Fire fish missing end of tail

[Reaperxvii]

Hey guys! So one of my firefish is about to die (upside down as we speak) and hes missing part of his tail all of a sudden? 

 

Stocking is 

3 Halloween hermits 

3 electric oranges

1 orange line goby

1 snapper shrimp that came with the goby.

2 gladiator clowns (very young)

1 orchid dotty back from ora 

1 royal gramma.

2 blood cleaner shrimp.

 

Is there anything in this tank you can think of that would do that?

[Martin Riggs]

My vote for dottyback. 

[Oldsalt01]

Yah, I'd suspect the Dottyback, although Gramma's can be grumpy. Still, Dottyback's can be very territorial. JMHO.

[Reaperxvii]

I put the poor guy in the refugium right now but I don't think he's going to make it, he is breathing hard and alternating between laying on his side, upright, upside down and then swim alittle.

[Reaperxvii]

Also the dottyback makes since as the firefish's and him were all in the same general rock work. One is out and about but the other is hiding in that rockwork atm. Then the one missing his tail is in the fuge dying 😕

[Clown79]

Dottyback are known to be aggressive fish and a firefish is a peaceful fish.

 

 

Out of everything you have, dottyback would be the most likely unless it had a bacterial infection 

[specore]

+1 for dottyback.  They can be real a-holes

[Reaperxvii]

It was defiantly the dotty back, caught him chasing one of the surviving firefish, the one who lost his tail died 😕

[Clown79]

I'm sorry to hear that. 

 

I would try to catch the dotty and find it a new home

[Reaperxvii]

Any advice on how to catch this guy? I couldn't get him last night and came home a moment ago to another dead firefish missing a tail -.-

[banasophia]

Oh no, so sorry to hear about your firefish. 😞 sorry no advice on how to catch the dottyback. 

[Oldsalt01]

Take a 16 oz water bottle, tie some fishing line on it so you can pull it out when he's trapped, cut the top off where the curve ends, reverse the top and jam it into the bottom, fill it with tank water and bait it, put it near his lair and wait. You'll get it sooner or later. 

[Reaperxvii]

Trying that method now, bad news is he killed the last firefish, good news is now theres no more firefish to kill? 😭

 

Lesson learned on this one for sure, when live aquaria said it would "defend its lair" I thought maybe chase away, not kill outright.

 

[1891Bro]

I had a problem sixline a long time ago. I finally caught it. I tried all the tricks. I had to remove all the rock and drain the water to about an inch above the sand to actually get it. It’s a pain. But it’s easier than trying to kill moby dick. 

[Aurortpa]

At work, we didn't know a dottyback was left in a tank when we introduced a trigger.  When we fed the trigger, the dottyback darted at the trigger and pulled the food straight out of his mouth and ran back into some decor.  They are gutsy little buggars.

[Martin Riggs]

Yup they can hold there own. I introduced mine last to a tang and trigger. 

[Reaperxvii]

Still attempting to catch mine, though the clown pair has decided they like his rock so now hes hiding on the other side of the tank 😂

[jesseatam]

Mind if I ask how big the tank is?

[Reaperxvii]

It's a 57 gallon tank. It's the deep blue edge (36x18x20)

[Clown79]

On 7/23/2018 at 9:32 PM, 1891Bro said:

I had a problem sixline a long time ago. I finally caught it. I tried all the tricks. I had to remove all the rock and drain the water to about an inch above the sand to actually get it. It’s a pain. But it’s easier than trying to kill moby dick. 

Had to do that with a damsel. Super fun.