Yellow Wrasse hiding from Dotty?

[phoneman]

I have had this yellow wrasse for a couple of years..he has always seemed to be the alpha around his take mates (Cardinal, Flame Angel, Yellow Tailed Damsel) But never "aggressive" ..He would do the typical sand burrow in the evening and reappear in the AM...I recently rescued a Dotty back...small, about an inch...introduced him, and everything seemed fine. A few months ago I noticed that the wrasse was staying out of sight for extended periods, but would show up daily, eventually. Well, a few weeks ago he never came out again..not even at night...after a few weeks a assumed he had perished, and was consumed by the "crew"...today I seen some flashing around in the tank and there he was...but he was being aggressively pursued by the dotty back..who is half his size...I tried to chase her away...but she was determined to chase the wrasse..I put some food in..the wrasse ate ...then disappeared again. While it was out, I looked it over...seemed healthy..nice color..no injuries....I am assuming its not spending all this time burrowed...so it must be hiding in the rock work somewhere.....any suggestions....I'm thinking trap the dotty....good luck with that ! LOL ... what could have caused this sudden conflict.

 

[38bill]

Remove the Dotty Back. Pound for pound they are as aggressive as they come.

 

[SecretiveFish]

Best guess as to what is causing the current conflict is twofold: the dottyback is feeling better and is maturing. Dottybacks are just aggressive, and I do not think the situation will resolve without you deciding if you would rather keep the wrasse or the dottyback. FWIW, we have had to disassemble our entire 150 gallon tank as in remove all the corals/rocks and alot of water to get out problematic fish. It was really lame to put it mildly. We are a lot more careful with stocking choices now and are not willing to take chances.

We had a dusky dottyback that was beating the snot out of a black blenny in a 40 gallon. I prefer fish that generally get along so the dottyback went back to the LFS.

 

[phoneman]

Thank you folks ! I am in agreement..bye bye dotty... I will look into the DYI traps that I have seen...I DO NOT want to start removing rock...dang...but I agree, dotty was in ill health and now it is larger and VERY healthy....the thanks I get for saving her life...
that little be-autch ! LOL Thanx again.

 

[snorvich]

Remove the Dotty Back. Pound for pound they are as aggressive as they come.

Yes, indeed. Aggressive for sure, some are tyrants of the tank (TOTT)

:fun2:

 

[lilalove]

Years ago when I first got into this hobby, one of my first fish was a Splendid Dottyback. Never again.

 

[Damsels01]

lol just wondering what do you mean by "rescued" the dottyback lol :crazy1: