Leopard wrasse aggression.

[reefpunk]

Hello everyone and thank you for taking the time to read this and respond!

I upgraded tanks a few weeks ago and everything has been very well. I added a Falco Hawkfish 3 weeks back and he fit right in with 0 aggression from my fish. Last Saturday I tried to add a black leopard wrasse around 2 inches or so and my blue star leopard went after it. I have never seen such aggression from her... she really looked like she was trying to kill the black leopard. After I saw this I removed the black leopard and returned her to the vendor I got her from. I waited a few days and thought I'd try again but this time with a yellow watchman goby and a firefish. My blue star killed the goby right in front of me and it happened so fast I couldnt do anything. The firefish hid and I havent seen it since.

Why is my leopard wrasse being so aggressive? I never saw this behavior before in my old tank. This is really shocking to me... normally my Tomini is the "boss" of the tank and likes to rough up new fish but even he didnt go after any of my new additions. Tank size is 72x30x15.

Current Stock:
-Tomini Tang
-Royal Gramma
-Yellow tail damsel
-Blue star Leopard
-Ornate Leopard
-Flame tail blenny
-Mandarin
-Falco Hawkfish
- x1 Anthias (not sure what type it is)
-Snowflake Eel
-Zebra eel

Has anyone experienced something like this before? Anyone experience a seemingly friendly fish turn really mean after a tank upgrade? Im very confused as to why this is suddenly happening. All other fish including my blue star seem generally very happy and arent aggressive to each other.. just seems like I cannot add any new fish. Im also not sure why she didnt go after the Hawkfish when it was added.. Any advice appreciated. Thank you!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello everyone and thank you for taking the time to read this and respond!

I upgraded tanks a few weeks ago and everything has been very well. I added a Falco Hawkfish 3 weeks back and he fit right in with 0 aggression from my fish. Last Saturday I tried to add a black leopard wrasse around 2 inches or so and my blue star leopard went after it. I have never seen such aggression from her... she really looked like she was trying to kill the black leopard. After I saw this I removed the black leopard and returned her to the vendor I got her from. I waited a few days and thought I'd try again but this time with a yellow watchman goby and a firefish. My blue star killed the goby right in front of me and it happened so fast I couldnt do anything. The firefish hid and I havent seen it since.

Why is my leopard wrasse being so aggressive? I never saw this behavior before in my old tank. This is really shocking to me... normally my Tomini is the "boss" of the tank and likes to rough up new fish but even he didnt go after any of my new additions. Tank size is 72x30x15.

Current Stock:
-Tomini Tang
-Royal Gramma
-Yellow tail damsel
-Blue star Leopard
-Ornate Leopard
-Flame tail blenny
-Mandarin
-Falco Hawkfish
- x1 Anthias (not sure what type it is)
-Snowflake Eel
-Zebra eel

Has anyone experienced something like this before? Anyone experience a seemingly friendly fish turn really mean after a tank upgrade? Im very confused as to why this is suddenly happening. All other fish including my blue star seem generally very happy and arent aggressive to each other.. just seems like I cannot add any new fish. Im also not sure why she didnt go after the Hawkfish when it was added.. Any advice appreciated. Thank you!

Leopards are quite peaceful and falcon semi aggressive and will eat ornamental shrimp

 

[i cant think]

Hello everyone and thank you for taking the time to read this and respond!

I upgraded tanks a few weeks ago and everything has been very well. I added a Falco Hawkfish 3 weeks back and he fit right in with 0 aggression from my fish. Last Saturday I tried to add a black leopard wrasse around 2 inches or so and my blue star leopard went after it. I have never seen such aggression from her... she really looked like she was trying to kill the black leopard. After I saw this I removed the black leopard and returned her to the vendor I got her from. I waited a few days and thought I'd try again but this time with a yellow watchman goby and a firefish. My blue star killed the goby right in front of me and it happened so fast I couldnt do anything. The firefish hid and I havent seen it since.

Why is my leopard wrasse being so aggressive? I never saw this behavior before in my old tank. This is really shocking to me... normally my Tomini is the "boss" of the tank and likes to rough up new fish but even he didnt go after any of my new additions. Tank size is 72x30x15.

Current Stock:
-Tomini Tang
-Royal Gramma
-Yellow tail damsel
-Blue star Leopard
-Ornate Leopard
-Flame tail blenny
-Mandarin
-Falco Hawkfish
- x1 Anthias (not sure what type it is)
-Snowflake Eel
-Zebra eel

Has anyone experienced something like this before? Anyone experience a seemingly friendly fish turn really mean after a tank upgrade? Im very confused as to why this is suddenly happening. All other fish including my blue star seem generally very happy and arent aggressive to each other.. just seems like I cannot add any new fish. Im also not sure why she didnt go after the Hawkfish when it was added.. Any advice appreciated. Thank you!

Do you have a photo of the wrasse in question?

 

[reefpunk]

Leopards are quite peaceful and falcon semi aggressive and will eat ornamental shrimp

I just don’t understand what triggered my blue star leopard wrasse to become ultra aggressive with these fish. I was told and assumed leopards were rather peaceful and it’s why I added the female black leopard.. but after that incident my blue star has been ultra aggressive to any new fish added into the tank :/

 

[reefpunk]

Do you have a photo of the wrasse in question?

My suddenly aggressive wrasse? This is her, almost fully grown female blue star leopard

 

[i cant think]

My suddenly aggressive wrasse? This is her, almost fully grown female blue star leopard

Just as expected, that’s not a female. What you have is a transitional phase male. Male Leopards can be much more peaceful than their females intend for them to be. You also have a marisrubri and not a bipartitus. Marisrubri is more aggressive than their close relative Bipartitus.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I just don’t understand what triggered my blue star leopard wrasse to become ultra aggressive with these fish. I was told and assumed leopards were rather peaceful and it’s why I added the female black leopard.. but after that incident my blue star has been ultra aggressive to any new fish added into the tank :/

Beautiful fish but you may have to isolate in an acclimation box for a couplw of weeks to see if it calms down. If it has a favorite hiding place, disrupt it changing the scape so it focuses on a new location

 

[reefpunk]

Just as expected, that’s not a female. What you have is a transitional phase male. Male Leopards can be much more peaceful than their females intend for them to be. You also have a marisrubri and not a bipartitus. Marisrubri is more aggressive than their close relative Bipartitus.

Good to know I had no idea! Thank you!

 

[i cant think]

Just as expected, that’s not a female. What you have is a transitional phase male. Male Leopards can be much more peaceful than their females intend for them to be. You also have a marisrubri and not a bipartitus. Marisrubri is more aggressive than their close relative Bipartitus.

I meant much less peaceful by the way

 

[Saltyanimals]

You have a large enough tank to consider adding fish in batches to distribute the aggression. I have a full adult male blue star and 4 tangs in a 72" tank as well along with about another 20 fish now =) . I realized I can't just add a single fish these days as the hierarchy is tested and potentially reestablished with new additions. I wanted "a" wrasse, but again I can't just add one. So I QT'ed 4 flashers and dropped all in at the same time. I noticed the leopard did go after a couple initially, but wasn't enough to be concerned because there was 4 moving targets of confusion. I wouldn't call curiosity more than aggression. Your leopard has gone mad. j/k. But consider batches.

 

[Tamberav]

Both my leopards are quite aggressive. They were fine when smaller females but pretty intolerant of most any new fish as transitional males/males now. They even went after a neon goby and I figured a small goby would get ignored... nope!

Acclimation box can help.

 

[reefpunk]

You have a large enough tank to consider adding fish in batches to distribute the aggression. I have a full adult male blue star and 4 tangs in a 72" tank as well along with about another 20 fish now =) . I realized I can't just add a single fish these days as the hierarchy is tested and potentially reestablished with new additions. I wanted "a" wrasse, but again I can't just add one. So I QT'ed 4 flashers and dropped all in at the same time. I noticed the leopard did go after a couple initially, but wasn't enough to be concerned because there was 4 moving targets of confusion. I wouldn't call curiosity more than aggression. Your leopard has gone mad. j/k. But consider batches.

This is great advice thank you. I will definitely give this a try next time!

Both my leopards are quite aggressive. They were fine when smaller females but pretty intolerant of most any new fish as transitional males/males now. They even went after a neon goby and I figured a small goby would get ignored... nope!

Acclimation box can help.

I didn't even know mine is transitioning till another commenter pointed it out to me. It really caught me off guard seeing my wrasse destroy a goby.. never seen such terror in my tank lol. Lesson learned!

 

[homer1475]

The blue star is actually the most aggressive of the leopard family, and are quite ornary as adult males.

Females tend to get along, as long as there is no male, and they are left to figure out the hierarchy as they transition.

You may get away with another female black, but I would use an acclimation box for a couple weeks so the blue star gets used to the new addition before it's set free.