Lyretail Anthias vs Midas Blenny?

[Gogandantess]

I recently bought 2 lyretail anthias(still female). My Midas Blenny's upper half turned super dark when he first saw the anthias. No attacks or whatsoever, he just swam close to them like he was showing off. Now a week later I notice the blenny was being chased into his hole from the bigger anthias. Today at feeding time, they even had a tussle, jaws snapping back and forth but eventually the blenny ran back into his hole. Do you think this will stop? I think this behavior may have something to do with the shape of their tail fins which are very similar. What are your thoughts?:hmm4:

 

[coondog]

I had exact same thing happen. The large female anthias finally caused my Midas blenny to jump out of tank. I went and bought a large midas blenny that is larger than my biggest lyretail anthias and the blenny let him know who is boss quickly. My anthias tries to square off with my male flame wrasse on occasion as well and the flame wrasse fires the anthias up as well. IMO lyretail anthias are pretty aggressive at least in my tank.

 

[Ambition]

Actually female lyretail anthias are mimicked by Midas Blennies in the wild. The blennies will associate and feed in shoals of lyretail anthias in the wild. Which these shoals are often made up of other species of fish as well. With more numbers, the less likely one individual will be the one eaten by a predator. The mimicking of the blenny is probably one of the reasons for the fighting. They are establishing a hierarchy within the tank.

 

[solitude127]

I have a trio of lyretail and midas blenny and all live in harmony. They all pretty much ingnore each other now.

 

[Gogandantess]

That's very cool to know Ambition. Thanks. Went and bought a Male Lyretail. We'll see how things go from now. Maybe the aggressive female will tone it down.