Fish vs. Reflection?

[Anonymous]

I was wondering if anyone had an opinion on whether a fish fighting with/flaring at it's reflection is an overall bad/good thing. My new wrasse has quite a dislike for his reflection and he's flaring his gills and fins and nipping at his reflection on the glass. Do you think this is an overall bad and stressful situation where he wears himself out fighting an unbeatable enemy, or is it a beneficial thing in that the competition is good for him and will provoke him into putting more energy into dominant displays of color and size and "encourage" him because he's always warding off his adversary in the glass? Stupid question, I know, but I was curious what you thought...

 

[waterfaller1]

My experience...I had a beautiful pair of squareback anthias.The super male was king of the tank!A gorgeous fish!His girlfriend was'nt much to look at when I got her..but she quickly got healthy and colorful with my care.Then,my male started fighting his reflection..it got to the point where he would breathe hard..and just go at it!His tail would blow anything behind him.Then one day he decided that "other male" won..for some reason.He retreated behind the rocks..and stayed there for the rest of his days.I tried to feed him..but he mostly refused,and he used to eat like a pig!Then in the end..I figured he had died..because I could'nt find him in his spot,this went on for another week.Then one day,I was removing some corals and moved a rock..there he was,barely clinging to life,he finally gave up.Then,the female picked up where he left off..after he died.She rammed her jaw so bad she split it in half.I still have her,she does'nt hide,but now her jaw is all messed up{she can still eat!}.I have heard of other anthias doing the same thing..it's a shame!I miss him.but I wish he had never been taken from the ocean Sorry for going on so long.......R.I.P. Mr Pretty

 

[Anonymous]

Mr. Pretty is just that...sorry for your loss.

My possum wrasse has been fighting with his reflection for months...he seems to be doing just fine. As long as there is not any physical injury, I think you'll be good to go.

 

[Baianotang]

Its not good IME as they can go agressive with the other fish. (mirror experiment in my case).

 

[sslarison]

My yellow tang does it all the time. Its pretty funny.

 

[Deep Blue]

Ive been noticing my yellow tang wiggling his dorsal spine at the glass...I thought he was scratching (I recently raised my salt levels in prep for upgrade from fo to reef)...but now I think some of this may be the reflection issue...

 

[Fatal Morgana]

Use some diamond file, and sand the inside of the tank until you can't see anything.... just kidding.

 

[Anonymous]

Its not good IME as they can go agressive with the other fish. (mirror experiment in my case).

It doesn't work this way.
Fish are generally most aggressive towards conspecifics, and fighting or displaying against their own reflection (especially at night when the inside of the tank is like a mirror) is VERY common across many genera. I've seen it with many species, and it doesn't influence how they behave towards the other fish in the tank. Conspecific/intraspecific aggression has NOTHING to do with/has no influence over interspecific aggression.

Jim

 

[Anonymous]

Ive been noticing my yellow tang wiggling his dorsal spine at the glass...I thought he was scratching (I recently raised my salt levels in prep for upgrade from fo to reef)...but now I think some of this may be the reflection issue...

Yep, believe it or not, raising salinity will not cause spontaneous territorial displays. He sees a conspecific fish, and doesn't like it. It's that simple.

Jim

 

[Anonymous]

I guess, if he starts to hurt himself, the easiest solution is to keep the room lights on so that the glass produces less of a reflection for him to fight. Just thought that a little competition might actually be good for him.

Aren't yellow tangs schooling fish by nature? If so, seems odd that they'd have conspecific aggression.

 

[Anonymous]

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I guess, if he starts to hurt himself, the easiest solution is to keep the room lights on so that the glass produces less of a reflection for him to fight.

Aren't yellow tangs schooling fish by nature? If so, seems odd that they'd have conspecific aggression.

They are a shoaling fish, as opposed to schooling (I think?), difference being that there's a dominance hierarchy in the group in shoals. When there's only one other tang in the tank, they fight for dominance, and in a small space it can be an all out war.

You can create groups of conspecific tangs, but it takes a large tank, like in the 500 gallon plus range or so. This is pretty much the case for lots of shoaling fish, like anthias. They form groups in nature, but will kill each other in an aquarium.

 

[Anonymous]

You can do it with yellow tangs in a smaller space, just because they're smaller, and not as aggressive. I had 3 in a 135 years ago that did fine. I just added them at the same time. Yellow tangs seem to be one of the most cooperative/appropriate tangs in this regard.

Jim

 

[Anonymous]

Alright, Mr. Marine Biology Major. :lol: I didn't know there was a difference between shoaling and schooling. Dictionary.com says they're cinnamons... I mean synonyms. I learned my something new for the day...

 

[Anonymous]

Yes we are lucky to have Matt here. He's just chuck full of good stuff, and a very nice fellow to boot. Although he knows how to ruin a good babe thread, he's still an asset to this site overall.

Jim