green coris hiding under sand
 

How long can/will a green coris bury itself for at one time?

I just got one that was at a LFS 3 hours away. I brought it home in a 5g bucket with an air pump, knowing they don't ship well without high oxygen in the water.

It was going in my QT, so I made the QT water match the shipping water's salinity, and then acclimated pretty slowly (a couple hours). The fish seemed fine, checking out the tank, even took a small amount of food (like 3 pellets).

We went out of town a couple hours after it was acclimated, and came back 24 hours later (yesterday). Since they like to bury themselves, the only thing in the QT is some sand, some PVC to hide around, and the wrasse. But I can not find the fish at all since we got back (20 hours ago now).

The tank is completely covered - no chance of jumping, so it must be under the sand. My question is how long might it stay there?? I'm starting to be a little concerned that it's been there for almost a full day now.

A secondary question to this - should I consider probing the sand to be sure it's still alive? (like run my fngers or something gently through it)

Nevermind - he was sleeping still.

I ran a net handle through the sand & woke him up. He's acting completely normal now.

So the answer to my question is > 21 hours.

My yellow wrasse, once introduced into my display tank, hid for 3 days.... And now is on a regular schedule.... My yellow is very shy... He is in my 55g with a Kole Tang... Good Luck!