time. Also, this species could be more sensitive. Sometimes you just have to adapt to the fishes' sensibilities and stay still infront of the tank for a few minutes. With my kribs, I have to turn off the overhead light and wait a few minutes for them to emerge from their favorite hiding spots. Some fish are naturally timid. I doubt that water quality or food has to do with it, though some sick fish do hide themselves.

HTH

 

[Mouse]

Theyll get used to it, My Discus actually like watching TV, they all line up in the evening and stay pretty much trasfixed untill i turn it off.

 

[stoneydee]

I have two tanks by TVs - one in the den and one in the bedroom. None of the fish even seem to notice. Now the vacuum cleaner really gets next to my gouramis though. . .

 

[PlatyLady]

Mouse, that's hilarious!

I don't have a tv by my tanks, but they are set up in my home office. Some of them seem to watch me work, but mostly they are scavenging for food/fry.

 

[captainGregor]

I as well have a tank in my home office and my fish used to be shy of me but now they all come out to the front ready to eat whenever I come in; I guess they figured out that I give them food. They do not have same reaction to my wife interestingly enough. No reaction to TV or music.

 

[Fruitbat]

ferret...

You need to meet my male blue gourami! Yesterday I was replanting a couple of new plants that my loaches had uprooted when the miserable blue fiend attacked my fingers! First he really colored up and displayed with fins spread....followed that up by biting me multiple times with all of the vigor that a blue gourami can muster.

Needless to say I was amused...it isn't like I'm dealing with a pirahna here...so I let him continue with his hystrionics until he finally got tired and swam to the other end of the tank. No...he wasn't defending a nest....and he certainly wasn't being shy!

 

[puffergirl]

I find that my Tiger Barbs are the shyest. They scatter when ever they see any movement, except of course when they are hungry or know it is dinner time!!! They absolutley hate the vaccum cleaner and hide so much that you can't find them. They also hate tank cleaning time. What can I say I have a bunch of chickens

 

[LondonGman]

I have a tank in which my male red dwarf Gourami was the largest inhabitant. It used to swim around the tank peacefully and generally bullying the female gourami which I have found is part of there nature. He was certainly not shy until I introduced two angel fishes.

The first few days saw a bit of a power struggle in which the dwarf gourami was trying to bully the Angels. However the Angels brushed aside the bullying Gourami so he now constantly hides and rarely comes out. I believe he is sulking.

The rest of my tank fishes are all very active with the supposedly shy bristlenose pleco, almost the most active .

 

[jbrown03]

The Gourami seem to have settled in now. They are coming out of hiding a bit more . It would appear I didn't give them enough time to settle in and get to know their new friend .

Insidently I have started to feed bloodworm to my fish from my hand. Some of the fish are not keen at all, but my tiger and clown barbs have no problem with it... you never know I might be able to tame them. Does anyone else have experience of this sort of thing?

 

[stoneydee]

My fancy goldfish will eat just about anything from my hand - which is cool in one respect, but gets to be a problem when I'm reaching in with a gravel vacuum, or trying to get empty veggie clips out, and five fish are persistently "bumping" my hand and grazing on my fingers.

You'd think I starve them. I think goldfish must be the drama kings and queens of the fish world. These are real players, at any rate. . .