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

Reefer Reboot

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Ever since I added the Great White I seem to be having trouble keeping other fish?????????????
Although not quite as big as yours, this guy would not allow any fish or anybody to invade "his" tank.;)

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HuniBuniReef

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In my previous tank, it was peaceful until my red head wrasse died ;Sorry
My foxface used to follow Red around like a puppy, it was lost and started following the male
lyretail anthias, which was not the best option in the tank, which became apparent within 24hrs.

It was then daily wars and weekly deaths, all caused by the foxface and Lyretail Anthias.
First to die was the 3 female lyretails, then the baby black clowns, then Mando (red mandarin), I had lost all hope, watching the lyretail bite, nip and chase everything, then f@@kface (foxface) get underneath the fish and stab them with his dorsal spines.
I stopped feeding the fish, made a DIY coke bottle trap, BOOM! F@@kface was caught in under 3 minutes, but not before he spiked the anthias. So technically speaking 2 birds (fish) one stone (trap).
Because of the horror I was witness to, I gave all my corals, survivors and CUC to my lfs and sold the tanks, that was years ago. Now, I have started again, so far I have 5 PJ's, 4 blue green chromis and just finished mating a pair of baby ocellaris and added either a mertensii or a gigantea anemone, (lfs said it was a haddoni, definitely isn't) which the clowns both went into while it was still stuck on my hand, placing it in the tank. So far peace is achieved.

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kels64

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Blue Damsel and Blue-Green Reef Chromis (returned to the LFS after I had to take apart the tank to catch them). I ended up buying a small yellow Hawaiian tang because it was being bullied and I felt bad for it and now it bullies everything in my tank. I have to say though, my orchid dottyback doesn’t really bother anybody.
 

BryanD

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Bicolor dottyback. He is gone now, but lived almost 6 years. Tortured a pajama cardinal its entire life, though chilled out dramatically the last 3 years. Cardinal had plenty of hiding places but would get brave every couple months or so, would come out of hiding (other than to feed) and get wumped every time. Considering Zeus (the cardinal) had tortured and killed a pair of pajama cardinals he was purchased with 7 years previously (after living peacefully together for like 2-3 years) figured Karma had caught up to him. But he figured out how to hide amongst a montipora that was growing similiar to a leather coral shape-wise and the dottyback would leave him alone and he would completely heal. Then he'd get brave, come out, and get thrashed again. But like I said the last three years of the dottybacks life they got along pretty well, with the dottyback just chasing Zeus. I considered taking the dottyback out a couple times but really would have had to completely tear the tank apart to do it .... Well, the dottyback died early 2019, from old age, and Zeus, who turned 16 this summer, is still alive and healthy.
 

Stray_Cat

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I had 4 clowns in my tank for 3.5 years. 2 bigger ones and 2 smaller ones. They were very peaceful. But then I got a BTA and the bigger clowns started hosting in it, formed a couple, killed off the smaller ones and started viciously attacking my hand whenever I was trying to do maintenance. Now I have to wear some very thick lab gloves to keep my hands in one piece.
 

Cory

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Emperor angel ( juvinal) complete ***** to another fish will be rehoming him soon if don't stop

Picks on every fish in the tank and my anemone when its trying to eat
Mines the same keeps a few of the more docile fish in the top 6" of tank. Including a larger panther grouper. However he hasn't killed any fish or caused massive distress to lead to death. Ill keep mine.
 

OllieGreen

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All of my fish are super peaceful and great! That doesn't mean I have a peaceful place though, my inverts are evil! My tiger snapping shrimp likes to murder anything that gets near him, and I've caught my hermits munching on my corals on more than one occasion.
 

SteveNChey

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My bully fish is a 8-line wrasse he is the newest fish we got and I tell you he don't take no crap from no one he has my royal Gramma and my hawk fish hiding all the time we rarely see them we r thinking about taking it back to the LFS soon!
 

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kaifish

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My 5 inch foxface is a bully. Don’t hear much about aggression from them so I’m assuming mine is just crazy. He will bite other fish often. He nipped the tail off my watchman goby. He attacks my pair of 1 inch black storm clowns. He chases my wrasse around the tank when food if present he’ll have his poison spines out and chase everyone out of the feeding area. He even attacks my purple tang that’s around his size. Imma kill him
 

squidarcher

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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
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My female ocellaris clown is a jerk, and she’s just a young un. Bullied her bf until he was almost dead and I had to separate them for a bit and do a rescale, and bit almost all the fins of my YWG in less than a week. Thankfully, she’s less destructive now, and I’m hoping an upgrade will fully peace her out
 

1guydude

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I love naked clownfish! Lol

Strawberry psuedo dottyback meanest fish ive ever owned.

Minatus grouper for.obvious reasons. Misunderstood and an ill purchase on my part.

Cinnamon clownfish are my favorite fish! Misunderstood and much more mildy tempered vs his brother the tomato clowfish. Lol
-d
 

Crustaceon

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My mandarin dragonet. It’s a male. I know for a fact if I were to put another male in the tank with it, nuclear war would break out. They are insanely aggressive towards conspecifics. Ever see angels or tangs not tolerate each other? Yeah, mandarins are WAY worse than that. Sometimes they don’t tolerate mandarins of the opposite sex and you have to be ready to remove that poor fish within seconds or it will be ripped to shreds.
 

Casket_Case

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Three Striped Damsels although I think everyone knows about them. Killed three fish. As a naive beginner I was told it was a Sargent major... never went back to that fish shop
 

JaaxReef

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I bought a yellow candy hogfish for my old tank that decided it hated wrasses after 3 weeks and beat my red lined wrasse to bits. Took chunks out of him. Never. Again. I caught him and rehomed him, but the Wrasse didn’t make it. Heartbreaking....
 

Baby Reefer

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I had two black and white striped Damsels and they were so mean I called them Bonnie and Clyde. Every fish I introduced that was their size of smaller they killed within the first hour.
 

See Gee Sea

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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 got a bonded pair of maroon clowns. I can't tell if they hate me or the algae scraper more! Luckily they aren't too aggressive with the other tank mates.
 

Chrisfish

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Captive Bred Lemon Damsel fish started out as a model citizen and last fish added in my tank, Long story short he went to a friends tank that had a sump and he’s very happy where he’s at. :)
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 76 37.8%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 69 34.3%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 12.4%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 29 14.4%
  • Other.

    Votes: 2 1.0%
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