Fish suddenly becoming aggressive

[xIHA]

Yesterday i looked at my tank and saw my yellowfin fairy wrasse beating up my naoko fairy wrasse. They have been living together for almost 6 months and only now he has beat up the other fish. I haven't made any major changes to the aquascape for almost 2 months and only changed the flow a little please help i love these two fish a lot.

 

[4FordFamily]

Yesterday i looked at my tank and saw my yellowfin fairy wrasse beating up my naoko fairy wrasse. They have been living together for almost 6 months and only now he has beat up the other fish. I haven't made any major changes to the aquascape for almost 2 months and only changed the flow a little please help i love these two fish a lot.

Tank size?

Are they the only two fairy wrasse? Or wrasse?

 

[xIHA]

Its a 20 gallon and its only the 2 fairy wrasses

 

[4FordFamily]

Its a 20 gallon and its only the 2 fairy wrasses

The tank size is your issue. They need at least a 55 gallon tank to coexist, or even to exist singly, IMO.

The Naoko is a more aggressive wrasse generally but species vary and tight quarters are stressful and can cause aggression as they are here.

 

[xIHA]

Oh ok thanks ill try to relocate them with a fellow reefer hate seeing fish die

 

[Flippers4pups]

Oh ok thanks ill try to relocate them with a fellow reefer hate seeing fish die

@4FordFamily is right. Doing the right thing relocating. I would relocate one or the other, your choice.

 

[xIHA]

Yea but the problem is they are both too hard to catch and i dont have a fish trap any tips of how to catch fast fish like these?

 

[Flippers4pups]

Yea but the problem is they are both too hard to catch and i dont have a fish trap any tips of how to catch fast fish like these?

What else is in the 20? Rock, corals? In a tank that size, it should be pretty easy to catch them. I don't like using nets, acrylic box is best and cornering them in a corner works well. You may have remove the rock work to catch them.

 

[xIHA]

Mostly corals lps that are glued to the rocks so that is out of the option ill try using the acrylic box with some food inside as bait

 

[Flippers4pups]

Mostly corals lps that are glued to the rocks so that is out of the option ill try using the acrylic box with some food inside as bait

Storage container, large enough to keep the rock/corals under water would work. Catch the fish and place the rock back in. Would work. jmtcw.

 

[eatbreakfast]

20g is too small for 1 fairy wrasse, let alone 2, and each of these can be aggressive for a fairy wrasse.

Try a mirror at the front corner of the tank. They should come out to fight their reflection.