Dither Fish---Tank peacemaking and difficult eaters...

Using a 'dither fish'...FYI
Keeping all your fish visible is a bit of a challenge, particularly if you have a tank with a 'pushy' fish in it...maybe a species like a rabbit, which, while itself timid and spooky, is armed with venom, is clad in 'warning' yellow, and when pressed, 'threatens.' Tangs like yellows can get very pushy, even dangerous, too.

First of all, don't overcrowd a tank...you know how you get if you're in a crowded elevator. If the thing were stuck between floors, you'd panic faster if there were 15 of you rather than 3 or 4. But...you might also get really antsy if stuck between floors with just ONE other...a weird-looking guy, at that.

Here's where dither fish come in. Good examples of dither-fish are the calmer damsels: the chromises are some of the best. A dither-fish moves, constantly, bothering no one, or bothering mostly its own species, if it's going to squabble, like damsels. Damsels had far rather quarrel with another damsel than anybody else. They dart and dive. They never stop. To keep to our 'stuck elevator' analogy, it's like sharing the car with the weird guy, and adding a nervous bouncing teen with a 'pod-plug in his ear and a skateboard under his arm. Changes the equation. You and the weird guy may begin exchanging looks like 'this kid is driving me nutz'. After several hours, you may even be trying to converse.


Back on the reef.....

There's a predator about. It shows up---and every damsel in the area---instantly vanishes into their hidey-hole. Blink and you'll miss it. WHY are they always wired for sound, nipping and fussing? They're very small, compared to most, on every predator's menu. They divide their waking hours into feeding and keeping a close watch on their hidey-hole. If anything comes near that precious hole---they nip and chase. (That's why they have a fierce rep---but actually do very little damage, given the fact they need about 100 gallons to be comfortable. )
They're protecting that hole, and they want sole title to it. Because if a predator comes-----they dive right into it, and can't be gotten out easily because it's such a small little space. No room for others.

Now, understanding their behavior---you can see how other fish regard dither-fish as reassuring. If the dither-fish are running around out of their holes and feeding, it's safe to come out and eat. If they're safe and happy, it's a safe place constantly. Your shyest fish come out. Your more delicate fish, the difficult-to-feed, begin to relax and browse for food. Your more aggressive or pushy fish give up trying to bully these, because dither-fish will fight to the death for their hole, but they're otherwise so many, so constant, and so completely non-competitive with the pushy fish that he is also reassured, and goes out of fight mode. Hard to concentrate on your war with the angel, say, when half a dozen rowdy teens are whizzing around on skateboards, interested only in each other.

There's such mythology about the nastiness of damsels that many reefers miss the important function they can have in a hundred gallon tank, or that one little chromis can have in a 50 gallon...

Politics, politics, politics in your tank? Consider adding a kid on a skateboard.