A tale of two tangs...

DGonci

New member
So I was looking for a Blond Naso Tang for a little wile when finally I get a call from Tim at ABCReefs that they got one in. It has great color and is about 6". We left it there a few days to ensure it was eating and all was well. Once I got it home and got it acclimated I put it in the 120G tank. It took to the tank and was swimming around like it had been there for months. It got along great with my other tang, a small Des Jardins which is about 3-4 inches. The only problem was that it wouldnt eat. I tried Algea Sheets, Spirulina, PEMysis, and even some MacroFeast stuff, and nothing. The naso was getting pretty thin, and I was starting to get worried.

Thats when I noticed some interesting behaivor with the two tangs. The Desjardins was nudging the naso towards the algea sheet trying to show him the food, and that he should eat it. If the Naso swam away the Des Jardins would lead him back to the food. It took him about 4 days and then he finally started eating. Now the two tangs seem inseperable. It was pretty cool to watch.
 
Man! That IS an awesome story!

My 3 Tangs get along fine, but never heard of a Tang actually helping another find food and to eat it! Amazing!
Seems kind of unusual. With as competitive as most can be.

I mean, Tangs get along to different degrees in different tanks as well as what species they all are...

But I've never seen or heard of any "sharing" food on purpose!
Mine all eat together, are competitive to a safe degree,
but I don't think they would ever do that for anyone on purpose...
They are too much like Pigs! :)
 
Perhaps it was a situation of "Hey... how you doin'. Here's the deal... I keep you alive, you do as I say in this here tank of mine pal. Capiche?" ;)

I added a Tennenti tang at one point and my Atlantic Blue started beating on him. I then added a large sailfin tang. Oddly enough... when the Atlantic Blue started beating up on the sailfin the Tennenti took over the tank and kept Blue in check. Was funny as heck to watch play out...
 
aren't you suppose to be getting work done, Mel??????

My yellow and my Kohl duked it out for about 5 mins. went to opposite sides of the tank...next day? swimming with each other. kinda like, "well, there's a wall, there's a wall, yeah...four walls. we're roommates. better like each other."
 
I honestly thought that they would compete more for food, but was really suprised. The Des Jardins normally would go and rip big pieces off, but when he was trying to get the naso to eat it would only nip at it. I was concerned becaue I was going away for two weeks, but I talked to my wife last night and she said he is eating pretty much what ever is dropped into the tank.
 
Cool story Dan. I had a Naso a long time ago, I suspect he starved to death as he would eat frozen but ignored the green stuff. When's the TV movie coming out???
 
way cool story, pretty amazing, you would think theyll be competitive more so in a tank enviroment, guess it not always about kill or be killed :)
 
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