Tang Aggression - Understanding and Combating

john1214 · Sep 8, 2017

4FordFamily said:
Depends on the fish and size of tank. Ideally I wouldn't add it by itself, the purple tang is generally a pretty aggressive fish.

Unfortunately I don't see that working out. Rehoming is probably your best bet.

Thank you for the advice. I have a friend that can probably home him. Would a fox face be an issue with the brown? That is my only concern with it going to his tank. Good news is that the brown is recovering very well in the sump currently.

4FordFamily · Sep 8, 2017

john1214 said:
Thank you for the advice. I have a friend that can probably home him. Would a fox face be an issue with the brown? That is my only concern with it going to his tank. Good news is that the brown is recovering very well in the sump currently.

Probably not, but with territorial herbivores who knows for certain! I can say that it's unlikely to be an issue.

john1214 · Sep 9, 2017

Ok I'll try it out with my friend if not I'll try to find someone who is suitable to adopt him. I was hoping with a 210 and having them both going in pretty close to the same time it would work but I was very wrong. Heed my lesson readers!

4FordFamily · Sep 9, 2017

john1214 said:
Ok I'll try it out with my friend if not I'll try to find someone who is suitable to adopt him. I was hoping with a 210 and having them both going in pretty close to the same time it would work but I was very wrong. Heed my lesson readers!

It can be done if you have several acanthurus tangs but it's never a guarantee. Before the incident, I had a powder blue, powder brown, two Achilles, a shoal, and a carribean blue tang together. They did fine, but the high numbers of similar acanthurus tangs, total number of tangs, and some luck all helped.

MKcat · Sep 12, 2017

@4FordFamily, this is a great thread! I'd love your advice. I currently have a 150g. long. Stock is Sailfin, Kole, Hippo, 2 green chromis, 1 HUGE clarkii female clown(she's the boss and has drove 3 males out over my 8 yrs with this tank, so fun finding them dried out on the hardwood in the am), six line wrasse. FOWLR currently. I am moving and upgrading to a 190g. tall due to my wall space in the new home. 60x24x34. My sailfin has been the king of the tank for the last 6 or so years but this summer my Kole had been bullying her terribly. He has finally stopped, but she's pretty beat up. With my move I am going to get rid of the Kole as it had also killed 3 chromis, my naso, a flame angel and yellow goby this summer. So my big question is, I really want to add a yellow tang, a new flame, and few more chromis for schooling. I wanted to add another naso but I'm afraid the tank won't be big enough. I have debated adding a purple. Thoughts? Thanks in advance!!

4FordFamily · Sep 12, 2017

MKcat said:
@4FordFamily, this is a great thread! I'd love your advice. I currently have a 150g. long. Stock is Sailfin, Kole, Hippo, 2 green chromis, 1 HUGE clarkii female clown(she's the boss and has drove 3 males out over my 8 yrs with this tank, so fun finding them dried out on the hardwood in the am), six line wrasse. FOWLR currently. I am moving and upgrading to a 190g. tall due to my wall space in the new home. 60x24x34. My sailfin has been the king of the tank for the last 6 or so years but this summer my Kole had been bullying her terribly. He has finally stopped, but she's pretty beat up. With my move I am going to get rid of the Kole as it had also killed 3 chromis, my naso, a flame angel and yellow goby this summer. So my big question is, I really want to add a yellow tang, a new flame, and few more chromis for schooling. I wanted to add another naso but I'm afraid the tank won't be big enough. I have debated adding a purple. Thoughts? Thanks in advance!!

I would add a purple and yellow and hope for the best -- a naso is too big of a fish for 5 feet of swimming room. They get MASSIVE.
I cannot believe your trouble with the Kole -- I've never run in to one that aggressive -- especially towards a large sailfin!!

Antics · Sep 12, 2017

4FordFamily said:
I would add a purple and yellow and hope for the best -- a naso is too big of a fish for 5 feet of swimming room. They get MASSIVE.
I cannot believe your trouble with the Kole -- I've never run in to one that aggressive -- especially towards a large sailfin!!

My White Tail Bristletooth is the boss of a larger Desjardini and Hippo. Ignores my (new) Gold Rim though.

4FordFamily · Sep 12, 2017

Antics said:
My White Tail Bristletooth is the boss of a larger Desjardini and Hippo. Ignores my (new) Gold Rim though.

I've seen a couple bristletooth that have a mean streak but that's nuts. I've had probably 15 over the years they were all at the low end of the aggression spectrum.

Antics · Sep 12, 2017

4FordFamily said:
I've seen a couple bristletooth that have a mean streak but that's nuts. I've had probably 15 over the years they were all at the low end of the aggression spectrum.

I went through three white tails before one that made it through QT. I love the one I have, but the other two were sweet hearts in comparison. I wonder if that rage helped him survive transport and quarantine.

4FordFamily · Sep 12, 2017

Antics said:
I went through three white tails before one that made it through QT. I love the one I have, but the other two were sweet hearts in comparison. I wonder if that rage helped him survive transport and quarantine.

The cliche "only the good die young" comes to mind here!

MKcat · Sep 12, 2017

4FordFamily said:
I would add a purple and yellow and hope for the best -- a naso is too big of a fish for 5 feet of swimming room. They get MASSIVE.
I cannot believe your trouble with the Kole -- I've never run in to one that aggressive -- especially towards a large sailfin!!

Thanks for the advice! I've always wanted a Yellow, but I wanted to make sure I had a big enough tank. Yes, my Kole was out of control. It never bothered anyone before, it was bizarre. I'd sit in front of the tank and watch it lazily graze on rocks then all of a sudden take off and just attack and chase whomever it was fixated on. My Sailfin has chunks of fin gone. I'm working on nursing her back up. Other than her fins, she's her regular show off-y self. I'm confident it chased the goby, chromis' out of the tank as they were on the floor. The Naso and flame I found floating. A few weeks later is when he started in on the Sailfin. It has never bothered the hippo. Thanks again!

Brew12 · Sep 13, 2017

My yellow used to be very aggressive and then my Kole put it in it's place. Now everyone in the tank is fairly mellow. Yellow, Hippo, Kole and Convict.

4FordFamily · Sep 13, 2017

Brew12 said:
My yellow used to be very aggressive and then my Kole put it in it's place. Now everyone in the tank is fairly mellow. Yellow, Hippo, Kole and Convict.

My Kole is so low on the totem pole. I'm pretty sure my chevron tang is the only tang below it, based on observation.

I've heard that dominant Kole are prettier fish, but I don't know if that's substantiated. Mines certainty not ugly!

Brew12 · Sep 13, 2017

4FordFamily said:
My Kole is so low on the totem pole. I'm pretty sure my chevron tang is the only tang below it, based on observation.

I've heard that dominant Kole are prettier fish, but I don't know if that's substantiated. Mines certainty not ugly!

If I'm not changing out lights on my DT tonight I'll try and get a picture of him so you can see what you think.

Whipples · Sep 14, 2017

@4FordFamily I wanted to get your experienced input on something. Currently cycling a 100g (48x24x20) and have an existing tomini on the small side (2-3"). Recently lost that CBB you were helping me with earlier in the week but am determined to get one healthy and into my tank! Where I would like to get your input is on adding a smaller yellow a few months down the road and how likely that is to be successful? I have an Elite Aquatics acclimation box and my goal is to get existing fish (royal gramma, tomini, two clowns, and a banggai cardinal) situated in the new tank, get a CBB through quarantine and established in the tank, and then add the smaller yellow giving both the tomini (who is only aggressive to the gramma because the gramma is a jerk himself) and CBB a chance to establish themselves before the addition. Rockscape is fairly open with lots of caves and overhangs and done with swimming space in mind. Anything stick out to you with that plan?

4FordFamily · Sep 14, 2017

Whipples said:
@4FordFamily I wanted to get your experienced input on something. Currently cycling a 100g (48x24x20) and have an existing tomini on the small side (2-3"). Recently lost that CBB you were helping me with earlier in the week but am determined to get one healthy and into my tank! Where I would like to get your input is on adding a smaller yellow a few months down the road and how likely that is to be successful? I have an Elite Aquatics acclimation box and my goal is to get existing fish (royal gramma, tomini, two clowns, and a banggai cardinal) situated in the new tank, get a CBB through quarantine and established in the tank, and then add the smaller yellow giving both the tomini (who is only aggressive to the gramma because the gramma is a jerk himself) and CBB a chance to establish themselves before the addition. Rockscape is fairly open with lots of caves and overhangs and done with swimming space in mind. Anything stick out to you with that plan?

I worry that the Tomini won't welcome the CBB nor the YT. An acclimation box is a good choice. You'd almost be better off qting the CBB and Yellow together.

Your tank needs to be very established for a CBB, they're not tolerant of the parameter swings inherent in new tanks.

Whipples · Sep 14, 2017

4FordFamily said:
I worry that the Tomini won't welcome the CBB nor the YT. An acclimation box is a good choice. You'd almost be better off qting the CBB and Yellow together.

Your tank needs to be very established for a CBB, they're not tolerant of the parameter swings inherent in new tanks.

That is what I was concerned with. Back to the ol' virtue of "patience"

Thanks for the tip!

4FordFamily · Sep 14, 2017

Whipples said:
That is what I was concerned with. Back to the ol' virtue of "patience" Thanks for the tip!

Patience sucks, believe me I know! Lol

Whipples · Sep 14, 2017

4FordFamily said:
Patience sucks, believe me I know! Lol

It is the only true downside to this hobby in my mind. Nothing good happens fast, and you can't rush nature. Respecting those rules is very hard, but it has not yet led me astray. Hasn't led me very far, either!

Brew12 · Sep 15, 2017

Whipples said:
I have an Elite Aquatics acclimation box

I have had great luck using an acclimation box along with a mirror. I picked up a plastic mirror from Staples designed for student lockers. I used a suction cup algae clip to hold it on the outside of the tank around 6" from the acclimation box. Put the fish in the box for a few days, let him out, remove the mirror a few days later.