Tank Mates for a Neon Dottyback and 2 Clownfishes (Possible Dottyback aggression)

[craiginphoenix]

Something equally aggressive could keep the dottyback in check. I have a neon dottyback in a 25 gallon tank with 2 clowns and a six line wrasse. But every fish is an individual. And did you take any steps to curb aggression like rescaping or mirrors?

So after adding a Blue Eyed Kole Tang, which went surprisingly well (if anything it felt like the Tang followed the Dottyback around and annoyed it but there was no aggression) I bought an Ornate Wrasse today, and the Dottyback was very aggressive toward it. So I added a mirror and...problem solved! Dottyback is very focused on the new Dottyback in the mirror and hasn't paid much attention to the Wrasse (who has now buried itself, which sounds like can last a couple days).

I wanted to rescape but all of my rocks are structured together. Moved what I could around. Hoping the mirror works.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[blecki]

The mirror only works for so long. Some problems with it: a) The aggressive fish eventually gives up because that other fish just won't back down and goes off to sulk, possibly taking it's frustration out on other fish. b) The aggressive fish manages to defeat it's own reflection... by ramming into the glass so hard it hurts itself. c) After the mirror is removed it will eventually go back to old behavior. I use a mirror too on occasion and it works for a little while but you have to monitor it and it's not a permanent fix.

 

[craiginphoenix]

The mirror only works for so long. Some problems with it: a) The aggressive fish eventually gives up because that other fish just won't back down and goes off to sulk, possibly taking it's frustration out on other fish. b) The aggressive fish manages to defeat it's own reflection... by ramming into the glass so hard it hurts itself. c) After the mirror is removed it will eventually go back to old behavior. I use a mirror too on occasion and it works for a little while but you have to monitor it and it's not a permanent fix.

I took the mirror down for now and only left it up for a couple hours. The wrasse that I got buries itself in the sand for a couple days upon arrival typically so I will wait until it comes back out and put the mirror up again for a couple hours and take it down and put it up again in a different place and try to use it to get them used to each other.

 

[Andreas' Reef]

I don't know if this would help but when I needed to rehome my neon i put some pellets in a net and just held it there and after like 3 minutes he just swam right in. he was REALLY responsive to food. I would say a fish trap would be your best bet since they are natural explorers

 

[desynergy]

As an update (not that anyone cares),

I care. Google brought me here for the same exact problem with 2 clownfish and a neon dotty that have gotten along great since they were the first 3 fish in my tank. After 2 months, and feeling like everyone has settled in, I added a sixline wrasse after believing the Petco employee knew what he was talking about on which fish get along with other fish. WHOA!!! It's a full time rodeo in my 40 gallon breeder right now, and I'm grabbing all these ideas from these posts.

Edit: It's the wrasse and dotty that are going after each other. The clown fish are watching from the sidelines and the wrasse doesnt harass them.

 

[blecki]

That is the exact stock in my 25 gallon nano. Neon dotty, sixline, and a pair of 6+ year old clowns. The only difference here is that I put everyone in that tank at the same time.

It is possible, just need a bit of luck too.

 

[craiginphoenix]

I care. Google brought me here for the same exact problem with 2 clownfish and a neon dotty that have gotten along great since they were the first 3 fish in my tank. After 2 months, and feeling like everyone has settled in, I added a sixline wrasse after believing the Petco employee knew what he was talking about on which fish get along with other fish. WHOA!!! It's a full time rodeo in my 40 gallon breeder right now, and I'm grabbing all these ideas from these posts.

Edit: It's the wrasse and dotty that are going after each other. The clown fish are watching from the sidelines and the wrasse doesnt harass them.

I have added multiple fish since and using the mirror method is just a given now and it works great for me. I just duct tape a mirror to the side of the tank and move it around for a couple days and the new inhabitant is left alone. Dottyback is still mean, but it would just go at anything I added and now it is too focused on the "new dottyback" while the other fish gets used to it.

Let me know what worked for you.

I am dreaming of adding a blue dot jawfish to my tank but they are so expensive and timid I know that even with the mirrors the dottyback would torture it to death.