New Foxface hiding and not eating

[Captain Jack]

I got a new foxface last thursday. It's been 4 days now and he just hides away and isn't eating as far as i can tell. Any ideas on what I can do to help him out?

There is plenty of hair algea and other algea growing. I feed a variety of frozen food (mysis, brine, spirulina, formula1, zooplankton, phytoplanton, cyclopeeze). After a couple days of not seeing him eat, I added some nori (with garlic). Still not going for it.

Parameters are ok (0 amonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate; good temp, calc, buffer, ph, salinity, etc). Tankmates are a lot smaller and not agressive (pair o. clowns, banghi cardinal, bicolor blenny, scooter blenny.

Maybe I can turn off the lights for a couple days. But I don't know what else might help out.

[LittleReef]

Mine did the same thing, though he still hides out and hates people that approach the tank. Fish just have different personalities and in my case it definitely shows. Maybe he still isn't used to your tank..?

Just a possibility.

-Brooks

[Third Coast Tropical]

I dont have a foxface , but have a similar fish....orange spotted rabbitfish....very shy and skittish for a long time....it eats flake food, pellets, and a shrimp/squid gelatin diet i make.....it as ate all my green star polyps in the mater of 24 hrs....hasnt touched mushrooms or other corals....I have had for almost 3 yrs...coolest fish i have ever had....now, she is so big and is not skittish at all...can pretty much feed her by hand if i wanted, but still fearful of those big dorsal spines....if all else fails and you cant get it to eat, put some GSP in there and see what happens....;)...j/k..good luck

[MRSBIGBIRD123]

When we first purchased ours, he wouldn't eat either, I called the store and asked what he was eating there, found out he was eating pellets, something we did not feed our fish. Once we bought the pellets, he ate, now he eats EVERYTHING!

[JimD]

Yup, mine would turn all kinds of mottled colors when someone approached the tank and quickly hide behind the rocks. Took a couple months before he was comfortable. I started him off on live brine, now he eats anything, including bubble algae..

[MKCindy]

Mine eats any food that touches the water, but has never touched my corals or GSP.
His dorsal goes up if anyone walks close to the tank or makes sudden movements, unless he recognizes my glasses, then he is happy and colors back up.
If I have contacts in, I can talk him into calming down.
If the hair algae is long, mine won't eat it, but if you remove the long pieces, he will finish the job. My blenny does pick on him occasionally, leaving round suction marks on his sides. I hadn't figured what that is about... maybe just a bossy territorial Blenny!