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Awhile back I bought 7 Harliequins. I added all of them to 25 gallon tank, which already had Platies and Cories in it. They turned out to be a great addition to the tank, even better then I thought they would be. They were always active and always had sharp colors.

About a week ago I moved the Harlies into one of my 10 gallon tanks. Prior to moving the Harlies into the 10 gallon I removed all the fish that use to be in there, leaving just 2 ADF.
Almost imediately I noticed the Harlies' colors start to fade. That totally took me by surprise, since the tank-to-tank transfer went very smooth. I didn't even have to chase them around with the net. Plus they never left the water. I used a large cup to scoop them out of the net while they were still in the water. I also know for a fact that both tanks where as close to identical, water quality wise, as they could be.
After a few days of waiting unsuccessfully for their colors to return to normal I decided I would try a water change. That didn't help at all. Now I really needed to figure out what was going on with them.
After thinking about the situation for a couple hours, besides their faded colors they also seemed a little jumpy. Almost like they needed some dither fish in the tank to ensure them that it's safe. Of course in a 10 gallon there was no way I could add a school a dither fish.
The only thing I could come up with was to move my bold male Platy into the 10 gallon with the Harlies. And hope his actions would ease the Harlies nerves.
It worked!
Who would have thought that a schooling fish such as Harliequin Rasboras would need a dither fish to feel safe.


Anybody else ever have a similar situation?