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Hi there,

I have 2 moonlight gouramis.

The large one is shy and reclusive and tries to swim through the glass to get away from you when you look at it.

the small one is really bold and would peck at my finger when Im feeding it.

The large one used to be this bold but for some reason is really scared now. I have no idea what braught on this behaviour.

Is there a fish whisperer in the house?

The shyness is usually something to do with the tank design leaving the fish feeling exposed, or a little too much traffic near the tank, or an aggressive cagemate. Fish are all individuals and you might have to make concessions for the nervous fish. Like not putting your hand in the tank for instance. Not all fish like humans and its entirely possible to scare them into an early grave by regularly putting your comparatively huge and intimidating body in their personal space. Imagine how happy you would be if king kong offered you a slice of pizza! Would you take it? Would you really? A fish cant tell if a hairy 4 ton arm isnt going to crush their skull to jelly.

Whats the ol' tank setup like? Are there any plants or decorations with areas the fish can hide in?

If the tank setup is a-ok, then the other alternative is the time honoured technique of leaving them alone to hide and do their thing, perhaps for several weeks or even months, and when they feel comfortable they start coming out in plain view all on their own. You cant force a fish out of its shell. Food bribery is pretty much all youve got to work with apart from that, but you cant expect all fish to take food from your hand.Hanging around ad not moving much for many hours is one way to get them used to you. The hand in the tank will always be pushing too much for some fish.

M persoanl opinion is that hand feeding may be cute and all that, but its hardly a normal situation for fish, and if you have a specimen that is a little "wild at heart" you should not necessarily expect it of them. If you must try , do it with extreme care and do it little by little, slowly, and with extreme gentleness and consideration.

If it aint working, ultimately just back off and leave the fish to lead its life without fear. Its not fair to expect more of them than that in many cases. Fish can be habituated, but never truly domesticated.When you have a brain as small as a fish, instinct will nearly always win. Its not always something that can be got past. Its who they are. You already have one fish that willingly interacts with you, some people never get that. You might have to be content with that.

I'd just like to reiterate that the large one used to be bold. Also I do not hand feed all the time. I was only using it as an example as to how bold the fish used to be.

The only differance is that I have recently changed the plant layout. This is more than likely the cause.

I have been leaving it alone and I guess I will have to wait and see if he comes out in the future.