Help with aggressive Lyretail

[OnyxPerc]

Hey R2R! I'll get right to it...

I recently added a single female Lyretail to my 90G and she is chasing my red firefish and exquisite firefish away from the rocks that used to be their home pretty much all day every day. I have never seen her actually nip at them, but she will chase them off. I also have a clownfish pair and a watchman goby, she doesnt bother any of them at all.

It's a beautiful fish and I would like to keep it but I'm concerned that the aggression might escalate further. Does anyone have any advice for getting her to be less aggressive?

I considered adding another Lyretail so that maybe the aggression will be directed towards eachother instead but this is honestly my first attempt at keeping any Anthias species so I'm not sure if that would work.

The Lyretail has been in the tank for less than 2 weeks, the other 5 fish have been in there a few months, and I feed them 4-5 times per day.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey R2R! I'll get right to it...

I recently added a single female Lyretail to my 90G and she is chasing my red firefish and exquisite firefish away from the rocks that used to be their home pretty much all day every day. I have never seen her actually nip at them, but she will chase them off. I also have a clownfish pair and a watchman goby, she doesnt bother any of them at all.

It's a beautiful fish and I would like to keep it but I'm concerned that the aggression might escalate further. Does anyone have any advice for getting her to be less aggressive?

I considered adding another Lyretail so that maybe the aggression will be directed towards eachother instead but this is honestly my first attempt at keeping any Anthias species so I'm not sure if that would work.

The Lyretail has been in the tank for less than 2 weeks, the other 5 fish have been in there a few months, and I feed them 4-5 times per day.

You may have to isolate her in acclimation box or similar as it’s the male usually aggressive but female can also change sexes

 

[Jesterrace]

Lyretail Anthias tend to be pretty energetic and you want to keep them in odd numbered groups for best results (and add all females and one will eventually transition to male). If you get more of them they will generally keep their energy confined to each other and less focused on their tank mates. It could just be though that they aren't a good fit for your current stocking.

 

[OnyxPerc]

Thank you both so much for the comments! Yesterday I saw the Lyretail finally nip at one of my firefish. I'm going to try and catch her + isolate her today while I find her a new home. I dont want to risk adding more Anthias that might wind up acting aggressively towards my other fish as well.

Its really too bad, it is a beautiful fish and so active...I really enjoyed watching it when it wasnt fighting my other peaceful inhabitants