New Additions For My Tank

[Crazy fishes]

I went out today and got me some nice new additions for my new setup. Firstly I managed to pick me you a small frag of pulsing xenia which I have always wanted to have. Locally it is never normally available and when it is it is super expensive, the bit I got was grown by a local aquarist which sells it on to the shops. He calls it 'a weed in his tank' and if only all weeds were quite so beautiful.

My second purchase was a purple firefish (N. decora) another fish I have been wanting to keep but again rarely available. As always though the other tank inhabitants are giving him a hard time which is frankly ******* me off. Bloody sixline wrasse and arc eye hawk fish have been attacking him non-stop since he hit the water!! I tried to remove them from the tank but they just hide in the rockwork. Harry, the purple firefish, has retreated now to the rockwork too but I don't think this is going to end well for him if I don't catch him or the other two. What is really annoying is the Hawkfish made a point of attacking the wrasse at every given chance but now has a new target and is teaming up with his 'old play thing' to batter this new guy.
The only other fish in the tank is a maroon clown which does not bother and is not bothered by anything. If only they were all like this .

The other thing I was interested in asking and have posted about previous (and got not a single reply) was the crown pearlscale butterflyfish. He is massive in comparison to the two terrors in my tank. Would adding him distract the attention away from this poor little firefish and could he take the abuse or is this a crazy stupid idea which will, in theory, kill two fish instead of one. My other problem is that I have two red firefish (N. Magnifica) in my other reef tank with one bullying the other and adding a purple firefish isn't going to better the situation.

Any ideas will be gratefully received

Regards

 

[seffieuk]

I'm afraid I can't help CF, all I can say, is I feel your pain - it is horrable to put a lovely new fish in only to have them bullied amd chased round the tank - then trying to catch the fish, which seems to me to be virtually impossible

Seffie x

 

[tat2life]

try moving the rock around to destroy the others territory, they wont feel so threatend or quick to attack/defend then... doesnt always work but its worth a try and has worked for me in the past

 

[Crazy fishes]

Hey Tat2life, thanks for the reply. They have only been in this tank about 5-6 days, I just moved them all over. I thought I would get on quick and populate the tank, but it seems they foiled that plan. I think my best bet is to quickly whip the aggressors out tomorrow and introduce the fish I want to before introducing them again. It is everytime I get the net they know what is coming; who said fish don't have good memories!! It is going to be rock moving job to catch them which I hope isn't going to be too much for the new little firefish.



Thanks for the reply Seffie. It is a difficult and frustrating problem but just having a reply is nice.

Regards

 

[Crazy fishes]

Just finished pulling the tank apart and reforming the rock after the capture. It is such a pain having to do this. Now I have to wait for a week or two and then try to capture them again to reintroduce them. What I have also realised is that I have put a hawkfish in with my cleaner shrimp; this is what happens when you don't think things through thoroughly. I did try to catch the shrimp but he has retreated into the rock work and I am not ripping that down as well. It has taken a good 2-3 hours to do the first part of the mission.

Regards

 

[kj23502]

wow, crazy. good luck.

also was the purple firefish just being chased or showing signs of fin nipping?

You can't keep more than 1 type of firefish in a tank unless they are a pair.

 

[VictorMeldrew]

I had a similar problem last week when I put a lipstick tang and sailfin tang to my tank, my yelow tang was attacking them non stop, I pulled the reef apart straight away, it was the only way of catching the YT, I then put it in my nano tank for a few days, in the mean time I rescaped and let the new fish get stronger in th tank and then I put the aggressive yellow tang back in and it worked perfectly, they all get along fine now. I am really glad I got that nano tank, I now call it the cell and any evil fish will be sent there for a bit of time if they do not behave when I add any new fish.

 

[kj23502]

I now call it the cell and any evil fish will be sent there for a bit of time if they do not behave when I add any new fish.

funny. Good idea though

 

[Crazy fishes]

Well the convicts are in the 24g cell and the hawkfish isn't having an easy time. He keeps sitting too close to the clowns in their hammer and he has received some tail nips himself. The strange thing is both him and the sixline wrasse are showing absolutely no aggression being the new guy and they are in now with two red firefish.

The purple firefish, Harry, is emerging from his darthole and swimming freely in the current!! Hoorah!! He is looking pretty ragged around the edges but he is visible and eating like you wouldn't believe. The maroon clown is pretty solemn in the corner much like when he was the pioneer fish. Once the tank is stocked I will try to re introduce the hawkfish. As for the wrasse he will probably do alright where he is because he seems to be really enjoying the reef.


Regards

 

[Crazy fishes]

More good news with Harry, he is setting up daily routine now and is venturing all over the tank. I went for another trip to the LFS and got a new recruit, a pinkspotted shrimp goby which is currently hiding away in the rockwork. I was going to buy a royal gramma but they sold it just as I got someone to serve me. They also had a radiant wrasse which was quite appealing but I held off because I want to let Harry settle in more.


Regards

 

[nano_reef_ubergeek]

I'm having the same problem. My sixline is relentlessly attacking my new gumdrop goby. The goby has to stay off the reef and hide behind the heater on the glass. I have no "cell" to put him in so I have to hope that the aquarium will take him back for a while -- then I can rearrange the rocks and hope that works ok. The goby has part of the tail fin missing and the wrasse has a red cloudy eye.

It seems like too much of a coincidence that his eye looks injured... I think the goby may have bitten him once.