Kole Carnage!

jnarowe

jnarowe

New member
Well yesterday I put some fish in my 1,100g system including 2 Yellow Eye Koles. One of them looked stressed or possibly having Ich, but the spots went away so I think it was just discoloration. I tried for about 1.5 hours to get him out of the tank with no success.

Today I find that the other one is harrassing it to no end, biting and smacking it with its tang. The weaker one was fighting a losing battle and eventually came within reach of my net. It is now in a QT/hospital tank and seems relieved but it is fairly injured with some bites out of its fins and lacerations on its sides.

So what to do? I have given it a little medication and food. It also has taken refuge in a piece of PVC so hopefully it will calm down. The question is what further treatment should I give it and once it is healed, what do I do with it? It's fairly clear these two will not be able to get along. Also there is a Blue Eye Kole in the tank that is the only fish staying in hiding. Only once in a great while does it poke its head out.

Anyone with advice??:confused:
 
Never tried two together, but one by itself (meaning no other koles) will be rather peaceful.

Omar
 
Never kept a Kole personally however I think this is a perfect example of why most of us tell others it's not wise to mix same species tangs unless in large schools. Obviously with your system(oh and congrats btw Ive followed your thread about the tank) size of 1100g even then it's risky to mingle tangs.

How about a big school of powder browns/blues?! That would be interesting in your tank.
 
evolust: I was a bit surprised at how mean it was since I have never witnessed that before. It was relentlessly harrassing the other to the point where the weaker one really was giving up. I just happened to notice at the right time and scoop him out.

Yeah I have 3 Yellow (Haw), 1 PB, 3 Hep, 1 Purple, 1 Blue eye Kole, the 2 yellow eyed, & 1 Yellow (Phil). The Philipines Yellow is very gregarious and likes to follow othe rtangs around. The 3 heps stay together and the 3 Yellow (Haw) stay together. The Blue eyd Kole rarely comes out of the rocks. It's very shy and is hanging out with a cleaner shrimp.

I have seen multiple Yellow eyes in one tank at the LFS but perhaps we had a major personality problem. The hurt one is quite lacerated and the mean one has the right side tang fully bared, I would guess that over time the skin will cover it again but right now it looks like a cross between a razor and a needle sticking out. Nasty looking stuff!

Has anyone noticed that at night the yellows are out-and-about while all the other fish sleep?

There's about 25 fish in the system and they all go right to bed when lights go out. You would never know there were fish in the tank at night because they are all in caves, but the yellow tangs come out and swim the perimeter. I don't know if it's because I am there or they are maybe a bit nocturnal.

I only went with 1 PB because they have a reputation for being bullies. The pruple is the same. They are very agressive. The heps seem much more friendly to each other, as do the yellows. Even the yellows fight a bit.

Today I observed the various tangs fighting over a cleaner shrimp. One tang would present and the shrimp would crawl on it, and then another tang would come and start a fight. The purple tang seems to have comandeered the cave that particular shrimp is in so it was the most agressive with other tangs vying for the shrimp's services.
 
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Perhaps I'm in the minority, but in my personal experience I have found that Kole Tangs are not nearly as peaceful as their general reputation would have one to believe. Once again this could have just been an unfortunate anomaly of having a rather unusually pugnacious specimen.

All that being said, I don't find it strange at all that even in a very large system this Kole Tang is displaying aggression towards another Kole Tang. I wouldn't even find it strange if it were displaying aggression towards surgeonfish of other genera that are typically regarded as being more territorial and aggressive.

My Kole didn't discriminate. Although it despised my 2 inch yellow tang the most, it also pretty much loathed and would attack every other fish in my system (A docile Maroon Clown and 2 very small chromis)
 
Yeah the plan was to release 3 into the system and hope that balanced it out but one was DOA. I just really love the look of the Kole. It is not bothering any other fish. The purple is a bit agressive with others, particularly around what I think it has claimed as his "personal" cleaner shrimp.

There is definitely some action in the tank but that Kole battle was by far the worst.
 
My kole went into a 300 after a convict, and a mimic, and a naso pair and after about 2-3 months of him being in there he started to pester everyone. So I gave him to a friend instead of stressing my others. I currently have a naso, vlamangi, orangeshoulder, mimic, convict, PBT,dussimier with no fighting at all that I see.
 
That's really interesting. No fighting with a naso & vlamangi in the same tank? Just goes to show that each system has its own personality. I hope the Kole doesn't decide to go after any other fish. I know it tried to impress its will on the purple and the purple made sure the Kole knew he was going to get a serious fight if it didn't bug off. The purple is one of the smaller in the tank but definitely doesn't take crap from anyone.

I am interested to see how it all plays out. At this point I cannot give the weak Kole to anyone because it is pretty cut up. Any thoughts about putting him in the fuge? At least it would have more room than in the QT...
 
I think that if I didn't have the one DOA and put in 3 Yellow eyes it probably would have been different. Don't really know for sure. I gave the healed one to tinygiants yesterday so it will have a good home!
 
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