Tang family feud

[MrMikeB]

Hello all,

I have a Yellow tang who has been in a 150 gallon setup alongside an Orange Shoulder tang for a month or so - best of friends. I recently acquired a similar sized blue regal and placed in with the bunch. I was hoping the fact it was completely a different color and shape would discourage any fighting, but that is not to be the case. I have noticed (they have been there for two days now) that the Yellow is tail swatting and constantly harassing the Regal - even though there are plenty of rocks and more than enough room to swim in. I do not have a QT established yet, but do have a 14 gal nano that hosts a couple small percula clowns. That cute little white spot on the tail is a barb that I fear can inflict great damage if timed right. Any advice on stopping the feud would be greatly appreciated - or is this one of those 'let them work it out' situations and I am overreacting?

Many thanks in advance, and Happy Holidays!

 

[Avalanche Wolf]

You can put a divider in or change your Rocks around so everyone is out of place.

Reacting to this is not over reacting , sounds like they are going at it pretty bad.

 

[MrMikeB]

So moving the rocks around will give them the idea that its nobodies territory and they will reestablish the bounds? A pain to do with 150llbs to contend with, but the alternative (things involved catching either of them) is probably worse. Thanks for the advice!

 

[xinumaster]

put a mirror on the side so when the yellow tang see himself on the mirror he'll spend time swatting his image instead.

 

[MrMikeB]

You serious? I know I am relatively new - just did not want to fall for one of those "Go get the box of grid squares" type of thing. (Something I admittedly used myself whenever I had the chance.)

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8777852#post8777852 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MrMikeB
You serious? I know I am relatively new - just did not want to fall for one of those "Go get the box of grid squares" type of thing. (Something I admittedly used myself whenever I had the chance.)

A valid thing to try. It works great for some fish, others ignore the mirror.

 

[Reefugee]

Yep - the solution is to change the rock work around. The yellow tang is a very aggressive tang where as the regal tang is relatively docile. I had a yellow tang that was putting some serious cuts into my clown fish.

You could always try to let them work things out - but no guarantee that it will happen.

Minh

 

[MrMikeB]

Amazing! Thank you all for the great advice. I at least feel I have a fighting chance with some real ideas to test out tonight.

 

[raymond4133]

well i have four resident tangs in my 125 gallon reef tank

1) 3-4 inch yellow tang
2) 3-4 inch blue tang
3) 4-5 inch blue tang
4) 4 inch purple tang

-Yeah I have 4 tangs count'em 4 tangs in my tank alongside 15 other fishes...

Well mike when i the tank setup in the beggining i put the yellow first...eventually I bought the #2 blue tang and put him/her in...With no problems...after about two months or so I added the #3 blue tang to the mix and the two blue's seem like friends...and just within the past month i added the purple tang...Though I took out the yellow and when i brought the purple i released both at the same time...(I don't think it helped in anyway better) (in the past week the two tangs seem to be fronting each other with their tails and size...)

-But i do feed them NORI pretty much every day or so and that's probalby the only time they are peaceful...

-I think feeding the tangs in your tank would curve aggression a little more...

-as far as that I did some rock aquascaping with the easier to move rocks... I also like i said took out the yellow for a moment and put him back in the same time as the purple...

-I would say mike just catch the yelllow and put it back in after the blue recovers...I wouldn't really worry about the yellow being hurt by the blue...(typically blue tangs are more docile and friendlier...)(so just let the blue establish some territory...before putting the yellow back) If you have a sump that would be a good quarintine tank for the yellow...

-I have put fish in my sump for many weeks at a time to isolate them from potential killer tankmates, etc...And they still do good...

---I hope this help---- if not you probalby just have one really bad yellow tang and one really shy blue tang...


raymond

 

[MrMikeB]

Your input is very much appreciated. Its great to get great advice from a resident Tang expert. Do you think using the nano as a 'bad fish' tank for awhile instead of the sump would work? I just have a pair of clowns and a pari of bangaii cardinalfish in there now (very small, no bigger than an inch each). The sump just looks dark and a bit torrential for the Yellow to be peaceful for any legnth of time. Do you have any idea on how long is a good enough time to keep it out before putting it back in (days, weeks, ?)

I think I will try the rock moving first, then adding a mirror to see if they calm down and play nice... then move on to more drastic measures like taking the Yellow out for awhile, and then if that does not work...well maybe sushi? J/K

Any ideas/tricks on how to catch a fast moving yellow tang in 140 gallon tank with tons of rocks who does not want to be caught?

 

[raymond4133]

Hey Mike,

I'am no tang expert I'am just a hobbyist like anybody else...

Well before I added two nemos to my tank I had a big 4-5 inch Maroon Clown and you know how deadly they can be with other clowns... And well I was able to catch him/her by cornering him/her on the corner and up towards the top of the tank...Certainly turning off any pumps worked good in my situation...

I also was pretty disappointed when I thought about catching that pesky yellow tang with all the rock in my tank...But I spent a good 30 minutes adn finally to my avail i caught the yellow...I think the first and to better your chances of catching your yellow would be to try and block'em in on a corner of the tank...By doing so you have more of a chance of cornering up and out of the tank...(i know it sounds easier said then done!!!) (but simply there is no easier way...Unless you probalby have a fish trap of some sort...


-as far as putting the yellow in the sump...I would not even worry about it... i have put both they marroon clown and my yellow in the sump...Actually the Maroon migrated up my baffles against the flow and everything and ended up living in my in sump skimmer compartment of my sump...Until Zgma(John) picked him up from me...That must have been a good 2 months...(and I don't think he was in torture...He still ate everything that I fed him and retained it's color til the day John picked him up...

-If you want to use a nano that's good too but perhaps it would be recommended to shorten his stay in the nano to a couple of weeks since it is a very enclosed space with other fish (that's the key other fish)

-Like i said i think the best time to put the yellow back in is when the blue becomes healty and eating alot...At least than it would be strong enough to fight the yellow if it needs too...(typically this is about 1-3 weeks in my experience...(Just depends on the look of the fish)...

-I'am so sorry to right so much for you to read Mike...
-But I hope this helps...

lmk if you need anymore help...

raymond

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

One point that Raymond makes that I have noticed also is that stress seems to aggravate aggression. Food stress seems to be at the top of the list.

As far as catching a YT you might try the after dark approach. Find out where the YT sleeps and after lights out with the tank room very dark, use a red flashlight to try and catch him. I don't know if this works for yellow tangs, but it works great for others.

 

[MrMikeB]

As for food, I give them a mix of brine, mysis and dried seaweed (red). In addition to this they have nearly picked my rocks clean of the brown algae (waiting on my RO unit). They get fed twice a day and seem to know exactly when its time to eat. Water params are also optimal. Up until the addition of the Regal, things were smooth.

I tried to use the flashlight method, but the problem is that I too am effected by not being able to see them well enough to corner them - and of course the Tang made a home deep within the rock pile at the bottom of the tank. I just cannot help but picturing some poor schmuck (me) with a flashlight falling into his tank off of a ladder in the middle of the night trying to catch a sleeping fish. Thank you all again for the advice!

 

[MrMikeB]

I wanted to provide you all with an update. Based on the advice received here, I modified the diet with increased rations, more diversity of food types, and laced it with Percon (I think that's the spelling).

The tangs, although not completely at ease with each other are doing well together. The aggression has subsided considerably, and the ich that was forming on the Blue Regal, and had me really worried, has all but disappeared. They are eating very well, and have found their natural order and cohabitate like unlikeable members of the same family. They will occasionally show off to each other with bouts of speed and agility, but the tail swatting is over and they have picked their sleeping spots.

Thank you all for the great advice!

 

[loup]

Glad to hear everything work out. I'm in the same situation. I introduced a baby regal 3 weeks ago and my purple didn't like it. The regal took a beating and went into hiding. My purple have been living in the sump for the past 3 weeks and maybe another 2 weeks before he's put back in the main.

My regal been healing and is looking better without the purple around. Go figure, the regal (all 1" of him) is fronting my 3" naso like he's the boss now. Tangs are so unpredictable.