Bully Kole Tang

[ReeferReefer]

Hey guys. I just bought a Yellow Eye Kole tang from a someone in my local reef club. I am having problems with the new tang being very aggressive towards my existing fish.

My tank is a 90 gallon softie dominated tank with lots of rock and caves. The other inhabitants are a flame angel, blue star Leopard, 2 clowns and a royal gramma.

The Kole Tang is chasing around the flame angel, wrasse and gramma. Seems to leave the clowns alone. The Gramma and angel seem to be good at hiding in caves to avoid the tang but the wrasse just swims away.

I noticed the flame angel has some tattered back fins.

I have a nori clip up but the Kole doesn't seem interested in it or in grazing in general.

The Kole was added yesterday.

Any advice? We had to take all the rock out of the tank to get the Kole the first time and I'd hate to have to do that to my tank too.

I've put up a mirror as well but the fish haven't seemed to notice.


Is the Kole just showing his dominance and calm down? Or could this be a more serious aggression problem?

 

[Big G]

Can you section off part of the tank with eggcrate to separate them for awhile?

 

[ReeferReefer]

Can you section off part of the tank with eggcrate to separate them for awhile?

Not possible without a major rescape. If it comes to that I will go for it.

Tang just noticed the mirror and it seems to be pretty effective. Question is how long can I use the mirror and what the next step is. I will continue observing but at the very least my Leopard wrasse can have a break.

Any insight is still appreciated.

 

[ReeferReefer]

I am going to try increasing feeding. I just fed as the lights just came on and it seemed to calm everyone down. I removed the mirror for now.

 

[Muttley000]

I used the mirror on a yellow. I removed it after a couple days but the aggression restarted so I put it back. I bet I left it there a month when I noticed he was ignoring it and still getting along with his tank mates

 

[ReeferReefer]

I used the mirror on a yellow. I removed it after a couple days but the aggression restarted so I put it back. I bet I left it there a month when I noticed he was ignoring it and still getting along with his tank mates

Good to know. I'll keep using the mirror as needed. I guess I didn't do enough research. I had heard that solo tangs can become the tank boss but I thought the Kole was peaceful!

 

[mort]

You mention it's only been a couple of days. Sometimes it can take a week or two for things to calm down before they tolerate each other. Adding the tang has shifted the balance of the tank and everything just needs some time to get used to the new hierarchy. I would suggest that as long as nothing is cowering or physically damaged (split fins soon mend so don't be overly worried), you just observe from a distance and leave them to get to know each other.
Feeding can help but I would feed at both ends of the tank, so the other fish can still eat away from the tang, and have nori always available for the tang to graze as this might quieten it down a little.

 

[Waters]

My established Kole Tang won't let me put any algae eating fish into the tank.....Tangs, angels.....even Blennys.

 

[Dlealrious]

My kole tang is a major butt. When I added a flame angel it bullied him for weeks. Still does kinda to this day after over a year together. Never picked on any erase or anthea though.

 

[shred5]

Yea I had a kole that was super aggressive till he was moved into a six foot tank.
I had to rescue fish before he killed them. He was in a 90 gallon too...
Some fish he was fine with and other not. He hated any new addition.
Odd he is so aggressive so fast though.

Really is not allot you can do..
Some species of tangs in the wild defend a certain section of reef they graze on and that section is usually larger than a 4 foot tank. Other tangs graze in large shoals and just move from section to section of the reef.

 

[ReeferReefer]

Just wanted to note that by using a mirror and increasing feedings, I have calmed the Kole Tang. It seems to help to have some nori on the clip all day long if possible.

After being quite aggressive, the Kole has calmed down. Fed right when the lights came on and twice again through the day. Seems like the tang understands its not going to starve to death now.

I most likely won't add any more fish until I set up my new system. Who knows what the Kole will do. Funny though, she seems so peaceful now.

 

[Jesterrace]

Good to know. I'll keep using the mirror as needed. I guess I didn't do enough research. I had heard that solo tangs can become the tank boss but I thought the Kole was peaceful!

All Tangs are semi-aggressive to some degree, particularly as they get bigger/more mature. The Kole tends to be one of the better behaved Tangs but it's still a Tang. If the mirror trick doesn't work then get rid of it. The fact that the Flame Angel has tattered fins isn't a good sign this is going to get better. I got rid of my Yellow Tang after it took a chunk out of my Coral Beauty's lower fin and kept hitting it with it's tail scalpel. I know there are better Tangs suited for my 90 gallon but I am perfectly happy having a Foxface where my Yellow Tang used to be and going without a Tang of any kind in my tank.

 

[Brew12]

My Kole tang would never eat algae from a clip. I would try using a rubber band to attach it to a small piece of rock or PVC pipe. Kole tangs aren't used to eating algae that is flapping around like a big piece of kelp. They graze the algae off the rocks. Once you get them eating this way you can likely switch over to a clip.
I use the TLF web feeders and I think it works great. It satisfies their grazing instinct and is easier to use than a clip.

 

[ReeferReefer]

All Tangs are semi-aggressive to some degree, particularly as they get bigger/more mature. The Kole tends to be one of the better behaved Tangs but it's still a Tang. If the mirror trick doesn't work then get rid of it. The fact that the Flame Angel has tattered fins isn't a good sign this is going to get better. I got rid of my Yellow Tang after it took a chunk out of my Coral Beauty's lower fin and kept hitting it with it's tail scalpel. I know there are better Tangs suited for my 90 gallon but I am perfectly happy having a Foxface where my Yellow Tang used to be and going without a Tang of any kind in my tank.

The Kole Tang has settled down. Seems like they were still establishing the pecking order.

 

[JumboShrimp]

My Kole Tank doesn’t really eat Nori off a clip either. Remember the old freshwater “Kissing Gouramis”? Lol. He kind of goes for algae off of the glass like that (and short Green Hair Algae from rocks, of course). As for behavior, he’s not very large— but doesn’t try to bully a small Rusty Angel, M. Wrasse, V. Puffer, Banner Fish, or One Spot Foxface. Do you have at least a 5’ long tank, if not 6’ ?

 

[egwich]

My Kole Tang killed a new Bicolor Angel in 24 hours. He chased my Royal Gramma around for a few days after I added him but now they swim with each other and even share the same rock. I added a Watchman Goby with the lights off hoping the Tang wouldn't notice. The Goby walked right into the Tangs cave and it was like a royal rumble. Tang left the cave and they never fought again. My Tang was always the tank boss but once the Goby was added he no longer was aggressive.

 

[JumboShrimp]

That’s interesting, how (of all things) a Goby could tame a killer Tang. This can be a cRAzY hobby! :confused:

 

[Jesterrace]

My Kole Tang killed a new Bicolor Angel in 24 hours. He chased my Royal Gramma around for a few days after I added him but now they swim with each other and even share the same rock. I added a Watchman Goby with the lights off hoping the Tang wouldn't notice. The Goby walked right into the Tangs cave and it was like a royal rumble. Tang left the cave and they never fought again. My Tang was always the tank boss but once the Goby was added he no longer was aggressive.

Good for the Goby. DWGs can be surprisingly assertive when they see something that draws their ire. I had a mean snowflake occ clown that picked on everyone. One wide gaping snap from my DWG was enough to convince said butthead to leave him alone.

 

[ReeferReefer]

My Kole Tank doesn’t really eat Nori off a clip either. Remember the old freshwater “Kissing Gouramis”? Lol. He kind of goes for algae off of the glass like that (and short Green Hair Algae from rocks, of course). As for behavior, he’s not very large— but doesn’t try to bully a small Rusty Angel, M. Wrasse, V. Puffer, Banner Fish, or One Spot Foxface. Do you have at least a 5’ long tank, if not 6’ ?

My tank is a 90 gallon, 4 feet long.

I thought that a 90 would be enough for a Kole?

 

[JumboShrimp]

All Tangs enjoy as much linear swim room as possible. ;)