PBT and new Copperband Butterfly

[Aparker2005]

As I suspected, things did not go well at all introducing a small Copperband to our 125 reef. Our big PBT immediately went after it and would not stop.

Into the 20g qt the PBT goes while the copperband adjusts.

Is a 20g enough to qt a roughly 5" pbt for a few days? Will this reset it's aggression being the new "last fish" to be added to the 125, or am I doomed on ever getting these 2 to get along?

My wife loves both and the pbt has always been her favorite fish, but even she is getting tired of how much of a bully it is. It's a very fat and happy, no health issue whatsoever, pbt. I love the fish, but we hate the aggressive nature of this one.

Thoughts?

 

[Dave1993]

put a mirror on the side of the tank the PBT will attack the reflection

 

[Aparker2005]

put a mirror on the side of the tank the PBT will attack the reflection

I tried that for an hour with no luck. He did nothing but try to find the copperband

 

[Dave1993]

I tried that for an hour with no luck. He did nothing but try to find the copperband

unlucky works for me with my powder blue attacks mirror for half a day forgets about other fish continues being a fish

 

[Aparker2005]

I'm hoping some timeout will help it reset and not lose it in the process from stressing

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Aggression simply happens because a fish feels comfortable in the territory that they’re used to. I guarantee you, he doesn’t feel comfortable in the qt. Solution: take the aggression out of your 125 by making it not your 125. If you can move some, any, rockwork around to throw off your pbt you may have a “W” good luck bud!

 

[Aparker2005]

Now the foxface oddly enough is chasing the new Copperband some. Nothing like the pbt was. This may have been a bad fish selection. Hopefully everything calms down in a few days!

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Now the foxface oddly enough is chasing the new Copperband some. Nothing like the pbt was. This may have been a bad fish selection. Hopefully everything calms down in a few days!

My Copperband wasn’t my first fish in the tank. My Yellow Tang banished it to the back right hand corner of the tank for weeks. It was all chest pounding though. No injuries or ripped fins. So balance your concerns with the fact that this is the “Wild Kingdom” lol. In your aggressive fishes defense, they are just doing what comes natural. Day after day, week after week my Copperband slowly made his way out of the back corner. It was quite the soap opera but 2 plus years later Sunny and Bah are buds. Again balance what you’re observing.

 

[i cant think]

My CBB was my I think 4th fish in my tank, first fish was my now 2 years old Magnificent Foxface. My tang went in not long after the CBB did and so got along. You need to readjust your rock scape and if I’m honest the PBT will outgrow the tank as the longer they grow the more they’ll swim. If you take how much your guy swims now and put that with a 8/9 inch fish, you’ll probably think it’s too small to deal with that so I’d get rid of the PBT altogether personally.

 

[Aparker2005]

How long should I leave the pbt in the 20 to see if it resets? I feel bad stressing such a gorgeous, healthy fish out for this possibly extremely difficult newcomer, but the wife agrees it may be best to rehome it and get some others we've wanted but couldn't add because of its aggression

 

[Aparker2005]

The copperband has not stopped picking at rocks and seeming to eat something since I added it to the tank. So far though I haven't seen it eat any frozen mysis, scallops, oysters, or aiptasia (which is mostly why I took a chance on it)

 

[Hal3134]

Have you tried an isolation tank? I float an isolation tank in my display tank for 3-7 days whenever I add a new fish. I use a large Critter Keeper plastic tub that I've drilled multiple holes in for water exchange. The new fish goes in the isolation tank, and is seen and smelled by the existing fish. Make sure to include plastic plants or pvc in the isolation tank for the newcomer to hide.
After 3-7 days I release the newcomer. It has notably reduced aggression by my existing fish.