Fish hiding? Xilo experience

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BlueKiller82

BlueKiller82

Candiru
MFK Member
Jan 21, 2008
458
13
48
Massachusetts
So I had 8 xilos I was growing out, I recently sold four of them to thin the herd. Since selling the 4, the ones I've had have been hiding for a week now and won't come out. They are eating but will wait for food to come by cave. I did large water change and cleaned filters and still same habits. I know there are no eggs either. I have a bunch of caves in tank and was thinking of removing them to force them out. Anyone have some other suggestions?

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They're probably worried that they'll get abducted next. For a less rational theory, when there were 8 there wasn't enough territories and now they all have their space and are setting up camp.
 
As above, the sudden removal of half of their group most likely resulted in them being super scared now, hence the behaviour. They're very cautious now, hence waiting for food to come to them.

I would not recommend removing the caves if I was you. They stressed enough now, removing their only sanctuary can make them go berserk all over the tank and attempt to escape by jumping out, or just damaging themselves as they crash into the sides of the tank.

Eventually they should feel comfortable enough again to come out of hiding.

If you want to, you can add dithers to make them feel more comfortable faster. Otherwise, my recommendation is to leave them alone, at least for a while (2 more weeks maybe) and if nothing happens then, then you should do something else.
 
I have four of them in a large 125 with a single cave/rock formation in the middle of the tank. The tank has no other hiding space to speak of. The usually are out and about unless my 3 year old is banging on the tank glass to scare them. I think it helps that they share the tank with a similar sized red tiger male who is quite outgoing. They think he is out so it must be safe to "roam around" in the tank.

My tank is in a moderate traffic area and I do keep the lights on for 6+ hrs. per day. I also spend a lot of time in front of them, so maybe they are used to me a little more.
 
Just had the same thing happen with my 7 year old Dempsey when I moved a couple aggressive fish that looked like they were trying to breed. He just sat behind my driftwood for about 10 days without eating until I removed the divider in my 220 and let the male Dovii join the tank again. Now he's back to chasing the Dovii around so he's working his way back to normal. I could only assume the chaos I caused when I removed the Fh and Rd, which were about 7-8 inches, just pissed him off or frightened him. They did not go quietly, and their absence from the tank changed the whole attitude of the tank from crazy to really calm. He has never been afraid of me before and since he is my oldest fish has seen a good deal of stock come and go in order to keep the peace. He never had a problem before and for the first time I felt like he stopped eating and moving as a sort of protest against me screwing with the tank. Maybe he was enjoying the chaos, or at least was somewhat involved with those tankmates, but either way when they left he just shut off. I got to calling him Ghandi for a week or so. Thankfully he instinctively seems to love to chase my Dovii, so releasing him back into the main tank gave him a distraction. He still doesn't act the same when I am around but he is way more active and at least will steal pieces of food when the other fish are eating, mostly to take it from the Dovii, but thats okay with me. I would listen to Azedenkae and give it some time. If that doesn't work maybe you want to re-arrange your caves rather than removing them to throw your fish a similar curve ball they can re-adjust to. Basically giving them something to distract them from whatever is bothering them now. It may be bad that you are the focal point of the change though so waiting first could be your best bet.
 
I will have to see about picking up some type of dithers to create some flow in the tank, hopefully they dont get killed too quickly. They used to come swimming to the front when I would walk by the tank. Also it is not in a high traffic area.
 
I haven't had the best of luck with dithers, especially when I used them for getting a hiding fish come out in the open more often. I have tried silver dollars, and sure initially the fish did seem to come out more often when I added them. But then, they also became skittish similar to silver dollars. To the point that I later got rid of SDs. They eventually "grew out of" their hiding habit.
 
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