cdw79
Well-Known Member
I got a captive bred lyretail anthia this past Sunday. When I released it into the aquarium, the lyretail made a bee line to a cave area that my Yellow Assessor lives in and ultimately kinda shoved itself in the spaced between a frogspawn and the rock crevices. I didn't see it for the rest of the day or Monday, but finally saw glimpses of it Tuesday evening and got it to eat.
When I saw it on Tuesday, the lyretail was peaking out the side of the cave and started to swim a bit off to the side of the cave. Pretty soon after, though, the assessor peaked around one of the cave's "exits" and kinda just approached the lyretail. I don't really know how to explain it- it wasn't chasing or nipping or anything, barely an acceleration lol, but came toward the anthia which promptly went back into the slit in the rocks. The assessor followed a little and kinda poked its head toward the slit, but then went about its business.
I've been watching from that side of the tank today as I work from home and have seen more or less the same scene play out a few times today. The anthia has been coming out significantly more today, albeit with this same behavior happening, I've also seen my dominant breeding female clown lunge at it a bit (their nesting site it also near this area) and my Blue Star Leopard Wrasse and hawkfish each kinda half lunge at it. No contact, just some standard half-chasing aggression.
Despite there being no "damage," I'm still a little anxious about the situation. Annoyingly it's chosen the only part of the tank where I've noticed any "territories" and won't leave more than a few inches from its crevice- the whole rest of the tank is basically unclaimed. I'm not sure if this is just the realities of introducing passive-ish fish in a tank with established tank mates, but just a few weeks ago I had to take out a Midas Blenny for the opposite reason- significant aggression to the assessor in particular. Feels like I can't win lol.
Unfortunately I can't re-scape the tank- the rockwork is glued. But even still, this doesn't seem to be an actual fix to fish that are otherwise very passive to go after new additions. Do we think this will play out for maybe a few more days and eventually the Lyretail will find its place in the pecking order? Is there anything I can do to help it get established?
When I saw it on Tuesday, the lyretail was peaking out the side of the cave and started to swim a bit off to the side of the cave. Pretty soon after, though, the assessor peaked around one of the cave's "exits" and kinda just approached the lyretail. I don't really know how to explain it- it wasn't chasing or nipping or anything, barely an acceleration lol, but came toward the anthia which promptly went back into the slit in the rocks. The assessor followed a little and kinda poked its head toward the slit, but then went about its business.
I've been watching from that side of the tank today as I work from home and have seen more or less the same scene play out a few times today. The anthia has been coming out significantly more today, albeit with this same behavior happening, I've also seen my dominant breeding female clown lunge at it a bit (their nesting site it also near this area) and my Blue Star Leopard Wrasse and hawkfish each kinda half lunge at it. No contact, just some standard half-chasing aggression.
Despite there being no "damage," I'm still a little anxious about the situation. Annoyingly it's chosen the only part of the tank where I've noticed any "territories" and won't leave more than a few inches from its crevice- the whole rest of the tank is basically unclaimed. I'm not sure if this is just the realities of introducing passive-ish fish in a tank with established tank mates, but just a few weeks ago I had to take out a Midas Blenny for the opposite reason- significant aggression to the assessor in particular. Feels like I can't win lol.
Unfortunately I can't re-scape the tank- the rockwork is glued. But even still, this doesn't seem to be an actual fix to fish that are otherwise very passive to go after new additions. Do we think this will play out for maybe a few more days and eventually the Lyretail will find its place in the pecking order? Is there anything I can do to help it get established?
