Tang aggression dilemma, need a plan of attack.

[Mr_Knightley]

Hey all, I got a CBB on Saturday to hopefully help with an Aiptasia explosion. I have bird wrasses, so Berghias are out of the question for this system. I have an established chocolate tang in this tank that has never bothered my other additions, including the aforementioned bird wrasses (same color scheme) or my redtail trigger (similar color/same shape), but has it out for this new butterfly. Every day I let the butterfly out of the acclimation box, it explores about 15 minutes before the tang finds it and it returns to the box. The tang doesn't notice the CBB through the acclimation box, only when it's out.
I am very lucky that the CBB has eaten prepared foods for me, so it won't starve or anything, but it won't do anything for the Aiptasia in a box. The tang is far too fast to catch, even at night.

Has anyone had the same problem? I hate to see the CBB hovering in the corner while the tang bullies it all day. Should I let them duke it out? I could add a new tang to distract the resident bully, but then I'd just have another stressed fish. Any input greatly appreciated. Have a great day & God bless.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

This article has a bunch of suggestions that may help (moving the rockwork is one; the mirror trick that is commonly suggested is another):

Tang Aggression - Understanding and Combating

Tangs tang aggression mean nasty evil injured stab surgeonfish killing killed kill beat hide hiding why help remove sump new addition

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Thank you for the tips! It seems that adding another tang to balance aggression will be my best bet in the case I can't trap him.

 

[i cant think]

Thank you for the tips! It seems that adding another tang to balance aggression will be my best bet in the case I can't trap him.

I wouldn’t personally, adding another tang could balance aggression but at the same time it could make it worse.

Your best bet is removing the tang or the CBB.

 

[Pamperedfish]

My purple and yellow tang would be aggressive to each other. When I got a powder brown, 1/2 the size of the Hawaiian tangs, the Hawaiian tangs became friends. When I sold the powder br. The Hawaiian tangs helped boot the brown, took 3 hours, but was great to see.

 

[Xanthurum]

Taping a mirror to the tank would be my first move.

If that doesn’t help I would try to move the chocolate tang into the acclimation box for a few days.

I certainly wouldn’t run out and throw in another tang just yet because that could cause more problems than it could solve.

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Very good points so far.
The mirror trick didn't work, neither did taping up an image of a fired up chocolate tang. I'm going to make a diy fish trap and remove the tang next week. I'm still able to feed the CBB while it's inside the box, so I don't have a huge time limit, but I hate to keep it in there for much longer.

 

[mrpontiac80]

I added a CBB a while back and I had the same issue. I kept it in an acclimation box for a few days but no one in the tank seemed to care at all. After releasing the Cbb, my purple tang decided to be #1 jerk. I tried the mirror thing and it helped… but now every fish including the new Cbb was a jerk to its own reflection. I left the mirror in place for at least 24 hrs.

Finally I decided fish are going to have to figure it out… they did after about 2 weeks. Very minimal aggression unless they got too close to each other. After even more time, they now live in harmony. It just took time.

Also for what it’s worth. My Cbb wouldn’t touch aiptaisa…. Till one day recently I noticed the hard for me to reach aiptaisa were gone. The tank has been aiptaisa free since. Good luck!

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Thanks for the advice. Every fish in the tank has loved looking in the mirror besides the tang, who avoids it like the plague lol.
The CBB is perfectly fine for about ten minutes when I release it, but after that the tang corners it and doesn't let it move. The tang has actually sustained more damage from the CBB's spines then the CBB has from the tang lol

 

[mrpontiac80]

Thanks for the advice. Every fish in the tank has loved looking in the mirror besides the tang, who avoids it like the plague lol.
The CBB is perfectly fine for about ten minutes when I release it, but after that the tang corners it and doesn't let it move. The tang has actually sustained more damage from the CBB's spines then the CBB has from the tang lol

My personal opinion is that all animals are going to establish a pecking order and I’m not wanting to let any of them get beat to death, but I do feel for the most part that they will figure it out.
I hate to see it though. It can sometimes look pretty brutal and my situation with my Cbb was no different in the sense I was pretty worried for it. My fish never caused injuries to each other though.

 

[jbhydroman]

What worked for me was I placed my Sailfin tang in a mesh breeder box and rearranged the rock work, then let the tang into the tank, no problems as of now. The tang leaves my CBB alone. The tang used to bully the CBB a lot. Ever since I rearranged the rock no more aggression. It thinks it's in a new tank.

 

[Mr_Knightley]

If I could re arrange the rocks I would, but most of them are cemented together and the ones not cemented have corals growing on them. I'm going to try and trap the tang for now and let the CBB establish it's own territory.