I've got a couple of dwarf gourami, couple ember tetras, a few rummynoses, a black widow tetra. I also have a young bristlenose and a borneo sucker, but they aren't really affected. They all get along peacefully have been in together for quite some time now.
I get what your saying about associating me with bad stuff, but it really is only when the light is on. When it's off they don't have a problem. I can press my face against their tank and they couldn't care. Unless it has something to do with seeing me different when the lights are on. I'll try the hiding from them and see what happens.
It's a pretty small tank and it's on top of an old entertainment unit type thing, so it's at perfect adult face height and I spend ALOT of time watching them. When the light is on and they are hiding at the back they tend to hang around in the corner near the air stone. I can get right up to the glass there and they don't move away. I would put pictures up but I don't know how. They don't seem to react harshly to people walking past and there is a doorway near them.
Could it the LED light? They just don't like the light it emits?
Thank you for trying to help