BULLY FISH! What fish should you stay away from?

[Thaxxx]

Several mentioned fish aren't know to be aggressive. I know fish can have their own personalities. I would be curious to know the tank size these fish are in.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Several mentioned fish aren't know to be aggressive. I know fish can have their own personalities. I would be curious to know the tank size these fish are in.

Established territories + new fish= fight (sometimes)

 

[Magellan]

2 clowns, a damsel, and a 6 line and everyone gets along great. Just keep the agro fish with other agro fish lol

 

[Cole.mormon]

I might start a riot
I didnt even know

I might start a riot
But I didnt make parole

I might start a riot
Widda an anaconda on da Flo

All my homies trippin on the flo
De homie drunk 's why
He disnt make parole

Start a riot
dig a hole in the wall

You dont even know
You dont even know

Not even on the Flo
Not even on the Flo

He didnt know
not even on the flo

 

[1superbee69]

We've all had those fish that are just mean! I call them BULLY FISH! I understand it's in the nature of fish to protect territory and stuff like that but sometimes a fish is just a big bully! Sometimes they not only bully other fish but they bully YOU! HA! Today let's talk about the fish that have been a menace to your other tank inhabitants and which ones you would stay clear of!

What fish have you had bad luck with when it comes to being a bully in the tank?

What fish would you caution people to stay away from?


image via @Waynerock

I had a six line wrasse and a rabbitfish in the frag tank. The wrasse liked to pick on the rabbitfish until the wrasse was finally gotten buy the rabbitfish as it flipped on it's side in self defense. By by Wrasse and the worms had a feast.

 

[jaxteller007]

We had a sailfin tang that was a terror to every fish we had. I think part of the problem was for a long time him and our magnificent foxface were the only two large fish in our 180. Sailfin decided he was the boss. Eventually re homed him and everyone is happier.

 

[Steph72]

Never been a huge fan of clownfish! Everybody wants to have their own "Nemo" but they just don't draw me XD
My firefish should bully each other, but instead they nap in the same crevices :3

 

[jaxteller007]

Due to a melanurus wrasse (beautiful fish, btw) in my 90. I need to replace my invertebrates every 3 months. If they poke their head out while he is away. They are gonners.

Ours doesn't really touch our inverts. At least not to a noticeable extent. We do over feed the tank though.

 

[haitian_reefer]

My sixline wrasse is the devil. I call him Chucks. Lol

 

[Redland Reefer]

I think it all depends on context, tank size and when they are added. Any long established fish will feel a sense of entitlement when a newcomer is added. I once had a Starry Blenny kill a flame hawk, yellow watchman goby and a pearly jawfish within the span of a 10 hour work shift. Yes, a starry Blenny, that *******. A mistake I will not make again. I believe fish should be added initially and within a short span of each other unless a tank is significantly large enough to buffer some aggression.

 

[kaifish]

My foxface is a SOB. Constantly going after/chasing/ biting every fish in the tank while feeding time. He has taken huge chunks out of every fish’s fins in my tank. He even goes after my purple tang that’s very close in size. Always popping his poisonous spines. My wife who loves and names all my fish has grown to hate this fish. His time in my tank is growing short. Hopefully I can donate him to someone with a big predator tank.

 

[csb123]

My melanaris wrasse had to go, as well as my Christmas wrasse. I’m changing things to make a better ick management tank. Minimum aggression reef.

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

I have a PBT that is about 13 years old and he only has two rules, one: do not touch the glass, two: do not touch the rocks, if you do then he becomes a bully.

 

[Warrior Chef Chuck]

6 line wrasse. What a pain

I concur with this!

 

[fresco194]

x1 Yellow Watchman Goby
x2 Ocellaris Clownfish
x1 Azure Damsel
x1 Royal Gramma
x1 Banggai Cardinalfish

The damsel used to be the jerk but now that the royal gramma grew to be the biggest of the bunch the damsel is always his target if he gets near. He even terrorized the YWG to the point where he never comes out of his hole and that’s after about a year of living peacefully. I always think he's a goner but I see him poking out from time to time. A couple of weeks ago I "attempted" to add a firefish then I witnessed all the fish except the goby which never came out of the hole and the cardinalfish give a gang style beatdown to the poor new fish to the point where he cowered to a corner then died the next morning. I blame myself for not using a social box.

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

My Ocellaris Clownfish, has bitten me and drawn blood. The little B*****d knows right where to go, the skin between my thumb and first finger. I have a pair of rubber gloves, she’s smart enough not to try and bite them. I have put my hand deeper in the tank, and she bit my arm, but couldn’t break the skin. I have a Flame-back Angel, with a Neon Dottyback, they keep each other busy with aggressive displays. They got into it, when I first introduced the Flameback, but haven’t touched each other since. What’s funny is they follow each other around, I think the Flameback is stirring up Bristle worms, and Copepods, when it picks at the Turf Algae.

 

[AKreefgirl]

So I would not say to anyone to stay away from the about to be mentioned fish as its highly irregular but the bully fish in my biocube 32 is a purple firefish he beats up on the Sapphire damsel and the platinum snowflake clown and makes the red firefish hide all the time I can say iv never herd of them being a bully in 15 years but sure enoff it'll get op some swimmjng speed and headbutt the other fish and never hides someone should tell him he's supposed to be scared of his own shadow lol when I put the tank together I figured it would be the clown or sapphire damsel go figure right fish have always surprised me over the years as each one is an individual with their own personality

I have one that's a bully too. It killed off 3 others (I was trying to keep a group of 3 as recommended). It's been very happy ever since and rules the middle of the tank.

 

[Tankkeepers]

Glad I'm not the only one

 

[ACReefer]

My cinnamon clown has bit me many times but my yellow tang is boss hog of my tank.

 

[living_tribunal]

Don’t.get.frog.fish.