I think i just introduced the spawn of Satan himself into my tank. Details inside..

DIYreefer

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So, I've been trying to catch an extremely aggressive and rather large blue damsel for nearly a year. This fish would vigorously attack ANYTHING that I tried to add to the tank, and it was a fight to the death no matter how long or short the fight. He. Never. Lost.

Fortunately, I was miraculously successful in catching him today and he now resides in solitary confinement, in my sump. In celebration of my victory I went to my LFS and bought small powder blue tang that I e been eyeing for a couple of weeks. This fish is stunning, is a voracious eater, and is overall incredibly healthy.

After acclimation the PBT immediately took over the tank. He is far more boisterous than my little devil damsel ever was. I have a 6+" yellow tang, a 5" scopas tang, and an 8" naso tang... all of which, this little 3" PBT took to immediately pushing around. He doesn't seem to be (able) doing any harm and my established fish don't necessarily seem bothered by him, but I have noticed that they are definitely keeping away from the PBT, deliberately.

In all of my years in the hobby I have never seen a fish with so much confidence/arrogance in such a short period of time after being introduced to the tank. Will he chill out, or is he certain to be a murderer as he grows and can better compete physically with my other tangs?

This is in a 125g tank with a good amount of swimming room and ample places to hide. Ironically, this fish doesn't even seem to notice any of the other fish in the tank k that are the same size or smaller than him. Dude just wants to go after the big guys.
 

vetteguy53081

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So, I've been trying to catch an extremely aggressive and rather large blue damsel for nearly a year. This fish would vigorously attack ANYTHING that I tried to add to the tank, and it was a fight to the death no matter how long or short the fight. He. Never. Lost.

Fortunately, I was miraculously successful in catching him today and he now resides in solitary confinement, in my sump. In celebration of my victory I went to my LFS and bought small powder blue tang that I e been eyeing for a couple of weeks. This fish is stunning, is a voracious eater, and is overall incredibly healthy.

After acclimation the PBT immediately took over the tank. He is far more boisterous than my little devil damsel ever was. I have a 6+" yellow tang, a 5" scopas tang, and an 8" naso tang... all of which, this little 3" PBT took to immediately pushing around. He doesn't seem to be (able) doing any harm and my established fish don't necessarily seem bothered by him, but I have noticed that they are definitely keeping away from the PBT, deliberately.

In all of my years in the hobby I have never seen a fish with so much confidence/arrogance in such a short period of time after being introduced to the tank. Will he chill out, or is he certain to be a murderer as he grows and can better compete physically with my other tangs?

This is in a 125g tank with a good amount of swimming room and ample places to hide. Ironically, this fish doesn't even seem to notice any of the other fish in the tank k that are the same size or smaller than him. Dude just wants to go after the big guys.
PBT and Purple tang as well as Sohal tangs are the devil's children !!
 
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DIYreefer

DIYreefer

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PBT and Purple tang as well as Sohal tangs are the devil's children !!

I've noticed! I've kept MANY various fish over the years but never experienced anything like this guy. I'm now wondering if my plan of adding a harem of anthias is a bad idea. Which sucks, because having the anthias is the main reason I needed the damsel out.
 

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I introduced a rainbow wrasse to my tank. The website I ordered it from stated it’s temperament was peaceful. I did no further research on it because I trusted the website. Bad mistake. I put this fish in the tank and it killed two of my other wrasses and it’s just an aggressive ****** fish. I’ve tried every trap to get it out but it’s like it knows that I’m trying to get it and avoids the baited traps!! So I had to just put bigger and badder fish in the tank that are reef safe so they can hold their own against this jerk. Unless you have an aggressive fish only tank do not introduce a rainbow/5 stripe wrasse into your tank because it will be a horror!!!
 

vetteguy53081

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I introduced a rainbow wrasse to my tank. The website I ordered it from stated it’s temperament was peaceful. I did no further research on it because I trusted the website. Bad mistake. I put this fish in the tank and it killed two of my other wrasses and it’s just an aggressive ****** fish. I’ve tried every trap to get it out but it’s like it knows that I’m trying to get it and avoids the baited traps!! So I had to just put bigger and badder fish in the tank that are reef safe so they can hold their own against this jerk. Unless you have an aggressive fish only tank do not introduce a rainbow/5 stripe wrasse into your tank because it will be a horror!!!
Yep
 

Seansea

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In a 125 the blue damsel was killing things? Tank that size would have many escape routes i would think. I had 5 damsels in 150 and while aggressive still plenty of escape room.

I wpuld think anthias with the pbt would be ok. Not really the fish on his radar. Any type of tang ,butterfly maybe even rabbitfish might be his targets.
 

Hogan

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You need an acclimation box. Keep him in there for a week and see if he calms down.
 

Bucs20fan

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Welcome to fish behavior 101, todays lesson is going to be, "How can I be so unlucky"

Im terribly sorry to hear of your woes in fish compatibility, damsels are well known to be terrors. PBT is another one that has been known to take over it territory and rule the world.

Hopefully youll be able to resolve this, mirrors help. Rearranging rockwork can also help.
 

Nman

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That’s the damsel family. I have 2 domino damsels 2 too 3 inches eat like pigs hammer anything you put in with them . Hard as nails never had any health problems. I have arranged for the my LFS and they would take them for there display tank but every time I say to myself next time . They are bad b@@@@@@ but I have a soft spot for them lol
 
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DIYreefer

DIYreefer

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In a 125 the blue damsel was killing things?

Yes. However, it's worth noting that this is as large a damsel as you are likely to ever see. I've had him for many years and he is nearly 4" long, and pretty solid as far as fishes go. He took out a few fish that were substantially larger than he was, but now he lives in my refugium.

To update the thread, the PBT has calmed down substantially and doesn't mess with anyone at all now. I've always heard people say that if you go to jail you're supposed to go straight after the biggest, baddest guy in the place. Have to show everyone that you're no punk... my PBT did the same thing upon arrival to my tank, lol.

I've since added a small (2.5") flame fin tang and just today added 4 lyretails. I wanted 5, but my LFS only had 4. The PBT couldn't care less about anyone the new additions, but my 16+ year old true perc (wild caught) doesn't care for the new anthias. He hasn't gone after them too hard, but he has is spot in the tank and they encroached a little. They're now hanging out on the other side of the tank and everyone is happy. :)
 

etcee

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You and me both. My pair of Picasso clownfish just dominated a Helfrichi Firefish :(. They said NO to new tank members.
 

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