Convict Tangs are Jumpers?

[SaundersDVM]

Hey all! I have had my SPS tank up for about a year and a half now. It's a Red Sea 650 (165 gallons) with lots of live rock hidey holes, but no sand. I currently have a white tail bristletooth tang, a clown fish, 4 green chromis, 6 lyretail anthis, and a bangaii cardinalfish. I do not like having tops on my aquariums, and purposefully avoid fish that like to jump. Over the course of this tank, I have had 3 convict tangs and they have jumped a total of 4 times (I saved one the first time he jumped). I have never heard that convict tangs (or any tangs, for that matter) are jumpers, so each time I thought it was a fluke and I ended up getting another one. 3 of the 4 jumps have occurred multiple months after the tang has been established in the tank and those 3 times were not associated with any changes that I can think of. The main thought I have is that each one has been about half the size of the bristletooth tang (but the same size or larger than all of the other fish), so maybe the other tang is picking on them? But I have never seen excessive aggression (the bristletooth will pick on anyone, but does not seem to focus on any one fish on particular) and I never found marks or hiding behaviour in the convicts (they have always been the most outgoing fish in the tank, besides the chromis). Is this species prone to jumping, or was it just my mistake for getting one too small?

 

[Subsea]

Sorry for lost fish.

My hands are almost always playing in the tanks, so I don’t cover and I don’t keep jumpers. Yet fish do jump unexpectedly.

The most audacious scenario I heard described was the loss of a pet octopus. The reef keeper had two independent tanks in L shape configuation. Over a period of several months, he lost two prized Angels, but never saw evidence of remains. Then one morning the evidence lay dead on the floor. The missing fish were in the biomass of the octopus. Apparently, the octopus was raiding tank next to his tank and he fell.

 

[RJT]

Hey all! I have had my SPS tank up for about a year and a half now. It's a Red Sea 650 (165 gallons) with lots of live rock hidey holes, but no sand. I currently have a white tail bristletooth tang, a clown fish, 4 green chromis, 6 lyretail anthis, and a bangaii cardinalfish. I do not like having tops on my aquariums, and purposefully avoid fish that like to jump. Over the course of this tank, I have had 3 convict tangs and they have jumped a total of 4 times (I saved one the first time he jumped). I have never heard that convict tangs (or any tangs, for that matter) are jumpers, so each time I thought it was a fluke and I ended up getting another one. 3 of the 4 jumps have occurred multiple months after the tang has been established in the tank and those 3 times were not associated with any changes that I can think of. The main thought I have is that each one has been about half the size of the bristletooth tang (but the same size or larger than all of the other fish), so maybe the other tang is picking on them? But I have never seen excessive aggression (the bristletooth will pick on anyone, but does not seem to focus on any one fish on particular) and I never found marks or hiding behaviour in the convicts (they have always been the most outgoing fish in the tank, besides the chromis). Is this species prone to jumping, or was it just my mistake for getting one too small?

Tank may be more peaceful during the day, with a lot more aggression and attacks at night.