Halichoeres melanurus is literally killing himself.

[Arego]

I have a halichoeres melanurus who has recently started fighting his reflection, extremely badly. We've had him for a little over 6 years and while he has done this before it certainly wasn't as aggressive by a long shot.

He is in a 250g with 14 other kinds of wrasse species and there is absolutely no aggression in our tank, it's actually amazing. His first time really doing this he dislocated his bottom jaw for a while and then one day it was back to normal. Fast forward 6 years to present and he is smashing his brains in from the moment he emerges from the sand until an hour before lights off. The sound of his head smashing on the glass can be heard everywhere on the first floor, it's crazy how much sand he's moving from the front to the back while machine gunning his head back and forth.

The only addition is a c.aprinus (pixie hawkfish) a month ago. While this is a 90% wrasse tank it's a peaceful environment, except chicken patty day (custom food mix). I've tried everything except isolate him in a tub with no reflections. Thank you.

 

[Naso110]

I would try to isolate him if possible. If not, any light changes or furniture moved in the room? I've had fish start attacking the glass before simply from my wife changing curtains. This darkened the room and made the reflection greater in the tank. Opened the curtains, fixed it. Maybe a long shot but took us a month to figure out something so simple.

 

[BostonReefer300]

That sounds terrible! Is he always attacking his reflection in the same general area of the tank?

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Maybe show him a mirror so he can see the difference. Hopefully he snaps out of it

 

[Arego]

I appreciate the replies. No changes in that room or surrounding areas. He has no preferred area just anywhere across the front glass. I've taped different color pieces of paper and he'll just move until basically the bottom 7 inches of the tank covered. Even then he'll constantly fluff up and give himself a crazy side eye as he's swimming around, but no head smashing upper 3/4s of the glass..

Also, the sides and back are covered completely with coraline and it's been like that for a couple years. Almost wondering if adding a female would help...

Edit:

I don't think I mentioned this but it's not happening all the time. Some days he's doing the usual annoying things he does, other days he just snaps. I only just started recording the days and times to catch any pattern.

 

[ZoWhat]

Crush up a Xanax and put in with his frozen food.

Actually crush up two. So you take the second one as well.

 

[BostonReefer300]

I appreciate the replies. No changes in that room or surrounding areas. He has no preferred area just anywhere across the front glass. I've taped different color pieces of paper and he'll just move until basically the bottom 7 inches of the tank covered. Even then he'll constantly fluff up and give himself a crazy side eye as he's swimming around, but no head smashing upper 3/4s of the glass..

Also, the sides and back are covered completely with coraline and it's been like that for a couple years. Almost wondering if adding a female would help...

Edit:

I don't think I mentioned this but it's not happening all the time. Some days he's doing the usual annoying things he does, other days he just snaps. I only just started recording the days and times to catch any pattern.

Putting in a female might help. I don't know how easy it is to find a female melanarus that isn't a tiny juvenile though.

 

[Arego]

I don't normally bump but I refuse to lose this fish. He's acting completely normal today, of course.

 

[RMS18]

I have had many wrasses over the years, and unfortunately aren't keeping as many as i like in my tank. I've had to re-home a bunch to prevent deaths after years of peace. All my females go male and that's when the fun begins. I would try to let the glass get covered in film algae, see if that helps reduce the reflection on the front glass. I would not add another wrasse, as you already have a good thing going with 14 other kinds with no issue, don't mess with that. Are you feeding enough? Although feeding had nothing to do with keeping my re-homed linneatus clam, it's worth asking. I would also look into adding a room light, or getting more ambient light in the room to reduce glare, or possibly remove more ambient room light to mess with reducing the glare.

 

[Spare time]

Maybe show him a mirror so he can see the difference. Hopefully he snaps out of it

A mirror would be the same thing. It's an involuntary behavior. The wrasse can't help itself.

 

[Spare time]

Maybe consider using black wallpaper on the sides and back? It would still se the front but maybe it wouldn't be as bad.

 

[Arego]

I have had many wrasses over the years, and unfortunately aren't keeping as many as i like in my tank. I've had to re-home a bunch to prevent deaths after years of peace. All my females go male and that's when the fun begins. I would try to let the glass get covered in film algae, see if that helps reduce the reflection on the front glass. I would not add another wrasse, as you already have a good thing going with 14 other kinds with no issue, don't mess with that. Are you feeding enough? Although feeding had nothing to do with keeping my re-homed linneatus clam, it's worth asking. I would also look into adding a room light, or getting more ambient light in the room to reduce glare, or possibly remove more ambient room light to mess with reducing the glare.

I appreciate the reply. They get fed nori everyday and custom mixture for every other day. So far fingers crossed the behavior hasn't been as bad since a week after this post. Nothing really changed in the environment so.. i guess it's fine for now but I'm not going to hold my breath either.

 

[Mjschwecke]

I have a halichoeres melanurus who has recently started fighting his reflection, extremely badly. We've had him for a little over 6 years and while he has done this before it certainly wasn't as aggressive by a long shot.

He is in a 250g with 14 other kinds of wrasse species and there is absolutely no aggression in our tank, it's actually amazing. His first time really doing this he dislocated his bottom jaw for a while and then one day it was back to normal. Fast forward 6 years to present and he is smashing his brains in from the moment he emerges from the sand until an hour before lights off. The sound of his head smashing on the glass can be heard everywhere on the first floor, it's crazy how much sand he's moving from the front to the back while machine gunning his head back and forth.

The only addition is a c.aprinus (pixie hawkfish) a month ago. While this is a 90% wrasse tank it's a peaceful environment, except chicken patty day (custom food mix). I've tried everything except isolate him in a tub with no reflections. Thank you.

Any luck fixing this issue? Just found this thread my new wrasse has been doing this. Forsure he’s seeing his reflection now that I was reading this post but I’m not sure how to fix that. You can clearly see what’s happening in this side shot.

 

[Tamberav]

Any luck fixing this issue? Just found this thread my new wrasse has been doing this. Forsure he’s seeing his reflection now that I was reading this post but I’m not sure how to fix that. You can clearly see what’s happening in this side shot.

What does your fish do? Your China wrasse female? Most are they come
Though the chain so I wouldn’t expect major aggression.