Unhappy blue tang

[heathlindner25]

My only other advice would be to keep the kole and return the blue and yellow. Those fish will never feel comfortable in a smaller tank and will express it in a multitude of ways. I know experimentation is part of this hobby, but at the end of the day please try to keep the fishes best interest at heart.

 

[ktownhero]

I don't think so. That is a fact. Arswers keep referring to tank size and aggressiveness and I've said many times there is none so far . Unless some honestly believe tank size and other tangs would be the reason of such behavior (like someone before mentioned the tang being frightened even w/o being bullied) then these are the typical canned tang answers diverting the point of the thread.

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Maybe I'm not understanding something but it seems to me that you made a thread about an unhappy blue Tang but as soon as people suggested reasons why you now say it isn't unhappy? What is your goal here?

You can't start a thread like this and ask people to not talk to you about the most obvious and likely answer. Did you just want validation?

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[heathlindner25]

I like to gamble in a different way. Dwarf angels in reefs, and hard to keep wrasse. There are a lot of cool fish you can put in a 75, but a 12" fish would look a little weird to me.

 

[allendehl]

Maybe I'm not understanding something but it seems to me that you made a thread about an unhappy blue Tang but as soon as people suggested reasons why you now say it isn't unhappy? What is your goal here?

You can't start a thread like this and ask people to not talk to you about the most obvious and likely answer. Did you just want validation?

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I can't find where in the thread I said it wasn't unhappy, not sure where you found it.
My goal is to weed through the automatic "small tank" and "aggressiveness" easy answers and get to the possible real cause of the behavior.
If the cause is indeed one of those, then I am looking for the reasoning behind it. Fish is still small and I haven't seen him anxious exploring the whole tank, so it does not give me the impression it needs one now and as I've said before, no other fish is being aggressive to him so far. So I have hard times just accepting any of those theories without questioning them.

Hope this clarifies your questions.

 

[Dmorty217]

a 75g tank is much too small for a Hippo tang whether you want to hear that or not, it still remains a fact. A 240g is what most suggest for this tang... a 180g is the minimum. I understand the fish is "still small" but within 1 years time if the fish is actually not stressed and fed properly will grow to 6-7" easily. My question to you is what are you going to do when, not if the fish outgrows the 75g? Everyone says "I plan on upgrading" but the fact remains that happens less than 50% of the time. Fish "flashing" their coloring is a sign of stress without question so if there isn't a aggressor in the tank then the other logical thought is environment.

 

[allendehl]

Fish "flashing" their coloring is a sign of stress without question so if there isn't a aggressor in the tank then the other logical thought is environment.

Is not that I don't want to hear it, it is that I'd like to understand how and why it applies to my particular case. A simple "tank too small" or "too many tangs" shout out does not help, at least IMO. I do value, appreciate and consider answers like yours, and just a few others given here, that add substance to the fact.
I know it will grow, and I know I may not be able to upgrade, I'll deal with that when it happens unless this behavior now is considered to be stress caused by the smaller tank. I don't want a stressed, bullied or unhappy fish in my tank but I need to consider all possibilities before making a drastic decision of sending it back to the LFS, which I'll unhappily do if it turns out to be the reason.
Any ideas on the theory that it could be taking him longer to acclimate?..is it reasonable? Any action plan I could take to rule it out or remediate?

I am new, so some of my questions and reasoning may seem stupid but I am also someone who likes to understand and question things, not just jump and follow the crowd. Please do not mistake by position with being a jerk...I am definitely not (says my mom).

 

[Shamous113]

IMHO the hiding and not eating is a sign of stress. I'v had one before, I got him at a length of 1.5" in a year he was about 5"+ he was always out cursing the tank and picking at stuff on the rocks. Hippos need room to swim. This fish is not appropriate in the size of tank that you have and you can see it in his behavior an it will affect his health. it is in the best interest of the fish to find him a home that is big enough.

 

[Masterofstuff]

3 tangs in a 75g? your tang is stressed out. too many tangs. to small a tank. this isnt rocket science...

 

[Therinx]

His hiding IS the sign of stress. He's hiding from the other tangs, he cannot establish any territory of his own with them in that size space. He might eventually eat, but it is not likely he will ever thrive in that environment. "Dealing with it later" is a terrible answer, imo.

Not sure why you're resistant to the answers you're getting, they DO apply to your particular case.

 

[allendehl]

His hiding IS the sign of stress. He's hiding from the other tangs, he cannot establish any territory of his own with them in that size space. He might eventually eat, but it is not likely he will ever thrive in that environment. "Dealing with it later" is a terrible answer, imo.

Not sure why you're resistant to the answers you're getting, they DO apply to your particular case.

I am not resisting, honestly!....well...maybe a bit. I do want to keep the tang, so I just wanted real substantiated answers as of the cause of its behavior, not just canned sentences I could have given myself and then hide a different reason behind it and give up on the fish for no reason.
As I said to other reefers in this thread, your post, though it does point the same reasons I've been referring to, is backed up by facts: " He's hiding from the other tangs, he cannot establish any territory of his own" that I can see happening in my tank. This is the type of unpleasant answers I've been asking for from the beginning and I'm ok with it and I'll take action to make my fish happy again.

I just didn't want to be dragged blindly into the tang bandwagon w/o even analyzing other possibilities.

I know I must have ****ed off a few(and for that I apologize) but at the end I believe I learned way more than what I would have if I just went by what has been said 100's times in this forum by people who know what they are talking about and newbies(like me) or less experienced people who just repeat what they read w/o ever questioning or putting that concept into context.

Thank you all and Happy Reefing!!!

 

[sde1500]

IT is more than acceptable to push the limits, or go against the grain in certain areas. Take water changes for example. Generally accepted that you do them. There are people here that don't and have beautiful tanks. A while ago it seems, people couldn't keep SPS as well. Now every tank seems to have some. Without people attempting to do the impossible, the hobby doesn't advance.

HOWEVER, there are some generally accepted rules that won't change, because the fish don't change. A 75 gallon tank will NEVER be considered a proper home for 3 tangs. Its not a matter of technology, or maintenance, but pure size. Its like keeping a couple bull mastiffs in your 3rd floor 500 sq ft studio apartment in the city, just not a good idea and not good for the animal's long term health and well being. You ask why it would be unhappy, but "oh don't talk about the size of the tank". You can't watch the tank all the time, so can't fully disprove aggression. You haven't seen it swimming stressed, because its not swimming, its stressed and hiding.

Could it be other things? Sure, you made note at first that you have a very strict QT protocol, but it clearly isn't that strict, a fish went in without it. But a fish in hiding usually means stress, not disease. Not sure what more you'd learn by putting a fish in a tank ill-suited for it than you would by just asking "why isn't this a good idea".

 

[ktownhero]

I can't find where in the thread I said it wasn't unhappy, not sure where you found it.
My goal is to weed through the automatic "small tank" and "aggressiveness" easy answers and get to the possible real cause of the behavior.
If the cause is indeed one of those, then I am looking for the reasoning behind it. Fish is still small and I haven't seen him anxious exploring the whole tank, so it does not give me the impression it needs one now and as I've said before, no other fish is being aggressive to him so far. So I have hard times just accepting any of those theories without questioning them.

Hope this clarifies your questions.

I must have misinterpreted something you wrote. I don't know what to tell you, this is kind of tiring. You put 3 tangs, 1 of which is a blue, in a 75 gallon and are having issues and somehow think you are going to get some magic answer that isn't related to tank size? That's baffling. It's not a "canned answer", it's entirely relevant. You aren't likely to have good success with those 3 in such a small tank, just like the countless, defiant folks before you didn't have success. We get these threads rather regularly. It's always the same answer, and it's always the same refusal to accept it.

I would not be harping on this so much if it was just the kole and yellow tang, as perhaps the "tang police" would. I think a 4' tank is entirely reasonable for housing both of them. But adding a 3rd, particularly such a sensitive and large species such as the blue, is just asking for trouble.

Also, you really can't say for sure about bullying unless you are watching the tank 24/7. There could be fighting at night or at any other time you aren't there. And it may not even be explicit fighting at all, it could just be related to some other form of dominance that the blue tang is uncomfortable with.

 

[mal7887]

Based on the picture you posted it looks like the Yellow's top and bottom fins are fully extended, which is usually an aggressive posture.