How to deal with tank bully?

richl

richl

Member
I have 3 small (2 1/2") BlackLip (Kleini) Butteflies that I bought from SWF one week ago. They are in a 20 gal fully cycled QT with several fake rocks. Everything I had read indicated that they were peacful and that you could keep more that one if introduced simultaneously. However, one of them seems to be fairly aggressive towards the others and one in particular. I don't see any evidence of nipping, but the one chases the others very fast. For the past 2 days, one of them seems to be trying to hide behind a powerhead. Sometimes he stays there motionless for quite a while. All 3 seem to aggressively compete for food when I feed them, but the chasing and hiding concern me. I normally QT about 5 weeks which includes 3 weeks hypo. Should I move one of them to another tank or should wait to see how this plays out? I have a 10 gal tank that I could set-up as another QT fairly quickly. Any suggestions for handling this situation? Thanks
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member

Add some more hiding places...it is a cramped area, and it is natural for fish to fight for king of the tank. As long as you don't see injury they are fine. Once in te DT the will have better hiding places and more room, and other fish to occupy their time.
 
richl

richl

Member
the most stressed fish would not approach the other fish when feeding this morning. I think he may have only eaten a little that fell to the bottom. I added another decoration, so maybe that will help. I might re-arrange the rocks a bit to confuse everyone a little so they don't think about fighting. Sound ok? Any other suggestions?
 
pete159

pete159

Member
they need to be put in the main tank, 20g is tiny and they are to close to each other to get along.
 
pete159

pete159

Member
this is what it says about them
* One of the best choices for a first Butterfly fish
* May be aggressive towards other Butterfly fish
* Can be in certain reef tanks, but will eat soft corals
they need a much bigger tank clearly.
 
richl

richl

Member
I was concerned about the one fish who was not eating, so I decided the best option was to set-up extra 10 gal QT and moved to the new QT tank where no one will both him. My 20 gal QT had 2 Whisper filters on it, so I moved the smaller of the 2. Used combination of water from QT and DT, so hopefull it will remain cycled. I'll have to maintain 2 QT's but they are small. Hopefully, all will survive and they won't fight when I move them in 1 month to the 125 gal DT which has plenty of rock for hiding.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by RichL
http:///forum/post/3139719
I was concerned about the one fish who was not eating, so I decided the best option was to set-up extra 10 gal QT and moved to the new QT tank where no one will both him. My 20 gal QT had 2 Whisper filters on it, so I moved the smaller of the 2. Used combination of water from QT and DT, so hopefull it will remain cycled. I'll have to maintain 2 QT's but they are small. Hopefully, all will survive and they won't fight when I move them in 1 month to the 125 gal DT which has plenty of rock for hiding.
That was a very wise decision! I am glad that you did not decide to just move them into the DT because they were fighting a bit. Keep some saltwater mixed for changes if need be.
 
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