Fish fight!

[mmorrison55]

In your experience, when two of your fish start to have a beef, how often do they let bygones be bygones and how often does it end up with one getting flushed?

I had 3 lyretails. One died almost immediately (next day) after moving them from the QT tank to main display, one had a popeye but recovered after several weeks and just now as the popeye fully recovered and everyone getting along, my two anthias are feuding. I can’t tell if the aggressor is the popeye or the other, but one has chased the other into almost giving up. It’s currently hiding under a rock, but I don’t know if it’s damaged or just hiding.

I’ve tried to net it when it was out, but it’s still too Wiley for me to catch and move to its own tank until it recovers.

The other fish (a rabbit fish and yellow tang) now seem to be chasing the aggressor anthias. i don’t know if it’s out of trying to put him in check for his aggression to the other or if all my fish are going bat**** crazy.

Everyone was playing nice for the past several weeks until today.

So this led to my question. What’s your success rate of everyone working out their squabbling once a ruckus has started or does it usually end with death in the tank?

 

[tzabor10]

Acclimation boxes are a great way to help curb stress
Frequently feeding eases aggression
Creating hiding spots can let a fish escape danger.

 

[twentyleagues]

In my experience with lyretails they do this as they start to transition. Unless a very large tank they usually whittle themselves down to just 1. Kinda the same as Damsels. The yellow and rabbit may be trying to exert their own dominance in the tank hierarchy with a newly establishing aggressor.

 

[mmorrison55]

Should have added that my display is about 150 gallons (5ft x2 ft x 2ft), so not huge, but should be big enough .

And I have a negative space aquascape with lots of crevices and swim throughs, but I guess not enough. Im hoping the one hiding is doing just that and not about to die.

 

[exnisstech]

I know many keep anthias but i failed. I tried anthias once. I added 5 lyre tails to a 180g with a lot of rock with hiding places and hide is exactly what they did. They never swam around the tank. They just hid and would dart out to grab food once in a while. Eventually I just never saw them any longer.
I've had similar experience with groups of chromis but at least they swam around so could see their numbers dwindling and I was left with one.

 

[mmorrison55]

Mine were swimming together and keeping along with the other fish very well until today. I knew it was too good to last, but have been feeding like crazy, so hoped it would.

In the month or so ive had them, they had become my favorite fish. Very colorful and kept moving so the tank seemed busy.