Tang attacking Rabbitfish

[cocoaandme]

I just got a small coral rabbitfish (siganus corallinus) yesterday and my purple tang immediately began to attack it with it's tail barbs. Today the tang seems to be leaving him alone more but he still occasionally tries to hook him or at least shows his flatside to him. Will he begin to accept the rabbitfish or will he keep attacking him? The rabbitfish has been hiding under an overhang but he came out to eat today. Thanks reefers!:wave:

 

[psykokid]

Your Purple Tang is probably just putting the rabbit in its place, letting it know that he's the boss. My hippo tang used to do that to any new fish. She was especially brutal to my mandarin for whatever reason. She nipped at his fins constantly at first.. Finally the attacks dropped off to nothing after about a week. Give them some time.

 

[Levito]

If you have both of these fish in the 50g you have listed in your profile, then the aggression will likely continue. Purple tangs are very aggressive, and a 50g is not much space for them to coexist in.

 

[BrianD]

What Levito said.

 

[cocoaandme]

If you have both of these fish in the 50g you have listed in your profile, then the aggression will likely continue. Purple tangs are very aggressive, and a 50g is not much space for them to coexist in.

Yeah I thought that might pose a problem. I was hoping since they were both small it wouldn't be an issue. My purple tang never displayed this aggression before and he has always been more docile so I was surprised when I saw it.

Your Purple Tang is probably just putting the rabbit in its place, letting it know that he's the boss. My hippo tang used to do that to any new fish. She was especially brutal to my mandarin for whatever reason. She nipped at his fins constantly at first.. Finally the attacks dropped off to nothing after about a week. Give them some time.

Thanks Psykokid for the input that explains why the aggression tapered off.

 

[BrianD]

It is doubtful the aggression will stop, especially as the two fish grow and become more cramped in the 50 gallon tank.

 

[snorvich]

Remember that aggression is progressive. As a fish grows, its perception of its environment will also shrink making it less tolerant of those in the same ecological niche.

 

[cocoaandme]

It is doubtful the aggression will stop, especially as the two fish grow and become more cramped in the 50 gallon tank.

I only plan on keeping the rabbitfish in there for about a year until I transfer it to a 100g. I was able to find a small one luckily from an lfs. I had been looking for a small one for a long time since they usually only come in big. I wanted to see how it would do at eating bubble algae and hair algae since I had heard that some people had success with that.

 

[cocoaandme]

Well I waited for a week and the purple tang was still a bit aggressive so I removed the rabbitfish. Thanks for all the help.