MAJOR problem

salty tank

salty tank

Member
I just added a bicolor dottyback to my 65 gallon tank. I have yellow tang, blue damsel, and 2 saddle back clowns in the tank. The blue damsel and female clown are attackin the dottyback and ripped its tail fin a little. So i took the dottyback out and put him in my QT. Now what do i do? Should i put the female clown and the damsel in the QT and put the bicolor dotty back in the tank? The tang and male clown seem to get along with the dottyback.
Please help!
 
wax32

wax32

Active Member
They scuffle for a few days. Then the dottyback becomes the bad boy of the tank and starts ripping everyone else's fins. That's what happened with my purple dottyback anyway.
 
wax32

wax32

Active Member
"ripped it's tail fin a little"... doesn't sound close to death.
I'd not try to keep a dottyback with those fish, just too mean. (The dottyback that is.)
 
salty tank

salty tank

Member
the dottyback looks scared sh**less. the blue damsel is the only one that is now attacking him. i set a trap, if i catch the damsel im puttin him in my refugium or flushin his

[hr]
. The dottyback is hovering above the sand in the corner. I dont know what to do! The damsel is to quick to net.
 
wax32

wax32

Active Member
Leave them alone, soon the dottyback will be pounding the damsel. Eventually they will settle it one way or the other.
 
salty tank

salty tank

Member
I took the dottyback out again. He would have died very soon. The damsel and the clown kept biting him. The clown even grabbed his tail with his mouth and spun him around once and ripped the dottybacks tail. I put him in my refugium which is only like 5 gallons but it has sand, a few lbs of live rock and macro algea. The dottyback is really small so i think keeping him in there for a while will be ok.
 
marsciguy

marsciguy

New Member
Yea, This Exact Thing Happened To Me Like A Year Back.
Only It Was A 3 Stripe Damsel Tearing The Dottyback Up, I Just Moved It To A Nano Tank That Was Only LR. In The Past Ive Had Dottyback's Do Fine With Damsels. But I Would Imagine This Could Happen Due To Both Of The Species Being An Agressive Space Hog.
I Will Say That If The Fish Is Being Dragged Around By Its Tail, Its not Gonna Work!
 
birdy

birdy

Active Member
A few things to do when introducing a new fish into a tank with possible aggresive tankmates.
1. Re-arrange the rock work
2. Feed the tank as soon as you put the new addition in to distract the old fish.
3. shut lights off.
4. If you have a specimen container that water flows through, you can put the new addition in there with a few hiding spaces, leave it in there for a week or so, that gives the other fish time to get used to it before it invades their space.
 
salty tank

salty tank

Member
thanks for the adice. I did feed all the fish well before putting the dottyback in the tank. Ill have to try the rock idea ( i think i have read that one before) and ill try the lights
 
J

jdragunas

Guest
yes, i was just about to suggest rearranging the rock work. That way, your existing fish will lose their "territory", and therefore won't be territorial.
 
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