Why is my Wrassle so aggressive?

Force4000

Force4000

Member
Ive had a 6 line Wrassle now for about 3 years and its just crazy how aggressive this thing is. I had a peppermint for about a year when I first got it and it was all calm and controlled, never made an attempt to hurt it. Well it died then I purchased a few more (A tad smaller) and it just massacred them within 10 mins of being in the tank. My wrassle attacked my turbo snail and killed it within a week about 6 months ago. Well yesterday I purchased a neon goby and it just chased it and ended up killing it within an hour. Is this normal for them to do this? Its been paired with a Clown fish for the 3 years ive had him and they swim very peacefully but doesnt like anything else :sad1: It hasnt attacked my hermits yet but I have seen it nip at my emerald I had a while back. I also find it funny the clown fish will attack things the wrassle does, but seems to only do it as if its following the lead of the wrassle? *** mates
 
Wrasse. Pronounced ras.

And yes, quite normal for an established sixline to be very aggressive to new additions, especially in a small tank. It only tolerates the clown, as the clown can (and will) fight back.
 
evolved said:
Wrasse. Pronounced ras.

And yes, quite normal for an established sixline to be very aggressive to new additions, especially in a small tank. It only tolerates the clown, as the clown can (and will) fight back.
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Ok thanks for the response, my local LFS told me they were very friendly and wouldnt harm anything when I initally bought him, didnt no much about wrassles at the time, should have done some more research :facepalm:
 
Unfortunately it can be hit and miss when it comes to LFS advice. Sometimes they just want to sell you a fish but, more often than not, it is a lack of real experience. This forum is full of those that have been thru the grinder and have plenty to offer. Best advice I can give is to be very patient in this hobby and always do you homework before making a purchase. This will also give you some knowledge to bounce off the LFS employees and give you an idea of who can help and who just simply bag fish.

For full disclosure, my first job was working in a LFS back in my late teens (I'm 34 now) and gave plenty of honest, yet wrong, advice. Case in point is the 6-line. I told people that is was peaceful and had no reason not to. It was perfectly fine with other small fishes in the store but was never there long enough to become established to show its true behavior. And that's what I mean by "real" experience because I had, what seemed to me, good reason to give the advice that I did. I worked there on and off for about ten years and towards the end, as I gained real experience, I realized that I was a terrible sales person for the store because I rarely came across aquarist that had the proper setup (size of the aquarium, tank mates, filtration and flow, etc.) for the fish.
 
ilikefish34 said:
Unfortunately it can be hit and miss when it comes to LFS advice. Sometimes they just want to sell you a fish but, more often than not, it is a lack of real experience. This forum is full of those that have been thru the grinder and have plenty to offer. Best advice I can give is to be very patient in this hobby and always do you homework before making a purchase. This will also give you some knowledge to bounce off the LFS employees and give you an idea of who can help and who just simply bag fish.

For full disclosure, my first job was working in a LFS back in my late teens (I'm 34 now) and gave plenty of honest, yet wrong, advice. Case in point is the 6-line. I told people that is was peaceful and had no reason not to. It was perfectly fine with other small fishes in the store but was never there long enough to become established to show its true behavior. And that's what I mean by "real" experience because I had, what seemed to me, good reason to give the advice that I did. I worked there on and off for about ten years and towards the end, as I gained real experience, I realized that I was a terrible sales person for the store because I rarely came across aquarist that had the proper setup (size of the aquarium, tank mates, filtration and flow, etc.) for the fish.
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Whoa thanks for the insight! Id assume working at a LFS even if your a genius with Reef tanks and what not you cant always be 100% correct when telling people what to go with.
 
talking about 6 line attacking snails, i recently had the death of about 4 - 5 turbo snail in my 48x24x14 and i had a fairly small (1.5") 6 line.. most of the snails are larger then the wrasse itself.. i never see this fella chasing any fishes nor did i see him attacking the snails.. what are the chances he did it?
 
evolutionZ said:
talking about 6 line attacking snails, i recently had the death of about 4 - 5 turbo snail in my 48x24x14 and i had a fairly small (1.5") 6 line.. most of the snails are larger then the wrasse itself.. i never see this fella chasing any fishes nor did i see him attacking the snails.. what are the chances he did it?
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Well it could have been, My six line kept nipping at a turbo about 2x his size, after about a week of consistant attacks the turbo ended up dieing. I couldnt see a baby wrassle taking down 4-5 though without you noticing. I have heard though that Turbo snails in general do not live long (Average of about 6-8 months) I could be wrong on this info but just if you were wondering.
 
Sis lines are very aggressive once established and should only be added as the last fish to a system. They will and do attack and kill anything they view as potential threat and / or food. Unfortunately many they are very common and pretty cheap and look pretty. This makes them common in the trade and LFS sell a lot of them to novices. Much like Damsels they are often the bane of the aquarist who unknowingly adds them to their tank.

P.S. Also like damsels, they are very hard to catch once established and frequently requires a partial teardown of the reef to remove them.
 
Well good news, I found my Neon goby chilling behind the hanger for my pump! Seems to be in good shape to! I thought the poor guy was a goner. So it appears my wrassle was just chasing him then? I am still sceptical it was attacking but maby once it realized it was to big to be food or eaten it gave up? Idk but hes been hiding this whole time since I found him and my wrassle still seems to be poking around in corners looking for him :/

 
I have read this thread a few times and now it's going overboard. It's spelled WRASSE NOT WRASSLE. Holy crap enough is enough.
 
Wrassle me timbers. Let me guess, you put the goby back in with the wrassle. Oh he's being bullied again by wrassle? noooo
 
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