Blue Face angel under attack

[FerrariStradale]

I recently purchased a beautiful blue face angel which is 4 1/2 inches and is in its sub adult stage. My local fish store neglected to tell me that my blue angel (juvenile) would not like the new tank mate (blue face) and proceeded to start attacking the blue face tearing chunks out of the poor fishes fins. I removed the blue angel (after a long hard fight) from the tank and the blue face is now doing much better. She is eating and swimming but looks like she was taken down an alley way and beaten half to death. I put in Vita chem and am hoping that her fins grow back with no problem. All the other tank mates seem to like her except my Niger Trigger which has gotten very aggressive over the last couple of months. Wont seem to leave her alone now.

I am currently upgrading to a 250 gallon and plan on putting in only two more fish... a Emp. Angel and a Vlamingi Tang. Currently I have a Picasso Trigger, Clown Trigger (nicest one you will ever meet), Niger Trigger, Unicorn Tang, Blue Face angel.. Plus blue angel but in another tank now.

What should I do to make the blue face as comfortable as possible to ensure her fins will grow back and have a safe transfer to the new tank? Remove the Niger? Any help appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[agreeive?fish]

put her in a qt tank after she has had a chance to recover and heal up remove all the bullies and let her get acustom to her new home for a while then start adding the bullies back in in order of least agressive to most agressive over a period of a few weeks ( you may also re arange your rock before you start readding the bullies but before the beat up fish has become totaly acoustom to your tank)

 

[danorth]

Welcome, and give it time. The niger should mellow out hopefully. If it doesn't mellow out in a few days, it may not. But the chase may become much less frequent especially once the angel starts to feel more bold as well. My blueface is a jerk and will make my 3" larger clown trigger move its tail away from the angels grabbing lips.

 

[ccampbell57]

well I am sorry to hear that. Your blueface will only get attacked more when you add the Emperor angel into the mix. Blue angels tend to be pretty mellow as large angels go, but it sounds like yours is not happy with something. The key to adding large angels together is ensuring proper time apart to adjust to captivity. Without this, they will attack each other and it will end in the death of the fish.

 

[phk36]

do you have any other tanks to do this?

 

[sean48183]

Get in there and rearrange the rocks but this is going to be a difficult situation. Those are some rough hombres you got in there. Maybe you could try taping a mirror to the side of the tank for a couple weeks. I have heard this works because the fish will see its reflection in the mirror and think it is another fish and chase it constantly with out a care for your new fish. I think with the blue angel and blueface in that tank maybe a problem in the long run though.

 

[FerrariStradale]

Thanks for all your help!

I rearranged the rock today and the aggression went down considerably. The only fish that seems to have a care the blue face is there is the Niger. My blue angel is now in the other tank until my 250 is up and running. My LFS, after seeing the pictures of my beat up blue face, told me to add Maracyn (Mardel Product) and treat for five days. I am doing that as of now, with copper and the Vita Chem.

Anything else I should do? A QT tank is out of the mix.

I am also instructed to put the blue face, blue, and emp. angel in the new tank at the same time so the fighting is kept to a minimum... does anyone disagree with that?

Thanks.

 

[ccampbell57]

why copper? Do the fish have ich? No copper....get it out ASAP

 

[limitdown]

Definitely remove the copper. Run carbon or Cuprisorb.
When you reintroduce, put the blueface in first, then emp, then blue (least to most aggressive). Spread it out over 1wk btwn each introduction.

 

[FerrariStradale]

My clown trigger has had two spots on him for almost a month.... I figured that when my blue face was beat up i should put copper just in case there are parasites.

I will be taking it out when the carbon goes in to take out the Maracyn.

My new tank will never have any meds in it. The tank they are in now will become the hospital tank when the new one is ready for fish.

 

[FerrariStradale]

Would adding a Annularis Angel into the mix in my new tank be ok? I really like the look of the fish but I have not met anyone who has one.

The list of fish for new tank (250) would be:
Blue Face Angel
Blue Angel
Emp. Angel
Clown Trigger
Picasso Trigger
Niger Trigger
Unicorn Tang
Vlamingi Tang

*Annularis Angel*

What do you think?

 

[reign]

Angels are obviouslyvery beautiful. unfortunatley they usually dont get along very well..If trying this qt in seperate systems and make sure they are in tip top..Add the least aggresive first and finally the most last..Usually adding multiple fish when introducing helps reduce aggression ...
otherwise good luck!

 

[sean48183]

I would not try multiples of any type aggressive fish including triggers, angels, groupers, wrasses and such. I usually add one of alot of different types. Instead of all the angels and triggers why not mix in a wrasse, grouper, eel. There are so many beautiful types of different fish that you don't have to add a bunch of one kind.

 

[Toddrtrex]

I would re-think the Unicorn Tang and Vlamingi Tang, both can grow up to 24" and will be way too big for your tank.

 

[phk36]

I have also used egg crate to divide the tank. I have kept it up for about two weeks than take half away. The last time I did this was to bring an eight inch clown tang in to my 180 with a six inch purple tang. This worked well as the egg crate will let water flow threw

 

[reign]

Sean I did not mean to add all angels or aggressive fish at the same time..I meant when adding fish usually adding multiple fish ,assortment alleiviates the "new" guy getting beat all to hell because he is the only new fish vying for territory and food..You guys really need to not take everything so literally..We are all here trying to help!