I think i found out why my firefish hides

ok so apart from being new, today i think i found the reason why my helfrichi firefish hides so much. I think it doesn't like the light. I have a timer for my lights but can't figure out the timer right now, but i turn the light on at 3 and have them come off at 10.

This morning and early afternoon i noticed that he wasn't hiding, still not very active but would stay in a corner and sometimes come to the front of the tank. He was out for a few hours, then 3 finally came around and i turned on the light then 15 minutes later it went to his hiding space which is a very small dark hole within the rock work. He hasn't come out sense.

Do you think with the helfrichi being a deep water fish, it hasn't adjusted to the tank life yet and being so close to the sun *the light* it's not used to it and therefor hides until the tank is dark again?

Also if this is the case of it hiding and with it not coming out soon enough to get food, should i turn the lights off an hour before i feed to see if he will come out and catch the food?

This is just a thought, sorry for the long post

 

maybe try to make a shaded cave or over hang and see if he starts hanging around it..

 

the outside of his hiding place is just like that, and that's where he likes to spend most of his time when he's out of hiding, and his hiding hole is right there so if he's frightened he doesn't need to go far to get into his hole

 

You could always move some of the rock around to see if it gets him out exploring and make a new cave somewhere in the front where he would be easier to see.

 

It seems suspicious that the fish is hiding while the lights are on. Any chance of the tank-mates bullying it while they are out and about? Then while the lights are off and they are asleep he is more comfortable to come out? just a thought, what are all the inhabitants inside? Firefish are one of the most docile peaceful fish i have ever owned, i would hate to spend that kind of money on a fish and have it hide all the time

 

i have thought of doing that as i'm thinking about scrubbing off some of my gha so might as well reaquascape

theres only 3 of them in the tank right now. I was worried about my female clown because the majority of the time she is as mean as hell to the male so i wasn't sure if she would pick on the firefish, but she has done nothing to him. So maybe with the firefish being so docile it stresses out when it sees the other fish fighting? because the female constantly harrasses the male and chases him all over the tank when not even doing anything.

And besides the clowns, it's just the CUC new emerald crab and urchin

 

when firefish and gobys search for places to jump out of they usually swim around the tank when its dim and the other fish are not so active... but i know you have already taken preventive measures to ensure no jumping so theres no need to worry

 

yea it's tried jumping once already, and just smacked itself against the screen door, haven't seen it try to jump sense, fast learner

 

Any clue where he was collected? Maybe it's experiencing the fish equivalent of jet-lag. I once had the same thing happen with a leather that was out during the night and asleep during the day, took about 2 weeks for it to get adjusted to my schedule.

 

i got him from liveaquria and he was collected from the Marshall Islands. It will be 2 weeks on Wednesday since i've had him, during the first week he was out, and ate great, but since he's gone into hiding, he's still interested in food, but comes out too late when all of the food is gone