BULLY FISH! What fish should you stay away from?

Do you have any "bully fish" in your tank?

  • YES (tell us in the thread)

    Votes: 258 61.3%
  • NO bullies just misunderstood...

    Votes: 137 32.5%
  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 26 6.2%

  • Total voters
    421

adumb112

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My Six Line Wrasse would kill anything new I put in my tank. So after 6 years he finally died and I was able to get new stock. He was a beautiful and fun fish to watch, but a pain in the long run.
 

Saltyfish87

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This guy! Fierce.
1F06EF2E-7526-4E02-81C9-683A461A02B0.jpeg
 

cloudc1234

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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
ED98591F-E377-45DF-9459-D0BEBB5A32CE.jpeg
My Lightning Marron Clown, is the worst, She is now named Pennywise, for a reason.
 

Andrew Schubert

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Powder blue tangs are mean. Maroon clowns can bite people!!!! ;Nailbiting

There are many more terrors. Let’s hear them.
I had a yellow tang, Powder Blue, and Purple tang in my 120g and my Powder Blue was the least aggressive of the bunch.
 

Jax15

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My blue tang has been know to bully others (poor yellow tang was picked on mercilessly). It really just shows how fish have their own personalities, there's a lot more going on in those little brains than people give credit to.
 

5austin67

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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
ED98591F-E377-45DF-9459-D0BEBB5A32CE.jpeg
My lightening maroon is the absolute worst! Also have a lawnmower blenny who likes to eat his friends.
 

marcwjj

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Banggai cardinal - I got 2 and one has been stealthily nipping the other's fins off, had to separate them and heard they might be of the same sex.
 

Indytraveler83

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I have a Bicolor dottyback/ Diadem psuedochromis (whatever you want to call it) that's evil as they get.

It's first 6 months it was only a little nasty, but now it insists on being the tank boss, even picking on a yellow tang and Melanarus wrasse that can usually hold their own and are much bigger than the little guy.

The only thing keeping this dottyback from being the true terror it was designed to be is it's constant fear of being eaten by the Marine Betta. Sometimes I wish for that...
 

CarrieHess

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I have a domino damsel that is tiny still. She's great until I stick my hand in the tank and get anywhere near her anemones. She instantly becomes fishes and would take a finger off if she could.
 

dennis romano

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Blue hippo tang. Got mine at quarter size and was cool. As soon as he got to three inches, he went rabid. First he de-finned a five inch blue face angel then attacked and killed a harlequin tusk. I found him pounding the poor tusk into the bottom corner of their tank. That day he was sent to the LFS.
 

SRQreefer

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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
ED98591F-E377-45DF-9459-D0BEBB5A32CE.jpeg

Neon dottyback. Straight killer of anything that looks remotely like him.
 

kzitzman1

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The only bully we've had was the female clown from our original clown pair. After 1 1/2 years the female suddenly turned aggressive and killed a Banggai Cardinal that had been a tank mate all along. We immediately removed the clowns and have been fine. Our McClosker Flasher Wrasse and Purple Firefish immediately became happier and the Flasser Wrasse will play with the Firefish. One thing that is obvious is that fish are like people......in one situation a certain fish can be shy and friendly and in another tank it can be a bully. That's clear from this thread. But usually tendencies and patterns are good to trust.
 
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