Lyretail anthias

[Tkieu78]

A month ago I got 4 female lyretails. For the first week they all played nice. Then three of them formed their own group and push one out. Well it was being bullied for a couple days and I thought they would work it out. Turns out it was bullied to death. It died a couple days later. Now I'm left with three females and now two of them decided to start bullying the third! Should I separate or are they just working out a peking order and one of them is becoming the dominate female - turning male? I'm open to buying more If that helps spread out the focus. 60inch 110 gal tank with 100lbs rock 50 gal sump and skimmer with refuge. Yellow and hippo tang could careless for the anthias. Other then that I keep a low bio load mixed reef. Any thoughts? Currently I'm only feeding once a day. I could up the feeds to clam them down? Any input would be appreciated

Thanks in advance
TK

 

[TangingOut]

I think one feeding per day may be triggering a sense to kill off competition for food. I would try and do mutilpe smaller feedings throughout the day.

 

[Tkieu78]

Thanks for the input. I'll bump up the feedings to twice a day and see how that goes. Usually how long does it take for them to figure out a pecking order and also should I buy a male or let one of the females turn?

 

[mark54321]

How's your flow? Anthias love high flow,they will expand more energy just swimming in place in high flow then fighting with each other. Up your flow and feedings and see if their behavior change.

 

[supra400hptt]

Sounds like Chromis. These fish live in schools of hundreds in the wild occupying the size of a small living room sometimes, usually over branching hard coral for immediate escape from danger. Removing a few from a school and squeezing them down into a tank that is no where near the size of their natural environment should be no surprise aggression results and they kill each other off for survival. In the wild they have a constant supply of food and eat all day as plankton floats by. Would be like sticking four people in a jail cell and only offering a meal once in a while. One of the most well known names in this hobby feeds his 6 times a day. If sufficiently fed, maybe the aggression will subside enough for them to stop killing one another. In a tank I don't think it's as much as establishing a pecking order as it is a survival mode reaction. Not sure if a male would help or not.