Sohal tang snapped again!!!

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sanchoy

sanchoy

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Well my 10 inch Sohal tang goes through periods of temperament spasms. His latest victim is no other then the cleaner shrimps. For the last 2 years the Sohal enjoyed the company of these cleaners, as they picked at his skin and did their duty well.

This latest 2 days was a little different. I noticed that the shrimps moved underneath a rock and the Sohal will attempt to get cleaned by them as usual but the cleaners will move deeper underneath the rock.

Then today i observed that the Sohal actually took a swipe at them with his mouth, and attempted to pull them out. Long and behold, 2 hours later i saw the Sohal swimming around with a cleaner shrimp in his mouth. He did not eat it, he just killed it!!!

Whats up with this jeckle and hyde fish. Any experience with Sohals attacking shrimps?
 
sanchoy said:
Well my 10 inch Sohal tang goes through periods of temperament spasms. His latest victim is no other then the cleaner shrimps. For the last 2 years the Sohal enjoyed the company of these cleaners, as they picked at his skin and did their duty well.

This latest 2 days was a little different. I noticed that the shrimps moved underneath a rock and the Sohal will attempt to get cleaned by them as usual but the cleaners will move deeper underneath the rock.

Then today i observed that the Sohal actually took a swipe at them with his mouth, and attempted to pull them out. Long and behold, 2 hours later i saw the Sohal swimming around with a cleaner shrimp in his mouth. He did not eat it, he just killed it!!!

Whats up with this jeckle and hyde fish. Any experience with Sohals attacking shrimps?
Click to expand...

Maybe he's hungry. They eat 24/7 in the wild..

I would try to offer more food. They'll usually leave them alone if they're full.
 
That's Sohals.
I had the smallest one I've seen, like 3-4" in my 180g and the day I placed him I knew it was a mistake, tank was just too small, and he was obviously going batty.
Can't imagine a 10" even in a 250g keeping it's cool.
They just need way too much swim space IMO.
 
Oh the Sohal is fat. He gets his share of food. Tummy fat and bloated all the time from eating. He just snapped just like that at Mr. Shrimp.

He has plenty of other tank mates as well. Yellow,Purple,Horse Shoe,Achilles, Tomini,blue hippo tangs to horse around with. He does not bother them much, but the cleaner shrimp deal was just odd.
 
sanchoy said:
Oh the Sohal is fat. He gets his share of food. Tummy fat and bloated all the time from eating. He just snapped just like that at Mr. Shrimp.

He has plenty of other tank mates as well. Yellow,Purple,Horse Shoe,Achilles, Tomini,blue hippo tangs to horse around with. He does not bother them much, but the cleaner shrimp deal was just odd.
Click to expand...

Well, just wait, there are more candidates for such aggression.
 
i'm surprised it hasn't gave you a problem yet being he's in a tank with so many tangs especially an achilles how did you get away with that you been very lucky so far i have a 5 inch sohal that can't be housed with any tang even if the other tang is doubled the size it will slash it all up he's been on solitary for over a year in an 8 ft 240 just haven't got rid of him because it's one of my favorite tangs good luck with yours
 
What are the dimensions of the 250 gallon? Everyone's saying that's pretty small, but imo that's a fairly large tank. I think the issue may be all the other tank mates causing some stress.
 
The bigger question is why did he take his anger on the cleaner shrimps instead of the other fish in my tank. Like i said before he was trying to get cleaned by them, instead of doing their work (like they usually do) they moved farther into the rock and hid.

The Sohal, which appeared to be angered due to the lack of cleaning, just started biting at them.. and killed one cleaner, the other one hides in horror.

Can such a small task, anger the Sohal so much he had to kill? Wow.. i sometimes become astonish at the character of this fish.
 
Last edited:
sanchoy said:
The bigger question is why did he take his anger on the cleaner shrimps instead of the other fish in my tank. Like i said before he was trying to get cleaned by them, instead of doing their work (like they usually do) they moved farther into the rock and hid.

The Sohal, which appeared to be angered due to the lack of cleaning, just started biting at them.. and killed one cleaner, the other one hides hides horror.

Can such a small task, anger the Sohal so much he had to kill? Wow.. i sometimes become astonish at the character of this fish.
Click to expand...

No offense, but it's a cleaner. Neat critter, but I think you're overemphasizing it imo

If it worries you that much. Pull out the other cleaner and call it a day. Are you really contemplating taking out the sohal to keep the cleaner?
 
It's gonna get to the point where the sohal will jus substitute fish for the cleaner... its not a matter of him being angry at a shrimp, he jus had to take his aggression out and the poor cleaner was the victim... likely the other cleaner will he next, then the rest of ur fish after that... people can deny it all they want, it is the inevitable... its what big sohals in captivity do...
 
SaltwaterAdict said:
What are the dimensions of the 250 gallon? Everyone's saying that's pretty small, but imo that's a fairly large tank. I think the issue may be all the other tank mates causing some stress.
Click to expand...

Everyone that's saying it knows from experience though. They've seen what kind of damage these fish can do. There's a reason why they're called the "Meanest Tang".

Hey Sanchoy can you post pics of your tank and fish? Loved to see them especially the horseshoe(Fowleri) tang.
 
+1 for pics!
Keep a very close eye on your sohal, and be prepared to remove him if necessary. A 240 is not a lot of room for a 10" sohal. Hopefully he will give you warning signs by disperse his aggression among several fish instead of killing them one by one...
 
There always another choice he can do...can you say upgrade! ;)

How big of a tank is adequate for a sohal longterm? These fish like clown tang do get pretty massive and probably do need a bigger tank. Is 10in a full grown adult sohal or do they get bigger?
 
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