Fish aggression

[OceanJack]

Hi all,

I haven't really experienced this too much in my time of reefing. Have had larger tanks in the past, right now I have a Nuvo Fusion 20 with some pretty peaceful fish but I am noticing some aggression out of nowhere from my Yellow Assessor Basslett.

The tank stocking is a pygmy filefish, pink streaked wrasse and the basslett. The wrasse and basslett have been in the tank together for 2 years now, and there is about 15lbs of real aussie live rock, so plenty of caves etc...

I've noticed that the basslett has become territorial of it's little nook that the wrasse likes to go in, chases the wrasse but not biting. I'm not noticing any missing fins, fish are all eating fine. Feeding twice a day.

Has anyone curbed aggression by rearranging rock? Taking the aggressor out and reintroducing?

I'm going to try feeding 3 times a day, as they are always active and eating. I plan on adding some more rock to create more caves as well, other than that the basslett does not chase the wrasse outside of the cave or compete for food. It's just territorial about the cave.

 

[Tahoe61]

You can try a hand mirror taped to the outside. Using the hand mirror had worked well for me. My Royal Gramma was aggressive initially.

 

[bushdoc]

Taking aggressive fish out for a while and reintroducing might help. I was moving fish recently from old to new tank and my biggest rascal, Powder Brown Tang was introduced as last and he was bullied by my Yellow TAng now which used to be a victim before. Things got resolved now and community is peaceful.

 

[OceanJack]

I'm going to rearrange the rock and take the basslett out while I do that, maybe leave him out for 24 hours then reintroduce, see if that helps.

 

[vlangel]

I'm going to rearrange the rock and take the basslett out while I do that, maybe leave him out for 24 hours then reintroduce, see if that helps.

Good luck. Aggression is the 1 thing about my tank that causes me stress.

 

[OceanJack]

Good luck. Aggression is the 1 thing about my tank that causes me stress.

Agreed, sitting on the couch watching that little bugger last night, sure enough ruined my night. I'm hopeful, at least I am not seeing any fighting when they're eating or just out swimming.

 

[OceanJack]

*Quick update*

Last night I added a few remaining bits of live rock that I had sitting in saltwater, rearranged the home of the basslett and created some more caves.

Seemed to have curbed the aggression almost right away, I did not notice any chasing last night and will continue to monitor today.

 

[vlangel]

*Quick update*

Last night I added a few remaining bits of live rock that I had sitting in saltwater, rearranged the home of the basslett and created some more caves.

Seemed to have curbed the aggression almost right away, I did not notice any chasing last night and will continue to monitor today.

Hopefully that is a permanent fix. I kind of think it will be since the aggression was not one of being out for blood.