Flasher Wrasse Aggression

isufishtank · Mar 7, 2019

Hello! I've got a male McCosker's Flasher and a Firefish in a 20 long tank. I love them both to death and they have got along perfectly fine for the longest time. Occasionally during feeding the flasher would flash a little and show off, but the Firefish seemed unperturbed... until now. The flasher has grown much more aggressive and I've noticed some tearing on the firefish's fins. The flasher basically does everything he can to keep the firefish confined to his cave. I'm worried this aggression will mean one of the two has to go, but I'd really love to keep them both. As a side note, I also have a Coral Banded Shrimp. Both fish keep a fair distance away from him as he can be a little mean if they stray too close. Would removing him potentially free up space for the other two to be happier? Any advice is appreciated!

Big G · Mar 7, 2019

I've got a similar situation in my DT. Those Coral Banded Shrimp can get pretty big and take up lots of space in a tank. I've thought more than once about putting it down in the sump for it's aggression. You could certainly give it a try. But that still leaves the pretty docile Firefish having to deal with the a bit more aggressive wrasse. Fish behave like cavemen. Maybe the moving of the shrimp will help. Keep us in the loop. Best of luck!

isufishtank · Mar 7, 2019

Big G said:
I've got a similar situation in my DT. Those Coral Banded Shrimp can get pretty big and take up lots of space in a tank. I've thought more than once about putting it down in the sump for it's aggression. You could certainly give it a try. But that still leaves the pretty docile Firefish having to deal with the a bit more aggressive wrasse. Fish behave like cavemen. Maybe the moving of the shrimp will help. Keep us in the loop. Best of luck!

Only problem is that I don't have a sump! I know, I know, big reefing foul, but I'm on a tight budget and even tighter space in a dorm. In all honesty the shrimp has been nothing but mean either way so I'll definitely have to consider taking him back to my LFS or rehoming him.

isufishtank · Mar 7, 2019

Also adding this on: I have a fair bit of experience in freshwater and found that typically adding another fish can help balance out aggression and remap each fish's domain. I've been wanting to add a peaceful sapphire (Springeri) Damsel for some time. Any thoughts on how that will affect the aggression?

Big G · Mar 7, 2019

isufishtank said:
Also adding this on: I have a fair bit of experience in freshwater and found that typically adding another fish can help balance out aggression and remap each fish's domain. I've been wanting to add a peaceful sapphire (Springeri) Damsel for some time. Any thoughts on how that will affect the aggression?

I have two sapphire damsels in my DT with the wrasse and a couple of firefish. They pretty much ignore each other. Those Sapphires are real beauties. The only thing they bother is me when I'm cleaning the sand. They seem to hate the turkey baster. LOL