Hawaii 4 line wrasse ate my cleaner shrimp

Frogger · #1 09-19-2018, 12:34 AM

Not sure about 4 line wrasses but 6 line wrasses are very territorial and this could just have been a get out of my territory attack.

I used to have a six line wrasse that I wanted to shoot but he was too fast to catch.

Dearth · #2 09-19-2018, 02:07 AM

4, 6 and 8 line wrasse are known to be territorial and have been known to kill fish, coral and inverts

User beware

gregzz4 · #3 09-20-2018, 01:20 AM

I've run across this before. Established shrimp are OK around new fish for me, but newly added shrimps are food.
Try adding the next one after lights out.

Frogger · #4 09-20-2018, 02:34 AM

I saw a video on the web that showed putting a mirror up against one side of the glass when you add new inhabitants allows the new animal to blend in while the established fish actually attack the mirror.

gregzz4 · #5 09-20-2018, 03:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frogger

mirror up against one side of the glass

Not a bad idea, but every time I've used a mirror to deflect aggression, all it's done is pee off all the aggressive fish, and the ones that are going after weaker ones still do so.
The result for me has been a more aggressive fish who's POd and the target ends up getting it worse !!

Dearth · #6 09-20-2018, 03:35 AM

I’ve read other posts where people have used breeder boxes to help introduce new stuff into the tank while keeping everyone separated and aggression down

Frogger · #7 09-20-2018, 06:42 AM

I have trained my fish to come into a net to receive food. I have a large Collaspsible fish trap. When I added my last 2 fish I tricked my most aggressive fish (yellow tang) to come into the net scooped him up put him in the fish trap/acclimation tank. Put the new fish (Kole Tang and a Melanarus wrasse) into the tank. After about 10 days let the yellow tang go. A little bit of tail wagging between tangs but the Kole tang had its own territory and wasn't abused. I could have also put food into the trap.

I have also in the past had a couple large pieces of egg crate that I used to divide the tank into 2/3rds and 1/3rd. Does not work any more because my corals have grown into the gap.

Never tried the mirror thing only saw a video.