A grumpy sohal tang

[Acrotrdco]

The original post got deleted because it contained... an inappropriate word. Sorry about that.

My sohal tang somehow got really *grumpy* today, that it unsheathed its left scalpel, and daaaang, that scalpel looks like it can cut open anything!

Fortunately none of my fish is hurt by the sohal, they're all so calm except the sohal, donno why, perhaps it doesn't like the other tang ate its nori?

So I grabbed my camera and took a few snapshot, it's been dashing left and right so it's really hard to get a good shot at it and have the scalpel stay in focus, but here they are anyway:

 

[Recty]

Not sure why you restarted the thread... it's all about a fish that got damaged most likely by fighting and you're somehow proud of it? Doesnt make much sense to me.

I'd liken it to spraining your ankle as a human, it's caudal blade is stuck out and it cant retract it. Probably not a pleasant experience.

 

[snorvich]

Generally, restarting threads that are closed is not a good idea.

 

[AfricaOffroad]

Not sure what happened on the original thread, but I find these pictures quite interesting. Good detail on the scalpel, very educational.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Not sure what happened on the original thread, but I find these pictures quite interesting. Good detail on the scalpel, very educational.

If I remember, the rest of the post was informative too. the poor condition of the fish and the inadequate housing were an issue. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Acrotrdco]

I'm happy to report that, my sohal is doing just fine now

It only ate nori for the first few months, didn't like anything else including mysis, brine shrimp, pellets, etc. so I had to make my own "Sushi roll" (nori rolled up with flakes and added Kent Zoecon). It liked it and start gaining weight and color.

And earlier this week, it started eating pellets! YAY! I'm so happy that I don't have to worry about him not getting enough nutrient.

Other than that, he's still reigning as king in my aquarium, but it's relatively calm these days and not chasing others all over the tank now.

 

[Acrotrdco]

Oops double post.

Just FYI, it took my sohal about about 2-3 weeks to slowly retract the scalpel.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Is it still in the 40 inch long tank that is in your sig?

 

[Acrotrdco]

Yes, the sohal is about 4" long now.

 

[xxtriggermanxx]

I guess some people need to learn the hard way . :headwallblue:

 

[WuHT]

I just like to say... I find the beauty of the sohal highly exaggerated

 

[snorvich]

I guess some people need to learn the hard way . :headwallblue:

For sure. And it will happen.

 

[MrTuskfish]

For sure. And it will happen.

Yeah, there are few "absolutes'' in our hobby. A Sohal going postal in a 40" tank is close to being one of them.

 

[Acrotrdco]

I knew this thread is gonna attract a lot of tang polices but anyway I don't think a 3-4" fish in a 40" tank is gonna go postal.

What happened in the top post, happened when my sohal was newly introduced to the tank (within 1 week). It went from Red Sea => airplane => LFS => my tank within a few days time, and I could understand why it was grumpy.

Since then it had calm down, gained weight and color, is living peacefully with the other fishes, and eating like a king.

I'm gonna upgrade to a larger tank in the soon future, before it grows into a 11" monster, so right now it's doing just fine.

 

[sandwi54]

I knew this thread is gonna attract a lot of tang polices but anyway I don't think a 3-4" fish in a 40" tank is gonna go postal.

You cannot generalize things like that. While a 3.5" full-grown clown will feel comfortable in a 40" tank, a 3.5" sohal tang will definitely not. It is in the genetics of each fish to determine how much space it considers sufficient. a 40" tank is very, very small for a sohal tang, even though it's still juvenile. sohal is very aggressive by nature, and keeping him in a 50g tank (when it should be a 300g) is just asking for trouble, big time. it may not happen now, but it will happen very soon, sooner than you expect.

 

[Daniel Reef]

You cannot generalize things like that. While a 3.5" full-grown clown will feel comfortable in a 40" tank, a 3.5" sohal tang will definitely not. It is in the genetics of each fish to determine how much space it considers sufficient. a 40" tank is very, very small for a sohal tang, even though it's still juvenile. sohal is very aggressive by nature, and keeping him in a 50g tank (when it should be a 300g) is just asking for trouble, big time. it may not happen now, but it will happen very soon, sooner than you expect.

+1. I have to agree with this sentiment. Years ago, the fellow reefer who introduced me to reefing had a 55g tank. In that tank, he had a Hippo tang, a powder blue tang, and a power brown tang at various times (some of them together). I remember seeing the tangs in his tank and noticing that they were sickly. Years later, I now know that they had ich and that the size tank that he had was totally inappropriate. All of those tangs died. I wasn't into the hobby then so I didn't know why they did. It is sad to know that those fish died either because his LFS never informed him that a 55g tank was insufficient, or if it did, he refused to listen because he wanted to have those tangs regardless because they were pretty in his eyes. Hopefully, fellow reefers will learn from this experience and others rather than subjecting these sensitive fish that have no way of communicating their stress levels to their owners other than through aggression or signs of stress on their bodies.