Aggresive Powder Blue Tang?

[sevenkillers]

Hey all.

I recieved a shipment of blue-green chromis. I entroduced them into my tank yesterday. I noticed that my powder blue tang was chasing the chromis. I proceded to turn of the lights for a few hours. I then turned on the room light and feed them food.

He seemed to settle down. However today when I came home from work I noticed all of the 3 chromis were hiding. Every time they come out he chases them back in.

Any suggestions?

By the way the tank size is a 220 glass tank with about 350 lbs of live rock.

Each chromis is about 3 inches long.
The powder Blue tang is about 4 inches long.

My tang does not bother any other of my fish in fact I almost think that my yellow tang, and powder blue are in love.....

 

[Paintbug]

PBT are very predatory. you may need to re-arrange the rocks and make all the fish establish new territories.

 

[Project Reef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8283754#post8283754 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Paintbug
PBT are very predatory. you may need to re-arrange the rocks and make all the fish establish new territories.

Predatory on what? Algae? I think you mean aggressive/territorial.

 

[Paintbug]

um yes LOL TERRITORIAL!! its been a long day. thanks for catching that!!

 

[JoeESSA]

He'll probably settle down after a week or so. My PBT chased every fish that I put in the tank after he was introduced. Looked like a charging bull. Every time he started calming down, resigning himself to the new occupants after a couple of days. After a week, the aggression was much less and steadily improved after that. Unfortunately one fish I tried to introduce was a jumper, (velvet wrasse) and he responded to the PBT's aggression by jumping out the tank. First he jumped into one of the overflows. I managed to get him out, but second time he jumped out onto the floor. Took me too long to find him unfortunately.

My PBT has been through several minor ich outbreaks. One thing that worried me was that the outbreaks usually coincided with the stress of new fish being introduced. All that aggression saps strength. Nevertheless these outbreaks cleared up after a week or two. He has been ich free for six months now and I have had him for just over a year.

It's a good idea to introduce more than one fish at a time from this point onwards. Diffuses the aggression that any one newly introduced fish will be subjected to. When I added green chromis, I put six in at the same time. This ruffled the PBT's feathers for sure, but he soon realised that it was a lost cause.

 

[sevenkillers]

Hey thanks for all your responses.

I added 3 green chromis, and one rock beauty angel at the samer time.
He is not bothering the angel though.


Man maybe i might have a matching pair. One yellow tang, and one powder blue tang.:lol:
They swim like there are join to each other.:smokin:

 

[xtrstangx]

The PBT should've been the last fish added. Live and learn.

As long as the Chromis aren't being physically hurt, I'd say give it a bit of time to see if he lays off. If not, move the rocks around.

 

[JoeESSA]

My PBT was my last fish added. At least until I added the next fish

Point being that there are many fish that fall into the "last fish to add" category, but for one reason or another it may become impractical to hold true to this rule. In my case I had a 70G and the PBT was the last fish in. Then I upgraded to a 140g and transferred everything fron the 70 into the 140. Over the period of a few months I added 4 anthias, 6 Green Chromis, a Dragonet and Six Line Wrasse. The only fish that the PBT didn't bother were the latter two.

Now, all is relatively peaceful, but the PBT does have an occational issue with the Lawnmower blenny since he competes with the PBT for the seaweed strips I put in the tank...He side-smacks the Blenny on the head if he thinks the Blenny is munching on his seaweed too much

 

[sevenkillers]

Thanks guys. He is not hurting the fish. He is just chasing them.

 

[DrBegalke]

The PBT left the dragonet, wrasse, and angel alone because those fish to not swim/feed primarily in the water column. Chromis do, so he sees them as a threat.

 

[ReefBuilderNJ]

at least its the cheaper fish he is chasing..lol