treesprite July 9, 2008 Share July 9, 2008 I have an unknown aggressor in my tank that keeps biting off the tail of my orchid dottyback, but I have not seen any aggression in the tank. Several weeks ago (maybe more actually) I had a week or two of the dottyback hiding itself and not coming out to eat. Since then it has been fine, happy, always out-and-about. Last week I discovered nips out of its tail. It seemed to start to grow back a little but then was nipped again yesterday, and again today. I am going to give my fish list - please give me some opinions on the most likely suspect in consideration of my fish list. As far as I know, these are all semi-aggressive species. No other fish occupants, nothing else that could do this nipping. 1. The Victim. Orchid dottyback... the only dottyback type that is not terribly aggressive, and has not been an aggressor in my tank. A couple weeks ago took to using frogspawn as a home, not too many days before the nips started appearing. The Suspects: 2. Female tomato clown - as large as a tomato clown can get. She chased around the cherub angel when I fist got it, and now once in a while acts like she's going to charge her then turns around. Other than that, I have not seen her act aggresively. 3. Male tomato clown, less than 1/2 size of the female. I thought he was the most mild mannered fish until I got the cherub angel - he does not like her in his territory (almost never leaves it), and he pretty much treats her the way the female clown does. He has not bothered any other fish. 4. Female cherub angel - the other fish "tolerate" her. She "displaced" the dottyback from most of its "haunts" simply by always swimming through them, but I have never seen her behave aggressively 5. Yellow tang about 3", best friends with the female clown - they are almost never away from each other, brush against each other, eat together... it got the female clown eating nori. I have never once seen this fish act aggressively. That's it for the list. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kimo July 9, 2008 Share July 9, 2008 Well - I vote for the Female Tomato. They can be really vicious. I was even bit by one before. I have an unknown aggressor in my tank that keeps biting off the tail of my orchid dottyback, but I have not seen any aggression in the tank. Several weeks ago (maybe more actually) I had a week or two of the dottyback hiding itself and not coming out to eat. Since then it has been fine, happy, always out-and-about. Last week I discovered nips out of its tail. It seemed to start to grow back a little but then was nipped again yesterday, and again today. I am going to give my fish list - please give me some opinions on the most likely suspect in consideration of my fish list. As far as I know, these are all semi-aggressive species. No other fish occupants, nothing else that could do this nipping. 1. The Victim. Orchid dottyback... the only dottyback type that is not terribly aggressive, and has not been an aggressor in my tank. A couple weeks ago took to using frogspawn as a home, not too many days before the nips started appearing. The Suspects: 2. Female tomato clown - as large as a tomato clown can get. She chased around the cherub angel when I fist got it, and now once in a while acts like she's going to charge her then turns around. Other than that, I have not seen her act aggresively. 3. Male tomato clown, less than 1/2 size of the female. I thought he was the most mild mannered fish until I got the cherub angel - he does not like her in his territory (almost never leaves it), and he pretty much treats her the way the female clown does. He has not bothered any other fish. 4. Female cherub angel - the other fish "tolerate" her. She "displaced" the dottyback from most of its "haunts" simply by always swimming through them, but I have never seen her behave aggressively 5. Yellow tang about 3", best friends with the female clown - they are almost never away from each other, brush against each other, eat together... it got the female clown eating nori. I have never once seen this fish act aggressively. That's it for the list. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onux20 July 9, 2008 Share July 9, 2008 My vote is for the Cherub Angel. Mine chased my yellown clown goby in to the overflow after a few days of terror! Now it is after my bi color blenny but he is big enough and smart enough to hide in a hole when the angel comes around. Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterTang July 9, 2008 Share July 9, 2008 Does the female clown hang around the frogspawn? Some of these fish will take to LPS as an 'anemone substitute'... and I was bit by a fellow WAMASer's tomato clown last night when I got too close to his anemone, and it felt like that bugger had teeth! Tomatoes should be ranked up there with the most aggressive fish, as far as I'm concerned - they look all cute when they're tiny in the store, but grow up to be cranky and mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason the filter freak July 9, 2008 Share July 9, 2008 clown Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDiver July 9, 2008 Share July 9, 2008 (edited) I also vote clown.. Edited July 9, 2008 by DDiver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhn July 9, 2008 Share July 9, 2008 I agree with the others, female tomatoes can be extremely aggressive especially with an anemone present or if the pair start spawning. I've had to remove all other livestock from one of my tanks when I had a pair of tomatoes start breeding, as the female would endlessly harass all other tank occupants even ones 2-3 times her size. It could also be the cherub angel they have a reputation for being very nasty fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite July 9, 2008 Author Share July 9, 2008 (edited) The clowns ignore the frogspawn. Their space is situated in the middle of the back side of the rockwork where the BTA coincidentally migrated. The clowns have let all other fish pass at will through their space except for the angel. When the dottyback first was missing, I found it under a rock right in the middle of clown space.... not sure if that means it was trying to get far away from some aggressor elsewhere in the tank, or if it was the first place to duck away from a clown. I'm wondering if the fish are treating each other differently due to the angel changing the social order. Maybe the clowns are acting more territorial to the dottyback due to guarding out the angel (the way my one cat attacks the second one if the 3rd which she doesn't like gives her a hard time). I didn't know angels could get more than just mildly aggressive. She has never been seen chasing the dottyback, but took over all of its spaces and the dottyback just passively let her do it. Do a lot of other types of fish not like snall-type angels? It's an interesting social observation. Edited July 9, 2008 by treesprite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDiver July 9, 2008 Share July 9, 2008 you should do a stake out..LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite July 10, 2008 Author Share July 10, 2008 you should do a stake out..LOL LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now