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Wrasse and fire fish aggression


Xj reefing

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My male labout’s fairy wrasse for the last couple of days has been sort of bullying my purple fire fish. Tonight the fire fish was out in the tank but the wrasse was bullying it and chasing it around. The wrasse would swim towards the fire fish and suddenly stop. The fire fish did not eat tonight and last night he got kicked out of his cave by the wrasse. He waited there until the morning. How can I resolve this issue?

the tank is a 20 gallon cube with mostly lps coral in it

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Murphs_Reef

Yeah I have a dusky wrasse and a  firefish. The firefish has his own territory and never really leaves it. It sounds like the 20gallon isn't big enough for the 2 to have their own space.

 

Your wrasse should be in a bigger tank if I'm honest. 

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By rehoming the wrasse. Of all the wrasses that can probably get by in a 20g, a Labout's Fairy definitely isn't one of them. I'm assuming it's a juvenile and was tiny when you bought it? They'll get 6" long, are strong swimmers, and need much more room than an 18" cube.

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NoOneLikesADryTang
3 hours ago, jservedio said:

By rehoming the wrasse.

This. 100% this, unfortunately. 

 

We've got a Labout's in our 80 gallon tank, and he's a bully to new fish for a couple days. He's easily my favorite fish - he has an amazing personality, so we've learned to adapt if we want/get a new fish. We now use acclimation boxes for any new fish, so they can safely work out their pecking order. A 20 cube isn't nearly enough swim room for a Labout's, who only get grumpier with age.  

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2 hours ago, NoOneLikesADryTang said:

This. 100% this, unfortunately. 

 

We've got a Labout's in our 80 gallon tank, and he's a bully to new fish for a couple days. He's easily my favorite fish - he has an amazing personality, so we've learned to adapt if we want/get a new fish. We now use acclimation boxes for any new fish, so they can safely work out their pecking order. A 20 cube isn't nearly enough swim room for a Labout's, who only get grumpier with age.  

If I am remembering correctly, Labout's is one of the faster maturing of the flasher and fairy wrasses and can go from juvenile > female >male in like 8-12 months or something stupidly fast without even having another wrasse in the tank. And with their new found color comes new found aggression.

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NoOneLikesADryTang

Ours went from female to male quickly (just a few months after adding it to the tank). It is definitely the boss of the tank, and can be a total dick to new arrivals. 

 

He's currently in the tank with a bunch of wrasses (Pink Streak, Possum, large adult male yellow coris, a juvenile yellow coris, and a pencil wrasse), and fine with them. However, even with an acclimation box, there was still a little chasing for the first day or two with the Coris' and Pencil... He also chased around a midas blenny for a couple days and a leopard wrasse that developed a swim bladder issue (unrelated to the chasing) and passed. I love the Labout's, but if I were to do it again, he'd probably be the last wrasse in the tank. I definitely wouldn't put him in one of our smaller tanks. 

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DISQUALIFIED-QQ

If I'm not mistaken a Laboute's would need about 90+ gallons of swim space. A lot of wrasses may look small but they're quite active and can...be temperamental. I think the only nano friendly wrasse would be a six-line.

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NoOneLikesADryTang
38 minutes ago, Diamonds x Pearls said:

If I'm not mistaken a Laboute's would need about 90+ gallons of swim space. A lot of wrasses may look small but they're quite active and can...be temperamental. I think the only nano friendly wrasse would be a six-line.

Definitely not, in a community tank. Six Line's will be one of the most aggressive wrasses, once they hit maturity. They are however, a great frag tank wrasse, because they stay smallish and will help protect the tank from pests. They also don't need sand to sleep in, like a lot of wrasses.  

 

A couple great nano tank wrasses are possum, and pink streak. Both stay small, and are very passive. 

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I will probably upgrade the tank by the end of the year. I should have my 3 foot goldfish tank available by then so could I put him in there? It is about 40 gallons but I think the extra swimming room would be good. Tue wrasse is about 3-4 inches now

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2 hours ago, Xj reefing said:

I will probably upgrade the tank by the end of the year. I should have my 3 foot goldfish tank available by then so could I put him in there? It is about 40 gallons but I think the extra swimming room would be good. Tue wrasse is about 3-4 inches now

By the end of the year, your fire fish will have been bullied to death by the wrasse. 40 is still not enough long term for that wrasse. 

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A year is a long time. I would just upgrade the tank now. Preferably to a 75g minimum. 
 

This will likely not resolve itself with some days being better than others and opens up potential issue with disease due to stress. 

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