Help ! New fish wont come out of hiding

[DRIFTER]

I bought a red coris wrasse about 4 days ago and when he entered the tank he swam around and then burried himself in the sand. The next day i
toucheed him to get him out of the sand, he came out and then burried himself again. The next day i tried to bring him out again so i scared him out of the sand and then he went behind the rocks and burried in the sand in a location i can not access.


Is he just goind to hide forever until he dies of starvation ? What can i do?

 

[seaham358]

Nothing.. leave the fish alone and give it time to get used to the tank. messing with it only makes it worse. Are there other fish that are picking on it??? maybe cut back on the hours the lights are on for a while and just give it space.

 

[DRIFTER]

No other fish were bothering him, he didnt even stay out long enough
for that to happen.

He looked fine at the fish store where i got him he was swimming alot(they didnt have any sand for him to hide )

So if i leave him alone he will come out? Im just afraid he iss going to starve to death.

 

[seaham358]

It may starve but trying to find it by sticking your hand in the tank is not going to help it calm down and come out.. Some fish just don't get used to the aquarium.

 

[austinsdad]

You're probably scaring the heck out of him. Got any non-aggressive fish that swim out front to maybe let him know it's OK out there? What other fish are there?

Throw a piece of PVC pipe in there big enuf for him to fit in. Maybe from there he'll not be in the sand and get a bit closer to the action.

But pls, no more "rustling" with the hand.

 

[austinsdad]

Another thing, what kind of food are you using? Try some live brine soaked in garlic. Wrasses I've had love to hunt for food and moving, swimming appetizers might get him to come around. Mine came out of sand, cocoons, or behind rocks when brine was presented, and later for all foods.

He's probably still somewhat fraked out from the LFS since there was no sand for him and maybe no other hiding place. Maybe he's just catching up on his hiding for a bit.

 

[StripesTheEel]

its a wrasse... thats what they do, bury themselves in sand, i'd give it a few days if not week for the wrasse to settle in.. they are a shy species until they settle in, i wouldnt worry too much..

 

[localhost]

I bought a purple firefish and it did the same thing basically. He would just hid in the rock work. This is normal behavior for some fish. Give him a few days. Mine came out in 3 days, some people have fish that take a week to come out. It's cool.

Not to harp on the situation, but the hand thing probably bought you a couple more days because he now thinks there's something bad out there, a lot different than hiding to see if there is something out there. I would not do any tank maintenance for a while until he is comfortable enough to come out some.

 

[lando]

Your fish is not going to starve to death by going a couple of days without eating. Heck, my tank goes three to four days between feedings. Your wrasse is just settling in, you bothering it is only going to make this process longer and stress out the fish more then it already is. Relax and give your wrasse more time, I am sure it will be fine.