Damn 6-line!!!!!!!!!!

Rcpilot

Rcpilot

Reef enthusiast
So, my 6-line (Striper) USED to be in the 30g display. But he went all crazy and tried to kill the clown fish about a year ago. I took him out of the 30g tank and put him in the 10g frag tank. He's been in the 10g frag tank for about a year. All by himself. Nothing but corals, an emerald crab and a couple snails to keep him company.

My diamond watchman goby in the 30g tank died about 3 or 4 months ago so Nemo is all alone in there. I decided Nemo had grown a bit and maybe he would be able to fend for himself if I put Striper back in the 30g tank.

So, just in case you are not clear, thats (2) little fish in a 30g tank. Striper is maybe 1.75" long and Nemo is about the same size.

Within 10hrs Nemo is badly beaten and bruised. :frustrat: Striper is RELENTLESSLY chasing Nemo around the tank taking bites out of Nemos fins and anything else he can sink his teeth into on Nemos body.

Unfortunately, Striper is now REAL tuned-up on what a net is. He won't go anywhere NEAR the net this morning. I suckered him into it yesterday with food so I could catch him and put him back in the 30g tank. He's not falling for it today. I guess I'll catch him eventually, but in the meantime Nemo may end up dead.

I've tied a strong to the net and put the net in the tank with the string hanging outside the tank. I put some tape on the string to hold it. The net is in the water, in the tank and held up with a piece of tape and some string. Trying to "acclimate" Striper to the net again. I'm going to try and sucker him into the net again tomorrow.

I'd sure like to find the SOB that studied the 6-line wrasse and declared it a "peaceful" species. I'd kick him in the nuts and shove this ^&(!@*%$ wrasse down his throat!!

I'm so pissed off right now. I'm having fantasies of catching this wrasse and flinging him down on the sidewalk!!! I won't do it, but it's a nice visual for me.
 
Thats wierd, when I had my clown(dead) bullied my firefish(dead),goby, and sixline. My sixline did kill all of my nassarius snails.

Now I have a tailbot dameselfish,goby,and sixline and they all get together fine.
 
I got a pair of firefish, who were tank mates in the lfs...brought them home, one of them (suspect #1) ended up nipping the beautiful long dorsal fin of the other firefish (stumpy). After many failed attempts at catching Suspect, including the bottle trick, I ended up pulling all the rocks...and even then he was a quick little f****r!! He's now in the 10g, and getting on well with the clown goby and pistol shrimp.

I feel your frustration, RC!
 
Thats funny right there!!

I was cleaning the closet this past weekend and found some old fly fishing stuff, but it never crossed my mind to use it on Striper. I think I'll go fishin' tonight. Good idea Yote. :bowdown:
 
daugherty said:
i want a couple fire fish but anything i add gets killed by my clown
Click to expand...

I wish my clown would "man up" and at least show SOME kind of aggression towards the wrasse. He just runs away and takes everything the wrasse will dish out. I can't help but feel if the clown would at least try and protect himself a little bit the wrasse wouldn't bully him so much.

SISSY!! :frustrat:
 
Striper is officially 4-Sale.

I went to Target and bought a little plastic container with suction cups.
It's actually for the kitchen sink and it's designed to hold your sponges. It has holes in it.

I bought 2 of these:
http://www.spacesavers.com/suction-sponge-holder.html

I'll just toss Striper in there and put the 2nd one on top, upside down to make a cheap refugium. I can hold him until a buyer comes around.

So long Striper!!! :grumble:
 
most people buy sixlines when there actually just about the most aggressive of reef safe wrasse. i would like to catch mine and replace with green wrasse or yellow coris wrasse.
 
I am sorry to hear of your troubles RC, but I appreciate this thread. I have been thinking of adding a 6-line, now I don't think I will.
 
Alexander said:
why dont you just put im back in the 10g?
Click to expand...

Because the 10g is going bare bottom. I've been making threats to turn it into a REAL frag tank for almost a year. It's sort of a nano with frag racks right now. It's COVERED with hair and turf algae. I'm taking all the algae covered rocks out and I'm taking all the sand out. Nothing but frag racks from now on.

I don't want to put Striper back in there and FEED him. I don't want to introduce any waste, nitrates etc to the frag tank anymore. It's going to be fairly sterile in there from now on. I will feed cyclopeeze and some other liquid nutrients for the corals occasionally, but no more solid food.
 
mng777777 said:
I am sorry to hear of your troubles RC, but I appreciate this thread. I have been thinking of adding a 6-line, now I don't think I will.
Click to expand...

Don't do it unless you have a tank larger than my little 30g AND you have a couple fish in there that are MUCH BIGGER than a full grown 6-line.

I didn't know the 6-line was so aggressive when I bought it. All the research I did before the purchase indicated they were peaceful and docile. He was fine for about 6 months............ then one day it's like somebody flipped a switch in his head and he turned into a flippin' angry nut. Fighting with my Watchman Goby, attacking and biting Nemo. I'm not talking about a little tiff now and then. He was on a MISSION to KILL everything else in the tank. Like a crazy person on PCP.

Then I started doing searches like "mean 6-line" and "aggressive 6-line" and you should have seen all the other reefers who were having the same experience as me. When I did the initial research on the 6-line as a "peaceful" reef fish, all I got was lovely results of happy reefers with cute and docile 6-line wrasses. I never thought to do searches for "aggressive" and "mean" when I was looking for info on the 6-line.

I'm not an expert but here's what I think.

What NOT to do:
6-lines should not be put into smaller tanks. I think 55g would be the minimum size.
6-lines should not be put in tanks where they would be one of the larger fish in the tank.
6-lines should not be put into tanks with smaller and peaceful fish.
6-lines WILL turn into a bully if they are in a tank with smaller and/or less aggressive fish.
Don't mix 6-lines with mandarin fish -- they compete for the same food source and the 6-line is a MUCH more aggressive hunter. The mandarin will starve.


What you SHOULD do:
Only put the 6-line in a medium or large tank where there are significant numbers of larger fishthat will not put up with aggressive behavior from such a small fish. The 6-line WILL bully any smaller or even same sized fish if given the chance, so it needs to be the smallest fish in the tank -- NOT the biggest.

In that situation, all reports I have read indicate the 6-line will "know it's place" in the pecking order and will remain peaceful and docile.
 
that's great info. I think I will be skipping it. I was wanting it because I had a clam that didn't seem to be doing well and I had ruled out most other predators so I thought perhaps it could be one of the shell boaring snails that kills clams. My clam died before I ever got around to adding the sixline and my desire for one sort of died with it. i think they are one of the more ugly fish in the hobby and if I ever own one it will only be as a form of pest control.
 
I'm in the process of trapping mine right now. I'd like to get another wrasse, but unsure of which one. It needs to be a small one since my display is only 30g.
 
unfortunately for me, most of the wrasse that I think are pretty, and that I would want to keep, are not reef safe. I am sure Yote will have some good input on that for you though
 
I have had my sixline for almost 3 years now. Its been with flame angels and currently with 4 green chromis and a blenny. never had any over aggressive behavior. sorry to hear your having all the problems you have.

the suggestions that you put out are definitely something people should consider as to me it seems to be really hit and miss with this fish. Luckily i got one that is not a complete punk. He shows aggression from time to time but never seriously damages the chromis or any other fish. only bad thing i saw him do was pick on a half dead chromis that was struggling for life in the water column. but other than that no issues. It sucks but sometimes they are not cool.

I really want a 4line wrasse. have you checked those out?
 

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