"Guardian Angel"

[omard]

Posted this before, which got me thinking about,

Again, when adding my sixline to tank a few months ago, my pack of damsels (2 black striped Humbug Dyclus, 2 blue yellow tail) immediately pounced upon it and began chasing it about tank. Whereupon my Coral Beauty, stepped in and fended them off the poor sixline. It would circle the new fish then chase off any of the damsels trying to approach it. The Coral Beauty did this for day or so until the damsels tired of their game.

Exactly the same scenario happened again when I added my Flame Wrasse. The Coral Beauty defended it till the damsels gave up.

I did not tell anyone about this observation, thinking others would think I'm crazier then I already am.

But this is God's truth...saw with my own eyes!

But recent poster here, reported same event in his tank. (Guardian Angel?)

Got me wondering is this a characteristic of other Angels?...Could this be the reason someone named them "angels" in the first place way back when?

I wonder what the innate instinct a fish could have for defending another species?

Weird.

Scott

[SuperScro]

Angels only when they are added last...

Jk

I wouldn't doubt it. That is awesome to see a fish to that, it inspires me!

[sharkatak]

I have a Forsters Hawkfish that does the same thing.I call him Fred and he's the sherrif.Any hassles get out of hand he steps in and sorts them.

[sssnake]

Yup.... it's true! I saw it and couldn't believe it. I wrote about it in hopes that someone would tell me either I was hallucinating or not. Guess I wasn't

It's good to know there's a cop in the tank.



ps: The cinnamon is history, returned him to my LFS and got a small credit.

[sssnake]

Originally Posted by omard

...Could this be the reason someone named them "angels" in the first place way back when?

Good question !