Coral Bully (Beauty) Dwarf Angel

I bought a Firefish Saturday at the Bountiful Petco. You guys should really check them out if you haven't already. Keith is doing a great job. But I digress. I worried about adding the Firefish to a tank with a Royal Gramma, thinking she might beat up on him. The Gramma was true to form and posed a lot and nipped a little, but left him alone by day two. However, my Coral Beauty has taken up a very frightening interest in the Firefish and will not leave the little guy alone. I thought they were supposed to be compatible. The Firefish hides constantly. Every time he comes out, the Angel tries to bite him. I have tried Mark P.'s suggestion of chsing the Angel with a stick, but it doesn';t seem very effective. I worry that the Firefish will either starve to death or die from stress. It is such a pretty and friendly little fish. I'd hate to lose him. Any suggestions?

I've had the Coral Beauty for a year with no trouble at all.  She really has it out for this Firefish.

I think part of the problem is that the Coral Beauty was there first and sees the firefish as an intruder.

I thought of that, but I don't have a tank to put him in. Nor do I know how I would catch the bugger. If someone wanted to babysit him for a couple of weeks, I could try to catch him.

I wonder sometimes if aggression can be caused by hunger? The new Coral/Korale magizine has a write up on damsels, and it states we should have a continuous feeder for them. In the wild, they eat like 40 times an hour for 12-14 hrs! ( I can't see that these divers actually sat there and counted how many times one fish snicked for 12-14 hrs, though).

  You might try feeding a bit more often 'till they settle down, and keep a piece of nori on your mag float for the angel to graze on...

I have a Firefish that was already in the tank when I introduced a Flame Angel & Coral Beauty Angel.  I have not had any problems with aggression toward the Firefish.

 

Now fast forward several months where I added three Christmas Anthias.  The Flame Angel relentlessly chased them and killed two, but left the third alone. Weird.

 

Fast forward again; I added a small yellow meringue wrasse.  It was afraid to come out and disappeared after one week.

 

Fast forward once more where I reluctantly and cautiously added another yellow meringue wrasse, this time one which was 3-4 times the size of my original.  That fish was harassed for one day by the angels and a damsel then left alone and is doing fine.

 

I’m getting the idea that some fish have enough fight and moxy in them to hold their own when thrust into a new environment. Others just don’t have the heart for it and succumb.

 

Jamison wrote:  By the way, my coral beauty is a VERY attractive fish. Much prettier than any others I've seen. As ticked as I am at it right now, I don't ever see parting with it.

Deep Pitt wrote:   Time has since healed the wound and I'm liking my Angel again (sorry Sukie!).

Darn!