Dealing with Powder Brown Tang aggression (Mirror)

[Patrick Cox]

Sorry for the long post...

I have a 60 x 24 x 22 ~140 gallon display. It has housed only a fox face for about 6 months. Before that I had some other fish that I lost due to various issues. (Long stories.). The tank has been running for about 2 years and has enough rock and hiding places.

I decided that I was ready to add more fish so on Dec 8, I drove 3 hours out of town to a nice fish store and picked out the following livestock that all appeared healthy and were eating...

Percula Clownfish pair and a long tenacle anemone
Diamond Goby
Biota Yellow Tang (small)
Tomini Tang (small)
Power Brown Tang (Medium)

My hope was that I could add all fish at the same time to help avoid aggression. (I added them all directly to the tank. Power Brown last.)

I feed spirulina brine and spirulina mysis 3-4 times per day and I have two nori clips out all of the time.

During the day all fish act like a family. No aggression, they follow each other from one nori clip to the other, they eat well when I feed. And they all appear relaxed.

Two days ago I noticed that the yellow tang was missing some lower rear fins. I was surprised because I had not seen any aggression.

So as the lights started to dim, I made a point to really watch the tank and I discovered that the Powder Brown starts getting aggressive at dusk. It continues to chase the two smaller tangs and even the fox face starts acting nervous. And there are enough caves for everyone to have a place to sleep but the Power Brown seems to run the other fish out of any cave.

So I added a mirror to the end of the tank and the Power Brown found the mirror and started going crazy. Darting and flashing...etc.

My question is, should I leave the mirror up or should I only put it up at night? And when will I know I can take it down?

Thanks! I will post a picture later.

 

[Rocks reef]

I would leave the mirror up for a while, see if the PB calms down.

 

[Patrick Cox]

Is it normal for a powder browns energy level to really ramp up a dusk? He starts getting twitchy at dusk.

 

[Patrick Cox]

I am noticing tonight that the powder brown is very occupied pacing the end glass panel where the mirror was yesterday. It obviously remembers what it saw yesterday and it is monitoring that spot. Just putting that mirror up for a short time yesterday seems to have drawn a lot of its attention away from the other fish in the tank.

 

[Patrick Cox]

Well, it seems like the mirror fix was temporary. The PB has been acting a bit frantic lately. And I just noticed that my Juvi Biota Yellow tang was about dead. So I removed it from the tank. I have not seen the aggression against the yellow specifically but I can see some stress with the other fish when the PB starts darting around the tank. Although it does seem like the yellow was picked on more than the other fish. So I put the mirror back up.

How long should I leave the mirror up in the tank? It certainly keeps the PB occupied.

 

[EllWay]

One thing that helped me with the fish agression was to turn off tank lights and turn them down. I used white light on a low setting and it really helped. For me, the blue light makes my PB and Percula Clowns get nasty

 

[bushdoc]

I have had Powder Brown for years, it bullied to death few fish, but now is a model citizen of my reef. They generally bully fish similar in shape to them, so other tangs, foxface etc. It never bullied my hawkfish or cardinals though. It is very active,beautiful fish with character,but you have to be prepared that it is going to be difficult to introduce other fish once he establishes fully his presence.

 

[Patrick Cox]

I have had Powder Brown for years, it bullied to death few fish, but now is a model citizen of my reef. They generally bully fish similar in shape to them, so other tangs, foxface etc. It never bullied my hawkfish or cardinals though. It is very active,beautiful fish with character,but you have to be prepared that it is going to be difficult to introduce other fish once he establishes fully his presence.

Thanks. My biota yellow tang ended up dying. Those fish seem a bit frail anyway. The Powder Brown doesn't seem to be bothering the other fish, although he still does see himself in the glass and get bit excited.

Do you think the PB would get aggressive if I added chromis or maybe a hawkfish?

 

[Seansea]

How has hoir powder brown done now?

 

[Patrick Cox]

Powder Brown finally settled in. He is obviously the alpha, but I am not noticing him bothering the other fish like he was. Also not spazzing out like he was. He is actually best buddies with the fox face. I am getting ready to add a couple of flasher wrasse and maybe a hawkfish.

 

[Seansea]

Thats great to here. I had to get rid of my powder blue. Was beating the orange shoulder whose 3 times his size into death. Total psychopath. Its a shame too because my tank looks worse without him

 

[BryanM]

I have 3 biota yellows that have grown from being roughly the size of a quarter to now being 2-3 inches very yellow and healthy.

 

[Patrick Cox]

I have 3 biota yellows that have grown from being roughly the size of a quarter to now being 2-3 inches very yellow and healthy.

I just tool a trip to Tidal Gardens to buy some corals and they have a large school of biota yellow tangs and they are quite big and look like normal yellow tangs. That was the first time I have seen them like that. Mine didn't make it.

 

[BryanM]

I just tool a trip to Tidal Gardens to buy some corals and they have a large school of biota yellow tangs and they are quite big and look like normal yellow tangs. That was the first time I have seen them like that. Mine didn't make it.

Yeah, I was quite concerned when I got the, and they were tiny and pale.