Reducing fish aggression ideas

[rocket098]

I know there is a lot of threads on this but I just wanted to throw out something I came across while getting two tangs to get along. I have heard of moving rocks around to get the fish to get confused on where their territory is. Sometimes that is just not possible. If you use some egg crate and make a box with the top open you can then use your magnetic scraper to move it into place on the aquarium glass. I first let one of the tangs stay in the box for two days. After that I lower the box down into the middle of the aquarium. The box is a decent size and when put into the new place confused the older fish into thinking that it’s new rock and unclaimed territory. The new tang kept returning back to the box and spending time in it. He must have felt safe in it. After couple days the tang aggression is subsiding and you can remove the box. In summary the box fools fish into thinking you moved rocks around as well as serving as unclaimed territory that the new fish can be in without aggression.

 

[czoolander]

-Feed Heavy
-Mirrors
- rearrange rocks
-give it time
-acclimation/timeout box
-introduce at night
- observation

 

[rocket098]

Thanks those I’ve seen mentioned before i was just throwing out another alternative idea.

 

[i cant think]

Turning the lights off after introduction tends to work best however other options include;
- Moving/Changing the rockwork
- Feeding heavily
- Feeding right after introduction
- Introducing as the lights ramp down
- Mirrors

I find the three that work best are;
As mentioned above, turning off lights or adding as the lights ramp down. Then feeding heavily and right after introduction, this tends to show the others that there’s enough food for everyone and they don’t have to fight over food sources. Finally, Changing some of the main territories in the rocks works well for me. Obviously this isn’t always doable but if you can change or swap 2-3 rocks around then it should change territories just enough to lower aggression.

Obviously, all of these work best if done together. If you do all of these together then you most likely have the perfect mix for combatting aggression towards newcomers in the tank.