Fish playing hide and seek

[Krisvalkyrie]

I have a nice little planted 14gallon planted tank.

In it are some micro rasbora and about 10 celestial pearl danio, 1 albino pleco and 1 tiny honey gourami. Also yellow shrimp.

I never see my fish! The top half of the tank is barren and empty, except when I feed them. Otherwise they hang out inside the log, under the plants, etc.

What is the point of keeping these magnificent little fish if you never see them

[Krisvalkyrie]

Ok, leave it to me to not actually ask the question I meant to ask.

Is this normal for this species to hide all the time? What will make them come out more?

[eklikewhoa]

They will only come out when they feel ready and comfortable so I would say they are not comfortable in your tank as of right now.

[manifresh006]

You can feed them with a fishing hook to make them come out LOL JK

And yeah like Ek said they might not feel comfortable

[Mzungu]

It took my celestials a couple of months to get used to their surroundings and to be out and about. It speeded up the process when I added more to the group, however. But 10 seems like a good number. How long has this tank been set up with the current population? I would guess that the gourami will be the first to lose its shyness.

Another possibility is that you've created such great hiding places with plants and such that they're just too comfortable to come out! But, like everyone else said, it will probably take a while, but they'll start to venture out more often. The species you have do tend to be on the shy side, though.

[Krisvalkyrie]

This tank has been set up for several months. They are very healthy, and their color is amazing!

They just only come out to eat and spend all day swooping around the anubias and driftwood and ignoring the upper half of the tank. The gourami chills out a bit more - but the rest play peek a boo.

[eklikewhoa]

Did you ever research the fish before you got them or even after you got them?

[Mzungu]

That sounds about right for the fish you have. One clue that can help you determine where any species will spend their time is to look at their mouth. An upturned mouth usually indicates that a fish will spend a lot of time at the surface, etc. The fish you have mostly have mouths.that are pretty much in the middle, and so will hunt for food and such more towards the middle.

[Krisvalkyrie]

Hmmm. Okay. I did some research on them, yes.

I have other fish that have mouths in the middle though, and they tend to range all over the tank.

Ah well, maybe I need low laying plants then, so the fish can be seen. Right now the stars of the tank are the shrimp :)

[thekarens]

Since Ek was so helpful I'll offer my .02. I have a 7g with driftwood covered in Java moss, a java fern, anubias and some blyxa japonica that I'm just starting. The inhabitants are 1 otto, 1 halfmooon male betta and 16 CPDs. The CPDs hide some, but for the most part they are out in the open. In my tank they are all over, but it's a 7g cube so there's probably not enough room for them to just be in the middle. I've had them 2-3 months.

[eklikewhoa]

I had a ton of them in my old planted tank. They are not schooling fish if that is what you expected.

They dart in and out of the cracks and are not the most trusting fish.

[Krisvalkyrie]

I wasn't looking for schooling fish. I was looking for pretty fish.

[eklikewhoa]

Well then I guess you got what you wanted...

Soooo what was the question in this thread again?