Should I rehome my firefish ?

Idech · Dec 13, 2023

My firefish is very skittish and spends almost all of its time in his cave. He used to come out during meal times but now, as soon as another fish gets too close, he goes back in the rocks. So he doesn’t eat very much at all.

I’m worried he’s not going to make it long term if he keeps doing that. I’ve had him for over a year but the extremely skittish behavior started maybe 6-8 weeks ago, for some reason (last fish were added almost 4 months ago).

Here are the other fish in the tank :
1 x banggai cardinal
1 x blue eye kole tang
1 x Pajama Cardinal
2 x oscellaris clowns
1 x Yellow watchman goby
1 x one spot foxface
1 x yellow wrasse

Is there anything I can do to help him come out more ? Should I rehome him ?

I’m upgrading to a bigger tank in 4-5 weeks so this would be a perfect opportunity to rehome.

Thanks for thoughts !

Tcook · Dec 13, 2023

Those are all fairly aggressive eaters. IME firefish do better with other docile fish.

Slocke · Dec 13, 2023

I had that and it turned out one of my other fish was trying to kill them.

On the other hand the one that wasn’t killed is now as brave as any other fish and is always in the middle of the tank.