My fish mistake

saltyair

saltyair

New member
Being in this hobby for 5+ years I have made my fair amount of mistakes - but have learned from each one.

I can't believe I'm in this much of a jam at this point.

Long story short - I had a royal gamma for about 4 years when it died ( natural causes)

I did some looking around and my wife saw this small cute orchid dottyback (under a 1/2 inch) I read my trusty fish books and seemed like a great addition to my mixed reef.

Fast forward 6 months - this fish is a true terror - chases my yellow and long fin wrasses all day also harasses my naso tang - this creature has taken over the tank (180 gal)

I have tried the bottle trick - even tried to catch it @ night in one of its hiding places.

Any suggestions would be helpful. this fish is only a inch long and it is unbelievably a holy terror.
 
Your LFS should have a trap that they will rent or borrow. A trap will work but give it a few days.

Good luck an orchid was one of my first fish....and one of the first to go back.
 
I had the same problem with a coral beauty. I put it in on a Friday night and left the door open on it. Let it sit like that till Sunday. Then I added food (actually took a hunk of frozen mysis) to the back of the trap. Kind of had a power head that was aimed toward the front of it, so it pushed the food and fish back into it. I didn't catch him till Tuesday night using this method. So I feed the tank Sunday and Monday this way. I had everything in the trap including my eel and sea serpent starfish.

Good luck, I'm sure you'll catch him. I'd just leave the trap in longer. Beats tearing apart a tank.
 
saltyair said:
I did try that first - the problem is the little bugger won't go near it - all the other fish seem to have no problem - but the orchid only snatches food in the water column.
Click to expand...

Just be patient, and give it some more time.
 
Dottybacks are horrors! Leave the fish trap in the tank for a few days like RDtrack said. It would be one of the best options. Another option you may have, is if you and a friend stand with nets on each side of the tank and then you feed them, when he comes out you snatch him. This plan isnt fool proof and only works about 10% of the time it is attempted.

Goodluck though, hope you catch him without having to shuffle your tank around.
 
ingtar_shinowa said:
bet it was a mislabeled purple dottyback. I've kept them for 13 years and never had an issue.
Click to expand...

I've never heard of a peaceful dottyback. I know first hand the purples are horrible. Pretty little fish. But it was a jerk and took a nap in my power head when I was feeding my lps. It didnt live long after that event.
 
ingtar_shinowa said:
bet it was a mislabeled purple dottyback. I've kept them for 13 years and never had an issue.
Click to expand...

I havent posted in a while but feel the need to respond here. I fully agree with the above post as I have kept several Orchids (P. fridmani) over my time in the hobby and never had one that came close to being aggressive.
I wont go so far to say you dont have one that is aggressive but I will say this is not normal behaviour for the Orchid. Any way you could post a pick and eliminate the possibility that is the far more aggressive Purple Dottyback?
 
I have a 1.5" orchid dottyback in a 10 gallon QT with two sub 1" clownfish. No aggression at all. I've never had issues with them save when introducing a possible mate. Usually that aggression subsides in a day. I won't say that you don't have the unusual case with an aggressive orchid, but I think this could be a purple dottyback (which is far more aggressive).
 
Here is photo of my orchid
orchid1s.jpg

A sea K said:
I havent posted in a while but feel the need to respond here. I fully agree with the above post as I have kept several Orchids (P. fridmani) over my time in the hobby and never had one that came close to being aggressive.
I wont go so far to say you dont have one that is aggressive but I will say this is not normal behaviour for the Orchid. Any way you could post a pick and eliminate the possibility that is the far more aggressive Purple Dottyback?
Click to expand...
 
Deinonych said:
That's definitely an orchid (P. fridmani).
Click to expand...

Agree.
Sorry you got such a devil of a fish. Certainly not my experience with them nor any I personally know who have kept them.
Wish you best of luck in your capture efforts, all I can add for advice is patience and try feeding all your fish from the trap, the Dottyback will eventually become comfortable/hungry enough and soon you will have him.
 
Same here, thats a dotty for sure. The only issue ive had since Dec 2000 was an orchid eating a rainsfordi goby. You got a bad egg for sure, but like we've said this is super strange!
 
Yea I think I will only feed from the trap - miss a day of feeding and see if it helps.

I do my research and no indication that this fish would be the devil. Its actually sick to watch this creature smash at the other fish - the two wrasses are in hiding all day my two fire fish are jumping out of the water (hitting the screen) the Naso fights back - one stressed out tank right now.

Thanks for the advise I will keep you updated.

A sea K said:
Agree.
Sorry you got such a devil of a fish. Certainly not my experience with them nor any I personally know who have kept them.
Wish you best of luck in your capture efforts, all I can add for advice is patience and try feeding all your fish from the trap, the Dottyback will eventually become comfortable/hungry enough and soon you will have him.
Click to expand...
 
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