Goodbye to the Six Line...

[whalewhalewhale]

After 3 years... I've made the difficult decision to find a new home for my six line wrasse, who after being a model citizen for so long, suddenly became possessed and decided to become a bully to every other fish in the tank. It saddens me to have to do this because he brought so much life to the tank with all the zooming, curiosity, and intelligence. However, I can't sacrifice the health of every other fish in the tank because I'm increasingly seeing torn fins, stressed behavior, and even some fish being scared to come out to eat.

Despite being the fattest fish in the tank, he has no intention of sharing the food he doesn't even plan on eating. He'd randomly dart and nip my at my gobies who were just minding their own business on the other side of the tank. He'd chase my anthias around in circles until he got distracted by something else. The only fish he didn't bother were the clowns because they were the only ones who fought back (and stayed in their place).

I did so much research and reading before I took the leap. I saw mixed reports saying that their six line was peaceful and minded their own business or that their 666 line was the devil incarnate. I thought I got lucky and had the former. I made sure he was the smallest and closest to last fish to add. He was pretty shy at first, and only came out to eat. Afterwards he became a little more bold and started to zoom and dart around every corner of the tank. Sometimes he'd get chased out by the royal gramma or the clowns would nip first and shoo him away. Overall for 3 years straight, not a single incident I observed where he attacked another tankmate.

Fast forward to today, he's grown to nearly 3" long, has a big hump on his back, and likes to flash his tall razor-like dorsal fin at his reflection and other fish. Not very cute anymore.

His pasttime transitioned from exploring the rockwork and pecking at copepods to trying to police every fish in the tank.
- Goby out of its cave? Chase it back.
- Blenny not in its corner? Chase it back.
- Mandarin pecking at some masstick that he doesn't even eat? How dare she do that.
- Hermit crab on rockwork? The audacity...

Either way, I'm taking him to the LFS where I hope he either finds a new home in a frag tank or someone else's tank.

 

[whalewhalewhale]

For those curious how I caught him: I tried every "easy" method available. The inverted bottle, floating trap, mirrors, etc.

None worked. This guy was too cautious and smart to fall for it.

I found a thread recommending trying to catch them at night with red lights on. Happy to report that this method worked.

First you want to identify where your 6 line likes to sleep. They like to build a mucus bubble inside a cave or within coral skeletons. Mine in particular fortunately like to sleep under an easy to remove rock.

Next, wait until a few hours after lights off. This part is critical because you want them to be deep asleep in their mucus bubble. Slowly begin remove all of the possible hiding spaces. I removed about 50% of the rock in my tank.

Finally, I lifted the rock he was under and he didn't even budge. They are pretty sound sleepers and even poking them won't wake them. Here you can quickly scoop them out or nudge them towards a net. I, unfortunately, dropped him back in the water while scooping him out and that woke him up. After nearly an hour of chasing him in the dark, I finally caught him and tossed him in an acclimation box I had set up.

 

[DmitryB]

He looks like he's sulking.

 

[whalewhalewhale]

He looks like he's sulking.

I'm sure he's not too happy about being suddenly dragged out of bed in the middle of the night

 

[winxp_man]

I found a thread recommending trying to catch them at night with red lights on. Happy to report that this method worked.

Been doing this for a while nowz really works. I just don’t do red light, even though it makes more sense, I run a iPhone light. I can get fish even in my 300 gal system. Day time…. I can bring out all the devices, tricks and what not. Non work in the end like the night and light trick haha.

 

[IPT]

Man, I've been trying to get some Damsels. I wonder if they're the same - deep sleepers. My tank is at work though and I have no idea where they hide!

 

[whalewhalewhale]

Been doing this for a while nowz really works. I just don’t do red light, even though it makes more sense, I run a iPhone light. I can get fish even in my 300 gal system. Day time…. I can bring out all the devices, tricks and what not. Non work in the end like the night and light trick haha.

the red light was interesting as it didn’t wake any of the fish up despite the whole tank being “bright” enough to see everything. Even the wrasse kept sleeping with a red flashlight pointed right at it.

 

[exnisstech]

I love my sixlines but I do not keep them with small peaceful fish for the reasons your experiencing. They're a little fish with big fish attitude. I have one in a 7ft 330g that decided after a year the tank wasn't big enough for itself and a yellow banded possum wrasse. The possum now has a 20g all to himself.

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Some fish just become mean for whatever reason. I have a Flame angel that polices the tank like your Sixline did. I've put him in a bigger system hoping it mellows out his aggression.

Hopefully your Sixline finds itself in a good home! I would have probably set up another tank just for him

 

[Marco_99]

Man, I've been trying to get some Damsels. I wonder if they're the same - deep sleepers. My tank is at work though and I have no idea where they hide.

I bought a 6 inch Tank Matez trap with the 3 inch mirror in it. I tried feeding through the tube but ultimately it’s the mirror that gets them.

II needed to get three Azures out (1 dom male, his girlfriend, and his side chick). The very first few minutes I put the trap in the tank by his rock structure he went in it out of curiosity, and I didn’t even realize it and was too slow, he got out. His girlfriend became totally obsessed with going in and out of it by eating the food, and it got to the point where she would just sit in it all day.

After trying to get him again and again, he wouldn’t leave his ravine but his side chick started coming over to bond with him and for a couple days she ignored the trap and then I came home one day and she was obsessed with the mirror in it, and I literally could not get her out of it. So two weeks later here I am still making attempts to get the dominant male out because he doesn’t want anything to do with this thing and he has quite the little network of rock to go in and out of like multiple entries exits surrounded by lots of coral so we’re gonna try it again this weekend and hopefully I hit pay dirt. I’ve been very light on the food for three days so I’m gonna play that angle.

No amount of darkness,red lights, or nets would catch this damsel. It would have to involve a stick of dynamite to blow that rock structure completely into sand lol

 

[whalewhalewhale]

I dropped him off at the store, and he got added to a huge frag tank full of tangs to do pest control duty. I think he’ll do so much better there and ultimately this is an upgrade for him