Tang and Angel

mtsuguy

New member
I got an Juv. Emperor Angle today from one of the local stores here and I checked the chart that said they were completely compatable. I have had a powder brown tang for about 3 weeks now and he has pretty much dominated the tank. The angel is 2.5" and the tang is 3. Needless to say the tang is giving it to him pretty rough. At the store they told me that there would be no issue and as long as there was plenty of rock work... well, there is and the tang has been chasing the angel thru the tank slapping him with his tail. The angel is trying to stay out of the tangs way but no luck so far. I've tried to isolate the angel but the rockwork is making that pretty unrealistic. Is this going to ease up soon or what?
 
Do you know that Angel is going to grow to be a HUGE fish, needless to say your tangs are too.....Anytime you put two fish together you NEED to have another tank setup(like a hospital tank or just another tank) just in case that doesn't work out. It can stop, it may just take a couple of days for them to get it out of their system, but it may not. You need to watch them closely for now.
 
aggression is normal in a tank that small even with juvenile fish. it's not so much the size of the fish but their swimming habits etc as well. something else you might try is to rearrange the rockwork so the tang isn't so territorial. that being said, every fish is different and will carry a different personality so just observe and do what you think is best.
 
I have a 10g for qt. if the tang doesnt let up. My question is, if he doesnt let up in a day or two should I take the tang out or the angel? I know they are both going to be large in the near future. This summer I will be buying a 150g fowlr for aggressive fish and keep the 55 for reef.
 
I just got a copperband butterfly and the same thing happened with my Desjardini tang. I think in my case it was similar body shapes and vertical striping that did it. I took the CBB out and isolated him, later to return him because he was one of the healthiest CBB I've seen lately.

Dave
 
I just checked out the tang and he has some dark spots starting to appear on one side of him and he is scraping the rocks a bit. Should I treat the tank with some meds(reefsafe)?
 
GIve it a few days and keep a close eye. tangs are very territorial and powders are knows for being some of the most aggressive. Plenty of food and distractions are also a good idea. when I add a new fish I make sure to offer NOri for the tangs in my tank. keeps them distracted. also keep lights off to avoid stress. I have seen some pretty brutal beatings given by my powder brown on the tomini tang, but it looks fat and sassy now. maybe a day and a hald of harrasment from my powder brown when I added the tomini, then the purple took over for a few hours, but all are freinds now and follow each other around. tomini bullys the lawnmower blenny though.
 
Just took another look at them and they seem to be buddy buddy now. The tang is kind of leading the way and the angel just follows it around. I just fed about 2 hours ago and the angel didnt eat much, just a few nips at the brine. Hopefully he will pick up on eating in the next day or two.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11815864#post11815864 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mtsuguy
Just took another look at them and they seem to be buddy buddy now. The tang is kind of leading the way and the angel just follows it around. I just fed about 2 hours ago and the angel didnt eat much, just a few nips at the brine. Hopefully he will pick up on eating in the next day or two.

They must have gotten over their differences....Just keep an close eye on them. I just noticed something while reading underneath your profile. You've been in the hobby for 3 months? How long have you setup this tank?? IF only 3 months, you better keep that water change on a weekly basis since your tank is not mature. You need to feed other stuffs, not brine, no nutritional value!!! Feed nori is a must and some frozen food would be good as well, something like Formula 2.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11811881#post11811881 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mtsuguy
I just checked out the tang and he has some dark spots starting to appear on one side of him and he is scraping the rocks a bit. Should I treat the tank with some meds(reefsafe)?

You don't want to treat the tank itself with meds, you would treat it in a QT instead!!! Sometimes tangs will get spots on them (Usually white spots that looks like ich) if you feed them too much meaty foods, give'em some nori and frozen sea entree veggie formulas (again, Formula 2). After keeping tangs for more then 3 years, I have tried a lot of different types of foods and I just really prefer formula 2. OR if you want, you can order Tang Food online from tang heaven I think....
 
He has been eating a lot of frozen shrimp lately. He also seems to like the food I got for the angel. Is there anyway to keep him from eating those things? I always make sure he has some green and red/purple seaweed on a vegie clip. He just seems to like those other things when they are fed to the tank.
 
I let everything soak in selcon for an hour before I feed. Sorry I should have specified that. So far everything has been good with my tank, ammonia is at 0, trite 0, nrate 10ish. As far as the tang, I tried formula two and he wouldnt touch it.
 
You need to feed more algae type of food for your tang. Feed less shrimp or rotate. Defrost formula 2 first until it's mushy, then mush it with your fingers and toss the mush into your tank. He should go after it.....
 
I got some formula 2 yesterday and he ate that for a minute. As soon as I started feeding the angel he stopped and came after his food and now the angel isnt eating. You think I should just take the tang out for a while and qt him and let the angel get used to the tank without being bullied?
 
keep it in there for another couple days....is he nipping off any of the angel?....and when you feed the formula 2...is the angel not getting any at all...my angel loves anything that i throw in the tank....noria, formula 1 and 2, pellets
 
That has to do with the tang. The Angel must felt threatened to be hiding and not eating. Setup your QT tank and remove the tang, you should see progress right away. IF no progress is made in two days, you should remove that angel to the QT tank instead of the tang. That's happened to me before, but they didn't start hiding until about a month later. It was 3 Anthias and the Regal Tang was bullying them really bad to the point all 3 was hiding from him. For me, unfortunately I wasn't able to get no one out of the tank since they were in a 90g bowfront with lots of rock work.....We ended up losing the Anthias....
 
I got everything set up last night and tossed the tang over in there. He is still eating like a horse, anything and everything that goes in is eaten in a matter of minutes. The angel has starting eating again, not a lot but he is eating. He still hides after he is finished eating though. How long should I expect this before he actually comes out and stays awhile?
 
Depends on the fish, it can take just a few days up to a week, a month or forever....You just never know. We have a Yellow Tang that we've got 4 years ago, always hides even 4 years later.....The ONLY fish that hides!!! But my Foxface used to hide too, it took the Foxface about a year or so to quit hiding and come out to eat when it's time.
 
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