Behavior Help!!

[LCashman76]

Hi all,

I had 2 vivid fancy clowns and a six line wrasse in my tank for a couple months. They were best buds, swam all over the place together, no aggression issues. We recently added a biota yellow tang and a biota blue hippo to the tank. For the first few days everyone seemed to get along, swam together, ate nicely together. But for the past couple days, I've noticed my female clown beating up on my male clown. And then today I saw my wrasse picking at my female clown's fins. She's starting to look a little wragged and she also is getting more aggressive with the male. I'm worried about all of them. We tried catching the clown or the wrasse but that was futile. Any suggestions or advice? Thank you!

 

[TX_REEF]

fish can be funny like that. new additions can spark aggression between pre-existing occupants that didn't exist before, simply due to more crowded conditions or "power dynamic" changes in the tank. If I were you, I'd make every effort to catch the sixline if it continues. once a sixline decides it doesn't like a specific fish, it's usually only a matter of time before it's a goner.

Trust me when I say I know the pain of catching tricky fish. I had to pull almost every single rock out of my tank in the middle of the night to remove a coral beauty who was severely bullying a newly added biota yellow tang. I kept the coral beauty in an isolation box for 10 days, and she was mellow after that. I'd recommend you do that if possible. Find out where the wrasse sleeps, and swiftly pull the rock out and net him when he's asleep.

If that's truly not an option, you could also try re-arranging the rockwork. This can sometimes act as a soft reset to the territory and power dynamics between your fish.

Finally, and I hate to be this guy, what's your tank size? it could just be the pic, but I'm sort of doubting it's an appropriate size for a hippo tang.

 

[Zodiac]

Six-line wrasses tend to have a bad behavior. Probably was chill because it felt like it was the boss of the tank having only to deal with a clown couple that were passive and kept to themselves. But once those tangs rolled in it probably felt threatened and is taking it out on the clowns instead of facing the tangs.

I've always been able to catch fish in my tank using an acrylic trap. Place it in your tank and leave it there for a day or two until the fish get used to it. Feed close to the trap to help them feel ok around it. Skip one or two feedings then feed them by dropping food inside the trap and let them eat it without trying to trap them, that will help them feel safe and remain inside the trap longer. You need to watch closely and make sure only the fish you want to catch is inside because they're all going to get in it to eat. When its in there by himself slowly pull the line, if you move your arm/body fast and suddenly you will spook it out of the trap and then you'll have to wait until they feel safe again around it.

It requires patience but is amazingly efficient. I wouldnt mess with my rocks because I know I would definitely cause an accident and cripple my aquascape and damage my corals because the rocks are all one way or another stacked on top of each other.

 

[jsmkmavity]

I would also like to know what size tank it is, not to preach but if its on the small side it will add to the aggression. The wrasse is likely to become aggressive at some point anyway and clownfish can be too!