Butterfly Aggression

[Pat24601]

So, I don't really have a lot of experience with this because I've gone out of my way to avoid it in the past.

But, as I mentioned in my tank thread, I just added a raccoon butterfly fish to a tank which had an Auriga butterfly for about a week.

I had decided against that because of fears of aggression, but a person at my LFS who has both in his tank (and whom I respect immensely) thought it would "probably" work well and I really like butterfly fish. So, I paid my money and took my chances.

Well, for the first two days anyway, those chances haven't worked so well. The Auriga is being highly aggressive towards the raccoon, especially at feeding time. Outside of feeding time, I do also see the Auriga being aggressive, but only intermittently. At feeding time, he chases the raccoon into a corner and I've even seen him nip at the raccoon, although not frequently.

I do think the raccoon is getting plenty to eat. I'm feeding frequently and there is plenty to spare and I see him eating quite a lot. So, it's not really that he can't eat. It's just that he's being harassed.

I was planning on giving it a week and seeing if they reach an equilibrium, but I'm not optimistic.

Does anyone have thoughts?

If I end up just having to choose one, I'm not sure which I'll choose. I like them both.

 

[Oxylebius]

It sounds like your one fish is defending its territory. On a reef, butterflies are aggressive towards each other, their are very territorial. So, it isn't surprising that is happens in aquariums as well. Is the other fish just being chased or are there scales missing and fins fraying? I'm how much aggression is happening? Knowing this will help you determine if you need to pull one fish out to save the other, or if you can leave the fish in there, to work it out on their own.

You probably know the standard things to do with aggressive fish: moving rocks around to disrupt territories (I'd try this as soon as you are able), and taking the aggressive fish out and place in another tank for a time, and reintroduce back in later.

I have an acclimation box that I've used and swear by in lessening aggression. All the fish can become acquainted with the new fish for days to weeks before I release the fish into the tank. But, your fish is already in the tank, so I realize this isn't helpful. Are you able to add a partition to the tank to divide them, temporary for a week or two? This can act like an acclimation box.

Once in the tank, another thing you can do is turning off the lights with the aggression starts should help to lesson that aggression, temporarily, while the two fish get used to each other. This means you have to be around and watching their behavior to be able to turn the lights off whenever one chases the other.

 

[Pat24601]

It sounds like your one fish is defending its territory. On a reef, butterflies are aggressive towards each other, their are very territorial. So, it isn't surprising that is happens in aquariums as well. Is the other fish just being chased or are there scales missing and fins fraying? I'm how much aggression is happening? Knowing this will help you determine if you need to pull one fish out to save the other, or if you can leave the fish in there, to work it out on their own.

You probably know the standard things to do with aggressive fish: moving rocks around to disrupt territories (I'd try this as soon as you are able), and taking the aggressive fish out and place in another tank for a time, and reintroduce back in later.

I have an acclimation box that I've used and swear by in lessening aggression. All the fish can become acquainted with the new fish for days to weeks before I release the fish into the tank. But, your fish is already in the tank, so I realize this isn't helpful. Are you able to add a partition to the tank to divide them, temporary for a week or two? This can act like an acclimation box.

Once in the tank, another thing you can do is turning off the lights with the aggression starts should help to lesson that aggression, temporarily, while the two fish get used to each other. This means you have to be around and watching their behavior to be able to turn the lights off whenever one chases the other.

Thanks!

I don't have your eye for marine life, but I don't see any visible damage on the raccoon and I've tried to look for it. When not feeding, sometimes things look pretty normal. They mind their own business. Swim by each other. Everything seems fine much of the time.

But, sometimes he gets chased into a corner even when not feeding (although this isn't frequent) and frequently when feeding he gets chased into a corner. Maybe oddly that's after they've both eaten a bit. It's like the Auriga at first just focuses on the food and then realizes "hey, wait, here's a fish similar to me, I need to keep him off my turf". On rare occasions, I see the Auriga appear to nip at the raccoon, which is bad, but I haven't seen actual contact yet.

That's what I see with my amateur eye.

An acclimation box would have been a good idea and ideas along those lines aren't off the table at all. I CAN catch fish in this tank. A partition might be a good idea. I was thinking of putting the Auriga in my other tank for a couple weeks as well, if needed.

Lights is something I've thought about, but haven't tried yet either.

 

[Oxylebius]

If the aggression only happens at feeding times, then perhaps try to feed each fish at different corners of the tank. It sounds like they will work it out since you mentioned outside of feeding the aggression has lessened. That's good!

 

[Pat24601]

I had a thought I haven't really heard of before. I don't have corals in this tank yet because I'm waiting until I get all my fish in (probably a coral beauty and a flame angel then I'm done) to see if my fish eat my corals before I spend a bunch of money on it.

So, I could go totally lights out for while except when I feed? A few days? A week? Think that might help?

 

[Oxylebius]

I wouldn't do that. I would go lights out when you aren't around the house. When you are home I would have the lights on where you can keep an eye on them, even just glancing over while doing other things. This way they get used to each other in daylight, work out their issues, set up their territories and find a way to live together. One thing to keep in mind is that a little chasing/aggression is something you will see with butterflies always. They are always like that in the wild, always chasing each other on the reef, this same behavior you will also see in the tank as they swim in each others territory. You just want to make sure one is not beating the other up.

 

[Pat24601]

I wouldn't do that. I would go lights out when you aren't around the house. When you are home I would have the lights on where you can keep an eye on them, even just glancing over while doing other things. This way they get used to each other in daylight, work out their issues, set up their territories and find a way to live together. One thing to keep in mind is that a little chasing/aggression is something you will see with butterflies always. They are always like that in the wild, always chasing each other on the reef, this same behavior you will also see in the tank as they swim in each others territory. You just want to make sure one is not beating the other up.

Great advice, as always. Thanks!

 

[Oxylebius]

You mentioned that you can partition the tank, if the aggression is really bad I would go this route, with lights on a normal schedule. They need to get used to each other in the tank, this way you are forcing it w/o the fish physically hurting each other.

 

[Butterflyboi]

I know I’m late with my reply but I just had to give away my raccoon since he was trying to kill my teardrop. I had him in a box separated but they both couldn’t stay away from eachother haha, the issue for me is that raccoon butterfly’s are nocturnal so they will stay up and pester all of your other fish if they want to. I had a pink clown and a large foxface and they did fine and do fine with the teardrop but I couldn’t risk losing a rarer butterflyfish like the teardrop for some raccoon. It’s sad because I want a tank with butterflies but it seems like I need to buy a bunch of dog sizes and just go from there