Mean Basslet

[greasemonkey]

I recently purchased a hippo tang the other day and put him in with my royal gramma and the gramma has been picking on him since day 1. The gramma is 3" while the hippo is less than an inch. I looked into basslets and have never seen anything saying they are agressive. He opens his mouth to my algae blenny to get him away from his nest in the rock. So today the tang didnt eat and now Im worried. What should I do.

[schoeplein]

Sounds like you should quarantine the tang in something so the gramma gets his aggression out on the barrier and not your fish.... that or you could move your LR around some -- that helps a lot in that everyone has to re-establish their "territory".

[greasemonkey]

The basslet has made a nest of calerpa in the end most rock. I will pull it all out and see how he reacts.

[CD]

that helps a lot in that everyone has to re-establish their "territory".


I'd agree with moving the rock around a bit in this case. Although the Royal Grammas are generally on the "lower" part of the scale as far as aggression, they are known to quite viciously defend their preferred hiding place or "nest". I've also had the "barrier" method work before too...had two clowns dukin' it out when they first met (fin nipping, etc.) .. .left one in the main display, and the other was placed in one of those "fry nets" that you can hang in the tank. By the next morning they were both so worn out from pecking at each other through the mesh all night, that there were no further altercations after re-releasing the new clown. Best thing about it, is that they weren't able to physically harm each other while they were ironing out their differences. :wacko

W.

[greasemonkey]

Ok. I have some bryopsis cleaning to do anyways. The basslet is currently rebuilding his nest. Little bassta@#!!!

[schoeplein]

Ok. I have some bryopsis cleaning to do anyways. The basslet is currently rebuilding his nest. Little bassta@#!!!

...I would actually say this was progress. :)

[greasemonkey]

Lets hope!!! The tang is NOT looking good.

[Thunderkat]

Those tangs can be sensitive too. If it survives the inital beating you might want to watch out for the opportunistic diseases that may try to hit a weakened tang.

[greasemonkey]

Well I just got back from the tax office and found the tang dead!!! Anyone know any basslet recipes? J/K

[schoeplein]

Toilet surprise? :D

..always remember that when adding fish, the one being added should always be bigger than what is currently in the tank if there is a chance of hostility. That or at least know how peaceful the fish are, and how they react to new fish in their territory. Royal Gramma's are mean suckers and are typically added last. I'd try to catch him, quarantine for two days, completely rearrange your rockwork and add him when adding any additional fish.

Hippo tang that's 1"?... man, like tossing a baby into a burning bush! ;) Hippo's razor at 1" had to be useless against something 3x its size. Try adding an older one maybe?

For what its worth, I hope this has been an unfortunate learning experience. :p

[greasemonkey]

I sure hate that. I really feel bad about him. :cry

[C.Mydas]

Don't feel too bad, many of us have been out-smarted by basslets, dottybacks/pseudos after being duped by their pretty colors. :angry We had a strawberry pseudo that was a "peaceful fish" according to the LFS that killed around 5 fish before we could catch him...what a emotional nightmare that was.

IMHO basslets/grammas and dotty's/pseudo's are more aggressive than people like to admit.

[greasemonkey]

IMHO basslets/grammas and dotty's/pseudo's are more aggressive than people like to admit.

And the research I did said it was peaceful too.