Living with a guppy

[Kadina]

Ever since I increased the number of live plants in the tank my sunset gourami pair have spent most of their time hiding among the leaves. They only come out to eat and even then they are timid. They share the tank with a small school of cories, but otherwise have the run of the space. Over the weekend I unexpectedly needed a home for a lone male guppy so I put him in the gourami tank. Almost immediately the pair stopped hiding. They are all over the place now and are swimming in the open areas. I haven't witnessed any aggression between any of the fish at all. Any ideas why the addition of the guppy has affected their behavior?

[rich311k]

Dither fish, like your guppy out in the open make the gouramis beleive it is safe to leave cover and forage for food.

[Oscar_freak12321]

He could have shown them that the open space is safe, whereas they might've not trusted the open space before. In other words, it sounds like the guppy has become a dither fish (a fish that swims around a lot and makes the main fish a lot less nervous, as well as helping during breeding time).

[Kadina]

Oh, so is that a good thing? I always thought that dither fish were fish put in a tank for other fish to pick on.

[Oscar_freak12321]

Yes. It is a good thing. This will make the gouramis less skittish and a little bit more bold. The guppy will not serve any problems, so it is fine as it is as well.