Bully Tang

[SWQuest]

Hello all, so I have an issue I just put 3 lyretail anthais in my tank after acclimating them and now my yellow tang won’t let them come out of the rock structure. The tank is a 125 gal. Am I going to have to put the tang is my sump? If so for how long? Thank you.

 

[Humblefish]

YTs can be a real pain when it comes to bullying other fish. If it doesn't subside after a day or two, might wanna sump him for awhile.

 

[SWQuest]

Ok cool thanks I just didn’t know how long I should let him be before I take action.

 

[Reeferdude56]

I actually just went through this problem. I just added a purple tang in with a scopas tang. That spells trouble, but I used egg crate to divide the tank I half and let the purple comfortable acclimate before removing the barrier after 3 days. That should help a little.

 

[SWQuest]

How soon did you put the egg crate in there? After a day? Or once you noticed the aggression?

 

[Flexin]

Try printing a picture of a larger tang and tape it to the glass. Honestly, this has worked for a few people including me. The tang settled down almost immediately. I left it up for over a week and things were fine then between the tang and my hawkfish.

 

[eatbreakfast]

I would suspect that this should improve the next day. If it doesn't, the suggestions offered so far are all good.

 

[Bob The Reefer]

What about the opposite problem of a Yellow Tang that hides ...... ?

 

[Flexin]

What about the opposite problem of a Yellow Tang that hides ...... ?

Have the Tang open the Tangder app and swipe right

 

[Bob The Reefer]

Have the Tang open the Tangder app and swipe right

Funny

 

[eatbreakfast]

What about the opposite problem of a Yellow Tang that hides ...... ?

Tangs can hide for a few reasons:

Being bullied

Marine velvet

Too much disruptive activity in and around the tank

Not enough active tankmates swimming in the open.

 

[Scurvy]

I took a full 5 foot tall warbrode mirror and propped it sideways on my cabinet doors for a few days. The relentless bully yellow tang spent those days assaulting his reflection and not the new addition. Really all the fish were uset with their reflections but it worked.
I would pull the mirror down for a couple hours each evening while i was there to observe behavior. Once i saw no more interest in the new fish the mirror was gone. Worked great for me.

 

[Bob The Reefer]

Tangs can hide for a few reasons:

Being bullied

Marine velvet

Too much disruptive activity in and around the tank

Not enough active tankmates swimming in the open.

Being bullied - don't think it's that since tank mates are all quite placid - with no con-specifics

Marine velvet - no signs of illness looks fat and well fed, fins extended, colour good enjoys a varied diet (algae, flake, frozen food and the occasional "meaty treat")

Too much disruptive activity in and around the tank - possibly - he swims around behind the rocks and has adopted a cave as his home turf since day one - certainly hides in event of human proximity (no kids in the house)

Not enough active tank mates swimming in the open - possibly, he largely ignores the only other "large" fish (a small wrasse), the two small clowns, pair of firefish gobies that live the other end of the tank and "Scooter" who goes everywhere looking for 'pods

We have contemplated taking apart his cave to change his territory but to me that seems unkind?

Any suggestions?

 

[Flexin]

Bob, how long have you had the Tang in the main display?

 

[Bob The Reefer]

Bob, how long have you had the Tang in the main display?

Nearly 3 months

 

[Bob The Reefer]

Bob, how long have you had the Tang in the main display?

The lights had just finished an acclimatisation cycle and one of the soft corals was looking a bit withdrawn so one thought was it was too bright for him ... long shot but I've turned them down.

The other thing I might try is sticking the wrasse in the sump for a few days as the only "candidate" for bullying

 

[SWQuest]

Thank you all for the responses. I printed the pictures of the tang a little skeptical of doing that but it was the easiest and quickest thing to do and behold the tang focused more on the picture than the new additions. Now my lyretail anthais are out and swimming around.