My Fish Hide Constantly!

[tj200]

Hi

I've got a 260L tank with:
2 Bolivian rams
2 dwarf gourami (m+f)
3 honey gourami
14 neon tetra

Water stats all seem fine and it's well filtered and fairly heavily planted. It's in a very quiet place and nothing disturbs the fish.
Problem is, all the fish hide literally all the time. I almost never see the dwarf gourami as they hide at the far back behind plant roots, the honey gouramis hide in the thickest bits of the plants and the neon tetra seem to like to hide at the bottom back behind anything in the shadows.

I thought they'd slowly get less timid and come out more, but it's getting worse!
It's really annoying as people come into my house and ask me why i've got an empty fish tank. You literally have to sit by the tank for some time to even catch a glimpse of a single fish! And i've sometimes gone days without seeing the female dwarf gourami.

Is there something wrong, or is there anything I can do to wake them up a bit!
Because my only current option is really to overstock the tank so there's at least something visible! Or to remove more of the plants/wood.

 

[babybell911]

My gourami has picked a spot which is his territory and sticks there i see him come out in the night when the lights are off but not much else. I find my danios and harlequins are out the most the neons i had ( before the syno ate them) were pretty timid too but in that big a group i'd have thought they feel a bit more safe

 

[england]

How long have you had them all?
shame but sometimes it just takes time....
Might concider rearranging the tank so one area is heavily planted then it thins out to nearly nothing, sort of aim for area's......I have a rope fish that you hardly ever see,but thats my fault as there ment to be in groups,but i cannot find anymore locally....just out of intrest what is the temp of the tank?

 

[Ace Of Spades]

My fish use to hide from my every time when I first got them, and its not because im really ugly .

You could take time sitting infront of the tank, not moving, and then slowly moving so they get associated with people walking by the tank etc, Don't forget they have probally been in a dark shipping box or in a shop with kids banging on the glass all day. After they associate with food they will normally be at the front of the tank every time you are near...

 

[tj200]

How long have you had them all?
shame but sometimes it just takes time....
Might concider rearranging the tank so one area is heavily planted then it thins out to nearly nothing, sort of aim for area's......I have a rope fish that you hardly ever see,but thats my fault as there ment to be in groups,but i cannot find anymore locally....just out of intrest what is the temp of the tank?

It's a fairly new tank... but the water and filter were from an old one (which housed the dwarf gouramis and half the neons) the remainder have been added slowly over the last 6 weeks. So they've had plenty of time to settle in!
Oddly the neons used to be quite happy using the whole tank, but have got more into hiding lately!

Tank is at 25oC. I know Rams like warm waters and neons cooler, but at 25 I thought it'd be fine (most places seem to think that's perfectly good for both.

 

[m00se]

My blue gouramis are super skittish. I've had one of them for longer than a year, and she still startles whenever I walk into the room and goes to hide behind a plant. I have no idea why, but it's sort of endearing