Blue Tang Aggression

[bimmer88]

Wow.. i always thought blue tangs were peaceful... i've had this guy since he was the smallest size fish stores would sell them... Now he's tripled his size... he grows faster than all the other fish because he eats like a pig. In fact he used to get picked on by my flame angel before i took him out... he's never bothered any of the other fish before but now that he's gotten bigger, he's bullying all my other fish around... he chases my onyx clown, my yellow tang(twice his size), and my new mystery wrasse. Everytime my mystery wrasse comes out from the rock work, the blue tang would dart across the tank just to scare him back in. All the websites i've read indicate that the hippo tang is supposed to be a peaceful inhabitant. Anyone else have aggressive blue tangs or did i just end up with a bad egg?

 

[benzrider85]

How big is the tank? How many fish are in the tank? Could be not enough space?

 

[bimmer88]

tank is 65 gallon... my stock is as follows:

-yellow tang(3 inch)
-blue tang(2.5 inch)
-onyx clown(1 inch)
-mystery wrasse(2 inch)
-mandarin goby(2 inch)

doesn't seem crowded at all seeing as to how everything is still small... plenty of rock work for hiding places.

 

[jeffroberts1]

there also known as a Hippo Tang hippo's are nasty animals and very aggressive, I had one the same way I started with 2 and one got too aggressive and he even nipped at corals they do double in size quicker. Its funny to hear this the opposite is always told about them.

 

[bigworm175]

I think its an individual fish issue. My Hippo is a model citizen. Sorry to hear he's being a PITA.

 

[Dutch06]

tank is 65 gallon.

I would definitely guess this is the issue. IMO a hippo would outgrow this very quickly and the first sign of an issue would be aggression towards other fish.

 

[bimmer88]

I would definitely guess this is the issue. IMO a hippo would outgrow this very quickly and the first sign of an issue would be aggression towards other fish.

he's still seems to be a relatively small fish for the tank... an upgrade is in the plans eventually... just not yet... the 65 gallon was supposed to be my experimental saltwater tank since i've never kept one before... didn't want to go too big just in case everything died on me the first month and i had to give up... Everything's been going smooth and i'm thinking about an upgrade to 180g once corals and fish outgrow the tank...

 

[benzrider85]

I bet you won't have any aggression problems in the 180.

 

[bimmer88]

I bet you won't have any aggression problems in the 180.

i'd probably have trouble finding the fish in the tank...heheh... on a side note... my mystery wrasse seems to be doing pretty well on his second day and a bit of a terror himself... i fed my long tentacle anemone some silverside... the mystery wrasse caught a glimpse of it closing up on the food. He immediately went and kept attacking the anemone until it opened up then he stole the food! carried it a few inches away and started feasting on it... crab started coming close so he just carried the whole thing into the rock work so that he can feast on it himself...

 

[Ganzel]

mine only eats a kenya tree that stands in the way of his night hiding spot. except for that, model citizen as well. I have a problem with my chromis chasing my three big tangs around!

 

[gregmoeck]

mine snips kenya tree as well