tangs fighting

[emperior911]

currently i have a 210, with a

9"-12" blonde naso tang
6"-7" purple tang
4"-5" blue tang
3" red sea sailfin tang



my problem is with my purple tang. he attacks the sailfin and the blue tang. i find marks every couple days on them. the sailfin and blue tang were lastly introduced 1 month ago. purple has been in the tank for a year now. the naso is peacefull, doesn't bother anyone.

will this ever stop? won't the purple ever give up?

 

[emperior911]

the only thing that i'm stressing about is the blue or sailfin getting HLLE

 

[jmaneyapanda]

purple are known for being very aggressive- in a perfect world, you would have wanted to put him in last. The best bet would be to remove the purple for a while, or reaarange the rockwork. Otherwise, it is quite possible it will continue. And rather than HLLE, I would watch for stress induced disease like ick, thinness in the bullied tangs, or more severe injuries.

 

[yoboyjdizz]

I would be a little concern they already been in there a month and its still going on usually this only last a few days or weeks.

I would watch closely i've seen a purple tang harras tank mates to death.

 

[hgbarwick]

Yes purples are very aggressive. You probably should of added him last. You could set up a QT tank and put the purple in their for a while.

 

[emperior911]

I've actually only had the blue tang in for a week or so, sailfin a couple weeks later. The fish have no ich, don't seem to be stressed out much. Fat and seem happy. I just see some minor scratches and bite marks. I was thinking on adding 2 yellow tangs to lessen the amount of harrasment to the sailfin and blue tang

i dont really want to go through the trouble of pulling out the purple...

 

[hgbarwick]

adding two yellow tangs wont help. They will just keep on fighting.

 

[1package]

The fighting will likely be reduced in time, my purple beat the snot out of my Powder blue (smaller) when I first added. What helped was keeping seaweed on a clip so that there was less rivalry over food. I also would feed from the opposite side.

I do not know for sure, but I know that with my Anthias when I had 3 it was a problem, when I added 2 more - total of 5 the harassement was spread out more, as you are suggesting. I do not know about 2 yellows. Pehaps 2 yellows would fight each other, they certainly would get the attention of the purple tang, plus it sounds as though he is pretty big.

 

[emperior911]

anyone else? any comments would help

 

[Serioussnaps]

Take the purple out for a while and reintroduce....i got rid of mine

 

[emperior911]

ya i really don't wanna take down the tank to catch that stupid fish

i bought 2 yellow tangs, purple went after them so i turned the lights out

 

[hgbarwick]

Ouch bad move buying the two yellows. Purples are very agressive toward tangs of the same body shape. Adding the yellows did not help.

 

[emperior911]

the point was to get the agression off the blue tang mainly. the yellow tangs are kind of like the guinea pigs

 

[BTTRFLYGRL]

Yellow Tangs are the same Genus as Purples, I agree...not a good move..By 'guinea Pigs' I hope you didn't put them in to get the crap beat out of them. That's not real humane IMO...Plus once they die, the Purple will resume the abuse on the others. I would remove him for awhile, let the others become established ..He still maybe aggressive but the others will be able to defend themselves better

 

[emperior911]

I would hope they all get along, the problem was he was beating up on the newest member of my tank.. blue tangs are touchy... i figured if the abuse kept up, he would die. i put the yellow tangs in there because i like them. i figured they're hardy and can more of a beating. i'm hoping someday the 4 zebra species will school, which is what i've heard can happen

 

[emperior911]

will try to get a updated pic of the new fish

 

[Psyire]

It took my tangs a few months to stop fighting, so I wouldn't worry too much.

You could try placing a big mirror on one side of the tank in hopes that the purple will fight with 'himself' instead of the other tangs. It has worked for some people.

 

[thorsen]

I added a small purple tang to a 220 like yours that already had one large purple tang, a large Hippo tang, and two large yellow tangs. He was harassed horribly at first and I was sure he would die because they even tore his fins up. Catching him was impossible so I just waited it out and now a couple months later they act as if they are all buddies and he is fat and healthy. I'd say let things be and patience.