Send in the Tang Police

Piscinarii

Piscinarii

New member
So last weekend I picked up a nice small Purple Tang for my 250g at the CMAS party for $100. Everyone in the tank has no issues with this guy but my Powder Blue Tang. I did the lights out trick, extra feedings, etc. and the chasing has reduced quite a bit but it still happens.

So... thoughts on how long I should monitor this and pull one out if the chasing is minimizing? The purple has 2 nips in his dorsal fin now over the past 10 days. He is still eating well though and has begun roaming the tank more now too. You read so many different opinions, theories, gimmicks, etc that I am not sure what to do. Obviously pulling either fish is the easiest fix but if the aggression is slowly being minimized I would rather wait and see.

Appreciate some conversation!
 
How big is the tank?

Keeping the temperature on the lower end of what's acceptable to them is supposed to help curb aggression by lowering their metabolism. Like people, fish get cranky in warmer conditions.

Lots and lots of cover, breaking lines of sight. Out of sight, out of mind. Re-arrange as necessary.

Dim the lighting if possible. My fish enjoy lower dappled light, it seems to have a calming effect.

Keep them well fed. Not overfed, but perhaps lighter feedings more often?

The least aggressive fish should go in first, the most aggressive last.

And most importantly, lots of broken lines of sight.
 
It's a 250g DD so it's 5x3 with a horseshoe rockwork design with a tall center pennisula. Tons of cover, caves, swim throughs in the tank and we have switched to more feedings (lighter though) through the day. I haven't tweaked the temp yet though and it sits at 78 degrees. So the best I could probably get away with there is dropping it down to 76?
 
If the powder still wants to kill him after 10 days its causing a lot of stress. Keep them feed well with out overfeeding. I have had the two fish together before and they worked it out.I don't play with temps.Every one in a while you get a mean fish just like some people are different. There is alway the posibility one can be killed. Mosty of the time they work it out in a matter of 3 days if they are gonna work it out.
 
Try changing your aquascape around the powder blue tang territory. tangs are extremely territorial, so it sometimes help if you change the scenery to confuse the tang that has made that area his territory.
 
With a Powder Blue if you move the rocks too much and stir things up with stress in there you may cause an ich outbreak. Moving thing around should not matter too much in a 250 if you have enough rocks for hiding places.I would not do it in this particular case. I have a Powder Blue now for around five years and others before that and its a touchy fish. If the Purple Tang is roaming and eating its a good sign even though it may get a short burst or chase from the powder.If the chase is non stop one has to go.


ColaAddict said:
Try changing your aquascape around the powder blue tang territory. tangs are extremely territorial, so it sometimes help if you change the scenery to confuse the tang that has made that area his territory.
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This is why i have 1 tang and then different type of fish with him and they still pick on some of my fish but he is outsmarted by my clowns because they dive into there anemone and he can't catch them, He gets all mad because he cant get to them.The blenny just smacks him back when he starts annoying him and the others are to fast. I use alot of rock caves in my setup.Need to have 1 tank per tang is my thought on them.
 
Do they fight all over the tank or only when the new tang approaches the powder blue's nitch? I would think that the fighting produces more stress on the tangs than changing the scenery. Fighting also causes stress and ich, so I guess pick your poison. Really, the best solution is to move one of them out if the fighting get's worse. What do you guys think about taking both out for a few days, then introducing them both back in at the same time?
 
When you stir up a tank it lowers water quality and moves any ich up in the water colume if it is at all in the tank.You are correct you have to consider the individual fish and pick your poison. If you never had a Powder or a Achillies is had to imagine how fast things can go down hill with ich.The Purple is a much heartier fish by far.If the Powder was not in the tank I would move the rocks for sure.

ColaAddict said:
Do they fight all over the tank or only when the new tang approaches the powder blue's nitch? I would think that the fighting produces more stress on the tangs than changing the scenery. Fighting also causes stress and ich, so I guess pick your poison. Really, the best solution is to move one of them out if the fighting get's worse. What do you guys think about taking both out for a few days, then introducing them both back in at the same time?
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So, the Powder Blue roams the entire tank. He doesn't chase all the time and it's less frequent now. When I feed they all eat together just fine. No chasing all at during feeding. It seems like just when the Powder Blue feels like it more than anything. The Purple Tang would hang out in the front right corner of the aquarium and now roams a bit more. I am going to give it a few more days to see how things go. No one seems stressed out and everyone is eating well. Here is a shot of the tank and you can see there is a lot of LOS breakup and hiding places.

Fulltankshot.jpg
 
ColorMeCorals said:
When you stir up a tank it lowers water quality and moves any ich up in the water colume if it is at all in the tank.You are correct you have to consider the individual fish and pick your poison. If you never had a Powder or a Achillies is had to imagine how fast things can go down hill with ich.The Purple is a much heartier fish by far.If the Powder was not in the tank I would move the rocks for sure.
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Yeah, I tried adding a PB tang before and it caused all my tangs to have ich. the PB was the only one who perished. I know it's one of the most delicate tangs, so you don't want it to get sick. Beautiful fish though. Good luck keeping them together, hopefully the PB tang calms down more and leaves your purple tang alone.
 
I think you will be fine now. Naso is also ich prone so I would not get anymore tangs in there, but what you have can co exist for years. nice tank.
 
Well, I said "Send in the Tang Police" so I was just waiting for someone to post that pic. :)

FYI, not much chasing at all last night and everyone was eating well!
 
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