New fish killed other tank mates!

N

newbienz

Guest
I purchased a Royal Dottyback from a fish store. The sales person said that they were reef safe and non-aggressive. I put it in my tank, the next day I look in my tank and he killed: 1 maroon clown, 2 crabs, 1 hammer coral, harrassed a feather duster out of his tube. It seems extremely territorial and will kill anything that gets in proximity of his domain.
He was picking on my bleeny when I woke up and noticed my livestock dead or dying in his territory. I took him out immediately and placed him in another tank.
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[*]I had to watch my maroon clown die from the holes in his body that the RD gave him.
[*]Both my crabs had all there legs and claws ripped off.
The hammer was partially removed from its skeleton and is dying or dead.
The feather duster has several chunks of his body taken off and is out of his tube.
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The inhabitants on the opposite side of his territory are fine.
It is doing fine in my other tank with LR and a frogspawn.
Is this thing really reef safe and non-aggressive? or did I just get one pissed off Royal Dottyback?
Any help would be appreciated.
(Geez a $11 fish killed off over a $100 of inhabitants)
 
saltynewbie

saltynewbie

Member
everybody that i know who has had a dottyback has told me that, ounce for ounce, it is one of the most agressive fish around. sorry to hear about your losses.
 
j-cal

j-cal

Member
You sure it got the hammer? They are usually nippy a fish, btu ive never seen em go after inverts of anykind at my shop. They even get laong fine with our shrimps here. You sure that the ammonia from clown die off didnt kill the others?
 
N

newbienz

Guest
You sure that the ammonia from clown die off didnt kill the others?
Yup. I tested my water afterwards and the results were as follows:
Ammonia : 0
pH : 8.3
Salinty : 1.023
Nitrate : 0
Nitrite : 0
You sure it got the hammer?
I'm pretty sure since it has been fine for months since I got it and it ended up the way it looks now after I added the DottyBack (I'll do some more investigating and water testing to be exactly sure) [Will keep everyone up to date]. The only damages were in the area where the dottyback had claimed its territory. The corals, a baby crab, and a blenny that were on the opposite side are fine and undamaged. I might have gotten a really really aggressive dottyback.
I went back to the fish store and told them what had happened and the story [same salesperson] of the non-aggressive fish had changed to, it is a very aggressive fish and they were willing to trade it back in for half the price I paid (which I gladly traded for store credit).
 
N

newbienz

Guest
Lol!
Not all fish store people are ignorant. There are stores out there with people who work there that are very knowledgable.
Its others that don't seem to care and want to make a quick buck that I have been running into lately. The ones that I learn alot from are just to far of a drive.
But I would have to agree with you about that with this particular fish store in SoCal.
 
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