Rabbitfish are nice saltwater fish to keep in the aquarium, and they are colourful and beautiful too. There are many species of Rabbitfish and they could grow up to 8 – 21 inches in size. They are very active fish and will keep your tank very active because they are always full of activities, especially if there are many hiding places and things of interest in the tank. Many people often wonder if these fish are aggressive or peaceful and if they could tolerate each other or not. In this article, you will learn all about that.
Are Rabbitfish Aggressive? Rabbitfish are peaceful fish that could tolerate both their kind and other fish a lot.
Now you know that they are not aggressive fish, one mistake many people, especially the newbies make is that they will read an article like this, find the right answer they want to hear, then off they go without fully understanding all.
Many people do complain that some aggressions are going on in their tanks which contain only Rabbitfish, or at least different species of Rabbitfish.
If you have heard or have experienced this from your Rabbitfish, you will be wondering if these fish are truly peaceful or not.
Well, the simple answer to this question is, Rabbitfish are peaceful fish, but they could become semi-aggressive due to some reasons which we will talk about in a minute.
5 Reasons why Rabbitfish could seem aggressive.
What I am trying to say is that despite being peaceful, any fish could become at least semi-aggressive due to some factors, so if you are the type that hardly finishes articles or comprehend then you will end up making mistakes.
Rabbitfish could be fighting or bullying
One of the reasons why your Rabbitfish could be fighting or bullying each other is that you did not add all of them at the same time.
Many people make this mistake and it usually results in stress and fights.
Despite that they could tolerate each other, adding new fish to an already established tank is not advisable because the new fish will be seen as a threat, bullied, and stressed by others that are already established.
So, don’t add new fish to an already established tank because others will not take it easy with it, especially if the already established ones are much bigger.
Rabbitfish are kept in a small tank
Another reason why your Rabbitfish might seem to be aggressive is that they are kept in a small tank.
Naturally, any fish could be very aggressive if the environment is not spacious enough and it could be the reason why yours are not tolerating each other and other fish.
Rabbitfish fish does not need any tank that is less than 40 gallons each because they could grow up to 21 inches and above.
So, overstocking is one of the reasons why they get aggressive and fight each other, so get them a very sizeable tank such as a 150-250 gallon tank and above, depending on the number of these fish you want to keep and even other peaceful fish that could go with them too.
Toxins stress them
Finally, toxins such as ammonia, nitrites, chlorine, etc could frustrate, stress them and make them aggressive.
These toxins could breed in tanks as a result of dirty water, uncycled tanks, detergents, perfumes, and many more.
These toxins are very deadly to any aquarium animal, that’s why you as an Aquarist must have water testing kits and a filter to help you to detect any of these toxins also a filter will help you to keep the water and tank clean, so buy them.
Once you detect any toxin, change the water and apply other water treatments that are okay with you.
Conclusion
Rabbitfish are peaceful but could bully each other on rare occasions due to the reasons I explained above.
