Will my fire fish EVER come out when the light is on?

[SharkRacer]

My firefish is SO TIMID - will he ever come out from his hiding place with any of my lights on? I've cycled my talk about a month ago and now have 2 clownfish (that have never shown any aggression) and one purple firefish that have been in there for ~2 weeks.

The firefish simply refuses to emerge when the tank lights are on, even if I turn them way down and only have the light turned off on the opposite end of the tank from his hiding place.

Do I just need to wait longer?

Pic is of him that I snagged when the tank lights were turned off.

 

[afrokobe]

Does he come out to feed?

 

[SharkRacer]

Does he come out to feed?

only with the lights off

 

[Coral Your World]

Have had mine for 6 months. Mine only comes out day/night when the pumps are turned off cause he knows it’s time to feed. He otherwise stays under the rock work. I understand them to be more social in pairs.

As long as it comes out to feed, I wouldn’t be too concerned, just continue not to expect seeing it often lol

 

[Bucs20fan]

Mine hardly ever came out the first 3 months I had it. Then slowly but surely it started to come out consistently. They are a skittish fish by nature and usually dart away when I walk near the tank but come out shortly thereafter.

 

[Bucs20fan]

+1 To as long as it come out at feeding time.

 

[moorjames]

mine took a couple months to get used to the tank- but now is out when the light is on. It helped that I set my auto feeder to 3 times a day so it will stay out because it knows food is not far away

 

[Dakota_reef]

Don't these guys do better in small groups?

 

[afrokobe]

I must have a very personable firefish. He started hanging out with the gang after 3 days and is always out and about when the lights are on... he's just a standard red firefish

 

[i cant think]

These animals are timid and with even just mild aggressors in the tank, they won’t come out often. As long as it comes out at feeding it’s good, the recommendation to get a second is a bad recommendation IMHO. The reason for this is these fish are a more solitary species, regular fire fish prefer being in groups but these guys prefer being solitary or in pairs. There’s more chance of success if solitary though, this is due to you not having to try 50/50 a firefish (There is no way of knowing if they are the same gender or not).