Is there any help for Squints, my firefish?

[RJ F.]

Hey yall. I'm new to reefing. Had my tank up for about 5 months now. All is well as far as coral go. It's weird to say that lol. Normally its coral that throw me for a loop.

I have a purple firefish named Squints. I've had him since the tank was cycled. Normally he is out and about and gets along with everyone. For the past 4 days I haven't seen him at all. Today I fed the tank and boom, there was squints. But what I saw next was very disappointing. I recently added a small yellow tang and it seemed everyone was doing fine. I watched the tank for about 30 mins and got a good visual of what was going on. Basically my 6 line wrasse and yellow tang are bullying Squints. Idk why this hadn't happened before. I had Squints before the 6 line and way before the tang. If I put food at his hole will he continue to live? Is this inhumane? I mean there is no way I can get any of those fish out without totally destroying my tank. Any help for squints?

 

[1Blazer]

How large is the tank?

 

[RJ F.]

40B. I know it's small for the tang but my plan is to have a bigger system by the time he outgrew the tank. I purposely got him little for that reason. I also have a 29g sump

 

[mattzang]

well sixlines are notorious for being mean and firefish are notorious for being timid..

i've never kept a yellow tang, but they're kinda notorious for being a little rude too. aggression is probably amplified by being a small tank even if the fish is small

 

[dansreef]

Unfortunately, 6 lines are little... #$&*^%$!!!! Yellow Tangs can be pretty bad as well. Not sure there is much you can do other than remove the offenders or the victim.

I have heard that if you put a mirror up against the glass of the tank... they may turn their aggression on their reflections. I haven't tried this... but it has been suggested by others.

Good Luck!

 

[RJ F.]

I did do some research on the 6 line before I got it and what I read was that normally they are aggressive towards fish that are put in after the 6 line. My guess is that the tang and 6 line buddyed up. I mean I have a royal gramma that swims with them with no issues. Everyone was good in the tank for weeks.

So will Squints live? Is he ok like that. I know firefish love their caves but idk about his quality of life

 

[1Blazer]

I know you are going to hate hearing this---- but in my opinion I would take the tang out--- its going to continue to show aggressive behavior. I am basing this off my own experience and I know you want to take care of Squints but he will struggle if he continues to get bullied. Sixlines are a great fish in their own right but are also known to be on the aggressive side as well. I personally have both fish and they are jerks--- but if you give them the right environment with plenty of room of their own--- thats when the aggression will ease up a bit. Truly not trying to hurt your feelings but that is what i would attribute poor squints recent struggle too.

Funny enough--- I have a picture of your Firefish is his hole looking at you while you acclimated that Tang (Sorry it was too easy)

 

[RJ F.]

No apologies necessary. That's where he got his name from!! Their eyes are so big compared to their bodies I couldn't think of a better name.

Tbh in my heart of hearts I knew before posting this that it would lead to removing the tang. I knew better than to put it in there. My excitement got the better of me. Squints is my OG and he deserves a good life.

Anyone have any ideas for catching a yellow tang?

 

[mattzang]

i used to have a sixline wrasse as well, the lfs told me it was a nice peaceful fish

once i did some research on here, people had all kinds of stories. usually they were something like:

-got sixline and it was fine for awhile.. sixline got older and harassed new additions to the point of being unable to add anything
-sixline went nuts as it matured and killed several fish it was with
-sixline has been fine for years, this seemed to be a very minority experience fwiw

i wanted an orchid dottyback and not murder in my tank so i drained half the tank, caught him, and he now resides at the lfs in a frag tank with tangs, perfect!

might i suggest replacing the tang and sixline with a yellow wrasse (h. chrysus). 40 gallon might be on the small end for the wrasse, but it'll be better than having a tang in there. and the yellow is really bright

 

[RJ F.]

Man I love Flash, my 6 line. I want to try removing the tang before removing Flash as well. Hopefully it will calm down. But now that the box has been open... who knows.