Dealing with a skittish hiding fish

Hitchhik3r · Feb 20, 2023

I bought 2 evansi anthias about a week and a half ago (pre-quarantined). As soon as I introduced them into the tank after a short acclimation period, they both darted into the rocks. One of the 2 is yet to be seen. I presume she died. The other one came out occasionally in the beginning so I tried feeding her a variety of food including mysis, brine, mixing with garlic and selcon (how the dealer fed them). Unfortunately she never took to them and eventually went hiding into the rocks. I never saw her for over 5 days so I presumed she also perished but lo and behold today, she showed up again. My issue is that she is VERY skittish. Every time I come anywhere near the tank, she darts into the rocks. I tried luring her out with broadcast feeding but she never shows to even try the food. I've even tried sneak attacking by crouching up to my tank like Link in Zelda but she still disappears the second she sees any part of me. Any tips on how to deal with this? Do I just keep dumping different types of food after food in hopes she will emerge one day ?

vetteguy53081 · Feb 20, 2023

Hitchhik3r said:
I bought 2 evansi anthias about a week and a half ago (pre-quarantined). As soon as I introduced them into the tank after a short acclimation period, they both darted into the rocks. One of the 2 is yet to be seen. I presume she died. The other one came out occasionally in the beginning so I tried feeding her a variety of food including mysis, brine, mixing with garlic and selcon (how the dealer fed them). Unfortunately she never took to them and eventually went hiding into the rocks. I never saw her for over 5 days so I presumed she also perished but lo and behold today, she showed up again. My issue is that she is VERY skittish. Every time I come anywhere near the tank, she darts into the rocks. I tried luring her out with broadcast feeding but she never shows to even try the food. I've even tried sneak attacking by crouching up to my tank like Link in Zelda but she still disappears the second she sees any part of me. Any tips on how to deal with this? Do I just keep dumping different types of food after food in hopes she will emerge one day ?

Keep light intensity low for now and step back when feeding
Assure flow isn’t too aggressive and salinity is not low