How long for fish to call tank 'home'?

Pau Hana Reefer

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I purchased a One Spot Foxface online that arrived in early January. After a lengthy quarantine for ich treatment, he was introduced into my 90 gallon tank in mid March. Two-and-a-half months later, I'm still concerned about him. His colors have never returned to the bright yellow color that he had the first few days after he arrived. He's still extremely skittish and will typically dart away, hide in the corner, and become mottled whenever my wife, 3 year old daughter, or dog walk by the tank (which is many times a day). He can also sometimes be very territorial when feeding, with the yellow coris wrasse being the primary target. He is okay with me now that he knows I provide him food, but still very easily frightened. He might be the most skittish fish I've ever had (both FW & SW), I'm starting to wonder if he's still too stressed.

Does he simply need more time to settle in... or do I need to find a bigger home so that he can feel more relaxed.

Any suggestions?
 
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Pau Hana Reefer

Pau Hana Reefer

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never seen a relaxed foxface

I don't know if I've ever seen a "calm" foxface either, they do always seem on edge. But this one is far more than others I've seen.

Some fish never adjust.

Yeah, this is what I'm afraid of. He lightened up a bit once he went from the 20g QT to the display.
 
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What fish do you already have in the tank? Any aggression from other fish? These guys need time to settle and I’d put them in relatively early so they can adjust better.

P.S. He’s had ich before?

2 clownfish (he gets along perfectly fine), 1 yellow coris wrasse (his target for his bullying), 1 helfrichi firefish.

I had a red head solon who was the tank alpha when I first added the foxface, but I found him dead 1 or 2 weeks after that. The red head solon was perfectly healthy. I've been wondering for the past 2 months if the foxface might have had something to do with the red head solon's death, and my suspicion continues to grow.
 

najer

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Has your foxface displayed it's original brilliance (in colors)?

Yes. :)

DSC_0016 (1024x652).jpg
 
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Pau Hana Reefer

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Some never adjust. I call it the prison syndrome.
Go from freedom to a cell/small tank, some never adapt.
Also some fish just do better in the largest tank you can provide for them.
or should never be kept captive.

This is what I'm afraid of. And I've read old threads where some believe that minimum recommended tank size of 75g for one-spot foxfaces is far too small. As much as I love keeping fish, I'm mindful of trying to provide them as happy of an environment as possible. I'm very close to being decided on helping him find a larger home locally, most likely looking for someone with a 180 gallon or larger tank.

If his native waters were close to me, I would release him without hesitation. Waters of east Asia isn't exactly a quick drive from Philly.
 

vetteguy53081

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Theyre always skiddish, jumpy and unsure. They startle easy and often crash into glass.
 

Steve Fast

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Might you have a pic of your tank? I have one too, though in a larger tank and it is housed with several other large active tangs and butterflies. It gets out enough especially for romaine lettuce and nori. It also has its favorite hideouts, though to be honest I really don't know where exactly. It even joins the feeding frenzy.

So perhaps there is hope if it can have a safe spot to hang out when it so desires...
 

jsilver

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My one spot foxface is in a 450 peninsula mixed reef tank. It appears quite at ease, comes to me at feeding time and likes to hang with my long nose hawkfis.
 

Acrocrazy725

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I purchased a One Spot Foxface online that arrived in early January. After a lengthy quarantine for ich treatment, he was introduced into my 90 gallon tank in mid March. Two-and-a-half months later, I'm still concerned about him. His colors have never returned to the bright yellow color that he had the first few days after he arrived. He's still extremely skittish and will typically dart away, hide in the corner, and become mottled whenever my wife, 3 year old daughter, or dog walk by the tank (which is many times a day). He can also sometimes be very territorial when feeding, with the yellow coris wrasse being the primary target. He is okay with me now that he knows I provide him food, but still very easily frightened. He might be the most skittish fish I've ever had (both FW & SW), I'm starting to wonder if he's still too stressed.

Does he simply need more time to settle in... or do I need to find a bigger home so that he can feel more relaxed.

Any suggestions?

I have the same fish with some of the same issues. He never regained his color. Been 6 months, however, he is not skiddish at all. He eats out of my hands. He hasn’t gone camo since The week I put him in. I was surprised to read about everyone else experiences with them being skiddish.
Mine never hides and if anything comes out when I am near tank... I guess every fish has a different personality. That being said mine never regained that vibrant yellow either.
I don’t know if that means he is not happy or not, as I am not a fish psychologist, but in my experience he seems very happy.
 

Lizdoesreef

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All very valid points. I have like a 50/50 success rate with fish but corals I rarely have any issues (other than they turnwhite or brown out at first) . Not to jack this thread but do others share the same 50/50 success rate? I used to qt, bit stopped because I had the same rate.
 

Albertan22

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Is your aquascape minimalist, or is there lots of rock to hide in and behind? I have kept fox face Lo’s for most of my reefing career. I have one in my current 180g tank but also kept them in my 120g tank. I have found a few things to be key over the years:

1) Keep them fat and well fed. I find they do best on an auto feeder dropping pellets, supported by nori at least every other day and frozen food as often as you’re willing to feed

2) they spend a lot of time swimming behind the rock structure when people are nearby in the room and seem to really need that rock to be able to put between you and them to feel comfortable.

With those two conditions met my fox faces will spend a ton of time at the tip blowing bubbles, and swimming around out in the open when people are at least 6-8 feet from the tank. I find they’re kind of like shy puppies. They dart behind cover then peek out and come see what you’re about.
 

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