What do you do with bullying fish?

[NedFlounders]

My Kole Tang, who is the newest member of the tank (and also has Lymphocystis) has begun bullying my starry blenny. Anytime she spots the blenny, she charges him until he hides in the rocks. I can't have this as the blenny is our favorite fish. I don't mind getting rid of the tang, just not sure where to take her.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[heathlindner25]

sometimes adding another fish might help

 

[Ron Reefman]

I move them either to my FOWLR tank or to the 125g sump. I have a blue damsel that has been in the sump for a year and is doing just fine. It gained a friend recently, my cinnamon clown lost her mate and turned very aggressive toward her tank mate (all docile) so she in now in the sump as well.

 

[Shawn O]

Is the Lymphocystis communicable? If you can't cure the Lymphocystis in a QT tank, I'd consider euthanization rather than letting it suffer. I hope all comes out well for you and your fish.

 

[NedFlounders]

From what I've read, Shawn O, it's not communicable to the other fish in my tank. In fact, it'll most likely go away on its own. I'm more concerned about the bullying :\

 

[snorvich]

Is the Lymphocystis communicable? If you can't cure the Lymphocystis in a QT tank, I'd consider euthanization rather than letting it suffer. I hope all comes out well for you and your fish.

Lymphocystis is not contagious and inflicts no discomfort. It will cure itself with good nutrition and water conditions.

 

[Marchillo]

Ironic enough I had a tang bullying my starry Blenny in a tank far too small (before I knew better). Now that I have an 80 gallon I could marginally do a Kole Tang. I did a search on Kole Tangs and Starry Blennies and the results aren't good. I don't think it will get better. They both eat Algae and look similar. Id remove the tang. We love our Starry Blenny too!

Good luck.

 

[Shawn O]

Lymphocystis is not contagious and inflicts no discomfort. It will cure itself with good nutrition and water conditions.

Doh! Lymphocyctis sounds like some sort of lymph node cancer or something. I guess euthanasia is a little overkill then.

From what I've read, Shawn O, it's not communicable to the other fish in my tank. In fact, it'll most likely go away on its own. I'm more concerned about the bullying :\

Steve, do you think rearranging some of the rocks would help with the bullying? I'm curious, could it be that the Tang sees the Blenny as competition for grazing territory?

Ned, how much algae do you have in your tank? It couldn't hurt to increase the amount of Nori you hang (if any) for them to graze on, could it?

 

[NedFlounders]

Oh there is plenty of algae and i give them plenty of nori as well. It's almost ridiculous how they gorge themselves at times :|

 

[Marchillo]

I don't think the food supply will matter. I think The tank size, color similarity, and threat of food competition will trump all.

In my situation the blenny hid and when Id feed frozen the tang made it his job to make sure the blenny didn't get any. All other fish were left alone. If I didn't remove the blenny it would have been killed.

My blenny is skidish anyways and I don't want to add additional stress. When I chose tank mates I consider compatibility with him first.

You can try rearranging things but I don't think it will matter.

 

[Sk8r]

Competitors for the same food source.

 

[Sk8r]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/blog.php?b=804

 

[gone fishin]

I had a kole and once he/she got mature did not tolerate the lawnmower blenny. Sadly I was unable to catch the blenny to relocate it. They occupy the same niche I doubt their is much you can do other than relocate one. good luck just my 2 cents worth.

 

[ah_notty]

I used to have a starry blenny that harrassed my kole tang. You could see bite marks on his side. Kinda funny that its the opposite problem for you guys.

 

[NedFlounders]

Typically I've been using this chart to determine what fish are compatible:

http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/compatibility_chart.cfm

I guess more research is in order for the next fish.

The good news is that my LFS said they'd gladly take the Kole Tang :thumbsup:

 

[Sk8r]

Good decision.

 

[Marchillo]

Typically I've been using this chart to determine what fish are compatible:

http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/compatibility_chart.cfm

I guess more research is in order for the next fish.

The good news is that my LFS said they'd gladly take the Kole Tang :thumbsup:

+1

I think the liveaquaria compatability chart is pretty good. I also ask Steve on his thread at the top of this forum. But now I google search and you find tons of different experiences people have. Obviously every situation is different but I found so many cases of Kole's/Starry's not getting along I crossed it off my list.

 

[MondoBongo]

I had a kole and once he/she got mature did not tolerate the lawnmower blenny. Sadly I was unable to catch the blenny to relocate it. They occupy the same niche I doubt their is much you can do other than relocate one. good luck just my 2 cents worth.

this has been my experience as well. my kole tang mercilessly tormented my blenny, any time he saw him out.

 

[snorvich]

Competitors for the same food source.

this. In very large tanks, members of the same ecological niche can coexist. As tank size decreases, the odds of success also decrease.

 

[Irishman360]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/blog.php?b=804

+1

I actually found this yesterday browsing some of his post that I thought I could save in a word document for later when I needed it.