6 line wrasse problems?

[underwaterdan]

So I noticed one of my clowns missing yesterday and another floating in stress in my tank. I took the one in stress out of the tank and put him in the quarantine. He seemed fine by the end of the night but when I put him back in the tank the 6 line came over and attacked him. I am thinking maybe the 6 line who I thought was being a great member of the tank might have done this to both clowns. Before I remove him from the tank can anyone think of a reason to keep him?

 

[Naiad]

Umm you want an agressive tank? Once these guys set their sites on a fish they will not stop until that fish is dead. I tried the whole move the rocks, take the wrasse out for a while, take the other fish out for a while... nope.

 

[underwaterdan]

I don't want an aggressive tank. LFS said it was a good addition to the tank, and apparently it isn't. Will he pick on other fish or just on that one clown?

 

[melypr1985]

6 lines have a well deserved bad rep. They can be little jerks. There are only two reasons to have one. You think they are pretty and dont mind them being jerks, or you have a flatworm problem and yours is eating them.

 

[underwaterdan]

so tonight I need to cut the top of a water bottle off and make a trap.

 

[Naiad]

Yes I would remove. They will go after any fish for their owm reasons . Mine decided to attack my mandarin one day.

 

[saltyphish]

A lot of lfs will recommend them as a good addition and sometimes, not often, it is true. I added mine as the last fish. The first 6 mths it was a model citizen. After that, we'll let's just say I lost my midas blenny and my clown goby to it. Now it lives with my 2 clown fish and nothing else.

 

[Naiad]

Yes as youngsters they are not bad. Adult males are the worst IME

 

[underwaterdan]

Well I spent about an hour trying to get him out late last night with a net, he just simply hid in my pukani rock until I walked away. Tonight or tomorrow I will try the bottle trick.

 

[human]

Good luck trapping it, if you have a small mirror to put at the bottom of the bottle it may help entice it in quicker. It took me almost a week to trap one out of a 75.

 

[ReefConcept]

They're awesome when adolescent, then transform into a horror when fully mature.

 

[eatbreakfast]

A truly horrible fish. They lure you in with their pretty colors, big personality, and the fact they eat coral pests, then a few months down the road turn into the biggest jerk possible.

 

[Naiad]

A truly horrible fish. They lure you in with their pretty colors, big personality, and the fact they eat coral pests, then a few months down the road turn into the biggest jerk possible.

They just want to be your one and only... shouldn't all that be enough for you? Why you gotta go and get other fish?

 

[underwaterdan]

Just an update. Still haven't caught him. Trying but no luck!

 

[underwaterdan]

Ok. Bringing the thread back with an update. After many days of trying a homemade trap, Santa brought me an acrylic fish trap from Amazon. Within 30 minutes of being in the tank I had caught the 6 line. He's was sent to the lfs and replaced with a new clown and a powder blue tang.
Thanks for your help. Hopefully someone who is having the same problem will find this helpful.