PBT picking on Yellow Longnose Butterfly!!!!

[born2chill]

I have a 75 gallon tank that previously had a PBT and a false perc. clown living happily together. I just added a yellow longnose butterfly and a coral beauty. As soo as I dropped in the butterfly, the PBT turned a deep blue and started swarming him immediately. The PBT is about 4" and the butterfly is a little more than 2". I turned off the lights in my aquarium completely and dimmed the lights in the room and the PBT seems to have calmed down a little, but still picks on him when the get close to each other.

Will this aggression subside when the PBT gets used to the yellow longnose? I hope that they can coexist because I would hate to have to part with either fish. The yellow is pretty brave though and continues to swim around so hopefully it will work out. I'm open to any suggestions any of you more knowledgeable aquarists have. TIA

 

[fishfirst]

PBT tend to be very aggressive... he might settle down in a while but you'll find that you'll need a little bigger tank for all these fish IMO. Maybe rearragnging the tank decore will help?

 

[electrikat]

Yes they say that if you add new fish to a tank that has aggressive fish, you can rearrange the rockwork and everyone has to scramble for territory. The PBT has established his territory and now you must try to put them all on equal footing by changing the territories around.

 

[JamesR]

This may take some time. My PBT went after my auriga butterfly for weeks. Still does a few times a day just to show whose boss. It should subside, but don't expect it to happen too soon. The big test is can the butterfly keep healthy while getting acclimated with the PBT messing with her. I hope so.

good luck,
Jim

 

[born2chill]

The Aggression subsided after 24 hours, but it seems to have taken somewhat of a toll on the butterfly. He is now a little pale in the stomach area and has developed some ich on his fins. He does not have an lesions or fin rot. He is not scratching against any of the rocks and is eating well. I'm a little scared because I saw him laying sideways near near the top of the tank before when the lights were out on the tank. I turned on one light to inspect closer and he propped himself upward again and swam further down. Is it normal for these fish to "sleep" on their side? I hope that the ich will naturally subside with a garlic and vitamin enriched diet because I do not yet have the equipment or even the room for a QT/hospital tank. I will need to invest in one of these in the near future, but I have already spent about $1500 on all my equipment and it is just getting out of hand at the moment.