anyone else like "shy" fish?...

[thebigblue]

by shy i mean fish that swim in and out of the rock work, simulating a more natural environment...

when people come and look at your tank they have to spend a few minutes looking around to see all the inhabitants...

rather than fish pacing back and forth across the tank like they wanna get out...

i have tryed to add these types of fishes to my reef...

purple tang
lawn mower blenny
yellow clown goby
green citron goby
redhead goby
a. ocellaris clown (with host magnifica anemone)
flame hawk

any other suggestions for such fish?...

or am i just weird?...

brad

 

[aquarist=broke]

I had a royal gramma before. The one I had always swam in and out of the rockwork. He was very shy, but neat as he would swim upside down under rocks.

 

[Len]

Captive bred Pseudochromis constantly dart in between the rockworks. I recommend P.fridmani, being a gorgeous, nonaggressive fish.

Another good genus is Liopropoma. These basslets are reclusive, sometimes too much so. The only commonly available one (and it's still pretty uncommon) is L.rubre (swissguard). I have a L.swalesi that I see about 10 minutes a week! How's that for shy? Here's a rare pic of it:

 

[monkeyboy]

How about a swissguard basslet?

 

[dizzy]

Brad

If you want shy get a Calloplesiops altivelis, commonly called a marine betta or comet. Very hardy and usually very shy at first. They hardly ever get totally over it. They can eat shrimps so I would rate them similar to the flame hawk in that regard.

If you want a shy invert get a purple lobster or a Michael's shrimp.

 

[beerbaron]

no your not wierd :? i like shy fish to and a couple energy freeks mixed in to even it out. try a firefish

 

[sdt5150]

If your reef is established and large enough where you won't have to worry about polyps getting munched on because of all of the alternatives, you can try the pygmy angels. i currently have a flame (great to see that red moving between the rocks), a multi-barred (Paracentropyge multifasciatus), and a colini (Centropyge colini). the flame is quite hardy, but the other two are sort of delicate. it will take a while for the multi to come out (i only saw it once the first week i had it), but once it does it's quite active, and does exactly what you're looking for. the colini is still shy, prefering to hang out in the caves, but it is a very relaxed fish. i have yet to see any of them nipping at polyps or my clams. another of my favorites is the 'mystery wrasse' (5-Bar, Pseudocheilinus ocellatus). it's a bit on the high-end price wise, but it's stunningly beautiful, very passive, and very hardy. i have never witnessed any of these fish being aggressive towards any other tankmates either.

 

[SteveP]

Firefish, 6-line wrasse.

Steve
8{I

 

[SPC]

And two of the best for "us" shy fish lovers are the barnnacle blennie and the jawfish.
Steve

 

[Anonymous]

I second the jawfish. They are cool. I had two and both were short lived. I think my sandbed was too shallow at that time. I recently increased my DSB to 3-4" inches.

I think I'll get another. Hmm "pearly" or "bluespott", that is the question?

Louey

 

[Jawbone]

I agree with SteveP Firefish or a Wrasse

The Purple firefish are especially shy

 

[Sea Serpent]

I second the SwissGuard as a beautiful, shy fish. I had one for about a year - but he went carpet surfing. He was one of my favorites - but not often available locally and quite expensive. They are easily frightened - and WILL jump.
I enjoy my blue assessor - he is beautiful and quite entertaining - It took him about 3 weeks to come out of the rocks when the light was on. Now he is goes in and out of the rocks constantly.

Isn't it fun figuring out what fish to get? That's the best part of the hobby!
Enjoy!
SS

 

[danmhippo]

If you want fish darting in and out of LR all the time, most pseudocromis and basslet falls into that category. Cave dwelling gobies fits in fine too. Larger fish such as tang and angels only dart into LR for protection (when we approach the tank, that is......)

 

[oranje]

My scissortail goby is a shy one... He's dug himself a little cave underneath some of my liverock. Mandarinfish are also extremely cool little buggers that are fairly secretive, too. The latter requires a nicely established system, though. They won't eat a single thing you offer them.

My foxface rabbitfish are both cave-dwellers in general, but emerge with all of their greatness when it's feeding time.