My Fridmani Pseudochromis is attacking my snails...

[Pain Devine]

I was dumb and once again listened to the people at the LFS. When will I learn they're all morons? ugh...

So anyway, I went to the store and picked up a book off the shelf and walked back to the fish and looked up each fish and wether it was aggressive or not... all I got is 4 snails a peppermint shrimp and a clown. (and a bunch of unidentified stuff that just appeared like tube worms) But then the store guy goes "Oh No! That fish there is aggressive... and that one too... nope, not that one either...) So I said "Well, what the hell should I get?" and he pointed at the Fridmani Pseudochromis. They had priced it wrong so he let me have it for around $5.

But now he's attacking my snails!!! I like the snails better than the fish sometimes so this is really pissing me off. He nips at them and makes them fall off the glass. The shrimp is about 2x his size and is really defensive when he comes around so he seems of, but I'm worried about my snails. What do I do?

 

[reefrunner69]

Not real sure what you can do, I've never had a dottyback that gave a damn about a snail. Give it a couple days and see if it doesn't stop.

 

[Pain Devine]

I dont think its a "Dotty Back" its purple....

 

[reefrunner69]

If it's Pseudochromis frimandi, it's a dottyback Dottyback is the common name for all Pseudochromis.

 

[reefrunner69]

BTW, I've had a couple of TR frimandis, neons and splendids, none of them were agressive to any of my snails. IMO, it's establishing dominance in the tank.

 

[Pain Devine]

Cool beans, I hope your right. It's a really pretty fish. Looks like a purple Glow Stick.

 

[Guest]

Just out of curiosity..Which store was that?

 

[kreach]

I hope it works out for you and he settles down. But in case he doesn't, here's some directions for making a diy fish trap. It worked great for us when we had to catch an evil pseudochromis out of our tank...

Bottle Fish Trap

 

[reefrunner69]

Yes, that should work well, IME Pseudos are so aggressive they can't resist going in the trap after the bait I caught my neon with a fish trap, like 5 times before I got the fish I was after, I actually had to move him to the sump so other fish could get near the trap.

 

[MT79]

I'm in the process of removing a dottybach b/c of aggresion problems, more specifically a taste for small decorative shrimp...

 

[Pain Devine]

It was the local Pet warehouse chain store here in Madison. It's next to american TV off the Beltline. I forget the exact name. They are the only store in town I've found that isn't ridiculously over priced... ok ok, they are over priced but not as bad as the other places in town. And I refuse to have a fish shipped to me via UPS.