Fish are getting bigger, not playing nice

[blumarlin]

I have been hanging out on this site for awhile now & have learned alot & still have so much to learn. I had a tank a couple of yrs ago (w/o a clue as to what I was doing). So, here I am again, trying again.

I now realize that my tank is too small for the tangs that I have in there which is a yellow tang & regal. My clarki is now around 4 1/2". My regal tang (who I used to call scardy cat, cuz she was so shy) is now becoming a bully, picking on every other fish in the tank (she is aprox 2 1/2" now)

I am asking for a a 120 gal tank for Christmas, (as I have learned here, always an upgrade!) but we are trying to sell our house on the gulf coast w/ no luck ...any takers?

Anyway, the point here here is: Listen to what these guys tell you about your tank being too small (they know what they are talking about) I can see the differance in how my fish act as they are growing & they are growing way to fast. Fat & Happy is not always good, in some cases I

They are so NOT getting along w/ each other. So, what do I do?

 

[JimKelly12203]

IMO it's 1 tang for every 48" of tank! no exceptions. And even if you have a 96" long tank, you can't put tangs of like body shape in the same space. Oh things may start out all peachy keen... but give it a couple years. Those fish get to be ~1 foot long! In time, their instincts will kick in and they'll want to murder any other fish that eats the same way they do.

Anything less is disrespectful to the wildlife we all obviously love to keep. Obviously people make honest mistakes. But yeah... if you're told not to do it here, chances are it's a bad idea.

I've only just started posting here, but i've read the on-line publication for quite a while. Clearly these people know what they're doing.

 

[SlowCobra]

Water volume is not the sole factor in keeping tangs. They need room to swim and rocks to hide in. They really need a 6ft tank minimum, especially if you have more than 1.

 

[Coderabit2]

I've found its just easier to take bullys out of my tank before they start to do damage to themselves or others. There are plenty of other fish in the sea hehe.

 

[reeferaddiction]

maybe you should find a new home for them, maybe see if you have a friend that has a big tank and can hold them if you are really getting the 120 for xmas. or if worst come to worst post on your local reef club forum to find them a new home.dont feel bad i was in the same boat as you but fortunatley i have a 125 that i put my growing tangs in. you may want to try putting nori on 2 seperate veggie clips and keep nori on them most of the time to keep them occupied if there is little to no competition for food you may be able to keep them civil until you get the new tank assuming you actually do get it in december. good luck

 

[reeferaddiction]

oh and deff monitor the fish closely if the nori thing isnt working then seperate so nobody gets hurt or worse