Mirror Trick

[Jimmyneptune]

I am looking into adding some tangs , pbt or gem, to one of my aquarium. I have a yellow in one system and and a purple in another.
What type of mirror do people use for the mirror trick? I want to hang the mirror from the side of the aquarium if possible.

 

[Llyod276]

Large enough to show a whole fish. I used one that took up an entire side and the whole dang tank went and fought their reflections.

 

[Freenow54]

What is the mirror trick, and why?

 

[DrMMI]

When I added my powder blue to my existing 5 tangs, I put it in an acclimation box for 3 days. After 3 days, I released him, but turned the lights off for a day and put up a mirror the entire length of the tank and a smaller one on the sides. After another 3 days, I took the mirrors down and no one cared about the powder blue.

 

[Gtinnel]

I just used a cheap $7 13”x49” mirror from Walmart. I just sat it on the floor leaned up against the tank. It worked wonders in getting my purple tang to stop attacking my newly added foxface.

 

[Llyod276]

What is the mirror trick, and why?

Reduce aggresion. The yellow will prob be more accepting than the purple. But it depends, some fish are jerks. Just the way it is.

 

[Gtinnel]

What is the mirror trick, and why?

When adding new fish (usually tangs) in with established fish it can be helpful to put a mirror by the tank. It causes the established fish to be more interested in its reflection than the newly added fish. It helped a lot when I had to do it.

 

[Andresnyc93]

I did this with a cheap mirror from target 12x40 and set it up where my tang likes to hang out the most, I had to do it for 5 days but afterwards the tang forgot all about the new additions to tank and now they all swim together

 

[blaxsun]

I use a 8x8" mirror I got at the dollar store.

 

[Raphael Dalmeida]

Hey guys I did the mirror trick to introduce 2 convict tangs to an established tang community and it seems to have worked great. Aggression subsided.

Are there any side effects of the mirror to the existing fish? Haha a few of my fish got quite angry at the mirror so hopefully it does not have a negative stressor effect....

Cheers,

 

[Gtinnel]

Hey guys I did the mirror trick to introduce 2 convict tangs to an established tang community and it seems to have worked great. Aggression subsided.

Are there any side effects of the mirror to the existing fish? Haha a few of my fish got quite angry at the mirror so hopefully it does not have a negative stressor effect....

Cheers,

I’ve had to do it several times to distract my purple tang when adding new fish and I’ve never seen any negative impact on any of my established fish who were attacking their reflection. Once the mirror was gone they went back to normal.

 

[OrionN]

I am looking into adding some tangs , pbt or gem, to one of my aquarium. I have a yellow in one system and and a purple in another.
What type of mirror do people use for the mirror trick? I want to hang the mirror from the side of the aquarium if possible.

Get a larger acrylic mirror if possible. How large depends on your aquarium size, but I use a 3'X2' mirror. Make sure you rest it on something solid and use tape or a magnet to hold it up. More than one person have the mirror fall off, which can cause a lot of problem if you have a glass mirror.

 

[BZOFIQ]

I just introduced 5 bimacs (not cheap) into the tank and my neon dottyback wanted to kill them. Two hand mirrors from the dollar three at a total of $3.50 saved my fish.

My lolipop tang and bristletooth are still annoyed looking at the pretty fish in the mirror. I'll leave it in for another week to make sure everyone has figured out their place.

 

[OutColdCRNA]

I bought a pack of 4 8”x8” from Amazon for like 10 bucks. Taped to the glass.

 

[BZOFIQ]

I just introduced 5 bimacs (not cheap) into the tank and my neon dottyback wanted to kill them. Two hand mirrors from the dollar three at a total of $3.50 saved my fish.

My lolipop tang and bristletooth are still annoyed looking at the pretty fish in the mirror. I'll leave it in for another week to make sure everyone has figured out their place.

I burst out laughing this morning.

So a few days later the dottyback is now chill, tangs started ignoring both mirrors and one of the newly introduced male anthias is now fighting with its own image in the mirror. I think its time to take them out

 

[Raphael Dalmeida]

I removed the mirror, same here. It's like they forgot why they were upset at the start hahaha.

My two spot tang hated his reflection so much was funny look it have a go at the mirror.