blue tang beats up fish

juke59 · Jul 16, 2023

I recently got a blue hippo Tang and put him in my tank 3 days ago. Since then, hes killed my skunk cleaner shramp. And now he has killed my diamond. Goby or at least is attacking. My diamond govy and my diamond. Goby is playing dead or acting like hes dead. What should I do? Not only that, the Tang was a $100. And it keeps getting attacked by my pistol shrimp because it won't stay out of its hole.

Aquamann88 · Jul 16, 2023

I would try to put him in a quarantine box,hang the box in your tank and let them see each other let them get used to each other for about 2 weeks,and then release him again and see what they do.

juke59 · Jul 16, 2023

Aquamann88 said:
I would try to put him in a quarantine box,hang the box in your tank and let them see each other let them get used to each other for about 2 weeks,and then release him again and see what they do.

i cant catch the tang but i got the goby in a box now. but hes going on his side and upside down like hes not well. hes about 3.5 to 4 inches

juke59 · Jul 16, 2023

u can see goby is just laying there. and tand has chunks takin from tail

exnisstech · Jul 16, 2023

What size tank? Just curious as aggression for me seems to be higher in smaller tanks. I have a hippo probably 5 inches that has never bothered anything even small fish including a blenny. But I did grow it from a small fish so that may have helped and it's in a 180 gallon

Aquamann88 · Jul 16, 2023

Goby doesn't look to good , keep the Goby in the box,hopefully it's not to late for the Goby, and he will be back to been a Goby soon

Reefing Qs · Jul 16, 2023

This seems to be aggressive due to tank size, which unfortunately I don't think you'll be able to resolve without moving the fish or changing tanks. A very small blue tang could live in a 50 gal for some months maybe while it grew, but there will be a point where it'll become aggressive and stressed due to the small tank size - and it sounds like you may already be there.

Acclimation box while you figure out a permanent solution is probably your best bet, sorry for the loss of your shrimp and hoping your Goby will recover.

Mr. Mojo Rising · Jul 16, 2023

how big is the tank? I saw in another thread your tank is 50 gallon? Its too small

juke59 · Jul 16, 2023

exnisstech said:
What size tank? Just curious as aggreasion for me seems to be higher in smaller tanks. I have a hippo probably 5 inches that has never bothered anything even small fish including a blenny. But I did grow it from a small fish so that may have helped and it's in a 180 gallon

50 gal my tang is 1.5 inch just got to clean my rocks til he gets to big

juke59 · Jul 16, 2023

Aquamann88 said:
Goby doesn't look to good , keep the Goby in the box,hopefully it's not to late for the Goby, and he will be back to been a Goby soon

his gills are still pumping but hes still not that active

Aquamann88 · Jul 16, 2023

I would let him rest now,that's all you can do now.

vetteguy53081 · Jul 16, 2023

juke59 said:
i cant catch the tang but i got the goby in a box now. but hes going on his side and upside down like hes not well. hes about 3.5 to 4 inches

Goby may be too battered but the hepatus is the one to address and either place in an acclimation box for a long time out or separate tank and make a decision. Its not their typical nature but every fish is different. Hate to say but sounds like a terror. Unless the goby starts to eat and swim normal- outcome may not be positive

juke59 · Jul 16, 2023

vetteguy53081 said:
Goby may be too battered but the hepatus is the one to address and either place in an acclimation box for a long time out or separate tank and make a decision. Its not their typical nature but every fish is different. Hate to say but sounds like a terror. Unless the goby starts to eat and swim normal- outcome may not be positive

yea i figured that i cant catch the tang the little thing is so fast

vetteguy53081 · Jul 16, 2023

juke59 said:
yea i figured that i cant catch the tang the little thing is so fast

This works for me EVERY time:

Fish trap

juke59 · Jul 17, 2023

vetteguy53081 said:
This works for me EVERY time:

Fish trap

i got one coming will be here tomorrow. Ozzy my diamond goby is doing much better. The more that I look at the chunk taken out of the tanks tail. I realize it is the same shape as my diamond. Gobby's mouth, I know that tangs have poisonous spikes on their top door so things near their tail. And there's a big old chunk takin out of it. so maybe my goby bit him first thats why he was attacking him

vetteguy53081 · Jul 17, 2023

juke59 said:
i got one coming will be here tomorrow. Ozzy my diamond goby is doing much better. The more that I look at the chunk taken out of the tanks tail. I realize it is the same shape as my diamond. Gobby's mouth, I know that tangs have poisonous spikes on their top door so things near their tail. And there's a big old chunk takin out of it. so maybe my goby bit him first thats why he was attacking him

Poisonous spikes would be rabbit fish and lions. Tangs use tail scalpel as defense mechanism
For trap, place favorite foods in there and allow fish to swim into for a day or two and eat comfortably and next day- trap it

Aquamann88 · Jul 17, 2023

Good to hear, just in time then that's great

juke59 · Jul 19, 2023

vetteguy53081 said:
Poisonous spikes would be rabbit fish and lions. Tangs use tail scalpel as defense mechanism
For trap, place favorite foods in there and allow fish to swim into for a day or two and eat comfortably and next day- trap it

caught tang. took pic of his eye not sure if he has ich. i Fw dipped him when i got but now that i caught him ive been examining