Tang Aggression - Understanding and Combating

[ReeferReefer]

Hey guys. I just bought a Yellow Eye Kole tang from a someone in my local reef club. I am having problems with the new tang being very aggressive towards my existing fish.

My tank is a 90 gallon softie dominated tank with lots of rock and caves. The other inhabitants are a flame angel, blue star Leopard, 2 clowns and a royal gramma.

The Kole Tang is chasing around the flame angel, wrasse and gramma. Seems to leave the clowns alone. The Gramma and angel seem to be good at hiding in caves to avoid the tang but the wrasse just swims away.

I noticed the flame angel has some tattered back fins.

I have a nori clip up but the Kole doesn't seem interested in it or in grazing in general.

The Kole was added yesterday.

Any advice? We had to take all the rock out of the tank to get the Kole the first time and I'd hate to have to do that to my tank too.

I've put up a mirror and the tang is super aggressive towards it. Seems to be giving my wrasse a bit of break. Not sure if this is a long term solution though.


Is the Kole just showing his dominance and calm down? Or could this be a more serious aggression problem?

 

[ReeferReefer]

Just wanted to note that by using a mirror and increasing feedings, I have calmed the Kole Tang. It seems to help to have some nori on the clip all day long if possible.

 

[RtomKinMad]

In my experience they have calmed down as they settled in. Hopefully yours will also. Glad you decided on the yellow kole! Hope it works out now! Good luck and let us know!

 

[stevieduk]

You are bang on correct about the food / aggression thing. I have a yellow and a purple tang together living quite peacefully, but i ordered them from the store together and as young as i could get them, they were about 2 inch each when they arrived. I also let the back and one side panel of my tank get covered in algae, before they arrived, which gave them plenty of food. The only time there has been any aggression shown was when i got my water quality really good and the algae started to disappear , and , like you stated , they were competing for food, so i let the nitrate level go back up a bit, algae came back and peace was restored.
They are now as near fully grown as they will be and really nice quality fish. I only feed them once a day with a flake food that has got the vitamins in, the rest of the time they are grazing on the algae..
My only regret is that , as other people have said , I did not introduce a Copperband slightly larger than those two, at the same time, so they would not have bullied it cos it was larger , and they would have grown up together.
Im not going to risk it now , you see far to many Copperbands meet there death

 

[4FordFamily]

I have a 180 gallon, and already have a purple and a kole tang. I introduced a white cheek tang, after keeping him in an acclimation box for a week. Both the established tangs used to ignore the new whitecheek tang altogether, when it was in acclimation box.
But today when i, introduced the whitecheek without the acclimation box. My purple tang literally wanted to murder the new tang, the aggression was pretty bad, so i took out the purple tang and it is now in my sump.
The kole tang and whitecheek tang are fine with each other.
My question is when can i re-introduce purple tang? As it is pretty stressed in my sump, has not eaten all day, plus i have a debelius reef lobster in my sump, so i am a bit concerned for my purple tang's safety, as i have read that it(lobster) eats fish, when they sre sleeping.
So when to add purple back to dt? Can i add him when the lights will go out, as the whitecheek seems to be comfortable now and it has been a span of 12-15hours since it has been in the sump.

Yes generally zebrasoma tangs don’t hold long grudges. Nothing is a guarantee but if you wait a few weeks or so the purple may tolerate them now.

Hey guys. I just bought a Yellow Eye Kole tang from a someone in my local reef club. I am having problems with the new tang being very aggressive towards my existing fish.

My tank is a 90 gallon softie dominated tank with lots of rock and caves. The other inhabitants are a flame angel, blue star Leopard, 2 clowns and a royal gramma.

The Kole Tang is chasing around the flame angel, wrasse and gramma. Seems to leave the clowns alone. The Gramma and angel seem to be good at hiding in caves to avoid the tang but the wrasse just swims away.

I noticed the flame angel has some tattered back fins.

I have a nori clip up but the Kole doesn't seem interested in it or in grazing in general.

The Kole was added yesterday.

Any advice? We had to take all the rock out of the tank to get the Kole the first time and I'd hate to have to do that to my tank too.

I've put up a mirror and the tang is super aggressive towards it. Seems to be giving my wrasse a bit of break. Not sure if this is a long term solution though.


Is the Kole just showing his dominance and calm down? Or could this be a more serious aggression problem?

It can probably be calmed in time but it’s likekh to be very aggressive with new additions. Some kole tangs are pretty nasty.

Just wanted to note that by using a mirror and increasing feedings, I have calmed the Kole Tang. It seems to help to have some nori on the clip all day long if possible.

Good to hear, just saw this!

 

[4FordFamily]

By the way everyone — for some reason I don’t get updates to this thread even though I’m subscribed for email and notifications. It’s just this thread. One in about five posts I get notified.

So if you tag me @4FordFamily I will respond much more quickly. Sorry, not sure how else to do it!

 

[Ghost463]

When i added the purple tang go my tank 4 + months ago i noticed right away it getting bullied. Four line damsel half its size would have killed it.
Same with any size yellow tang i put im. The 2 angels seems to be much less bothered. But it is a hi traffic tank.
Even my blue damsels seem much less bothered to new commers.

 

[JJKK]

I have a reversed tang aggression question...

I had a purple tang(juvi), Desjardini(juvi) and a whitetail bristletooth(~2.5") coming out of quarrantine. The first fish going into the display was the whitetail bristletooth. As soon as I got it in the water, the Potter's angel(~2.5") went straight after it. It was a furious chasing around the Red Sea 525XL(5' tank with 108 gal in display). The whitetail suffered a couple of cuts from diving in at out of the rocks. I did get it out pretty easily as it was ready to jump out of the tank. I never bother to put the purple nor the Desjardini in the display. Instead, they went back to the quarantine tank as I plotted to get the Potter's angel out.

Was able to get the Potter out with a fishtrap after a couple of days. Now it is in the quarantine tank and the 3 tangs are peacefully coexisting in the display with the other fish. The question is, how long should I hold the Potter's angel in quartantine before reintroduction to the DT in order to maintain a peaceful tank? The Potter was in there with all the other fish pretty peacefully, before I try to move the tangs. I was not able to re-do the rock work significantly. Thanks.

 

[LeonThePeon]

Although it’s a bio shock adding as many together as possible is best for aggression. In a tank that size even adding 3 or 4 won’t seem like much and a resident jerk tang may find it easy to badger them. I have a 405gal ten foot tank that’s next for me as well. I’ll be adding in batches of 5 for tangs, ideally. That is, two batches roughly.

No, I don’t think that’s too many tangs for a tank that size. It’s an awful lot of zebrasoma tangs but that may actually help. I hope this helps.

I would definitely add the aggressive tang in a later batch or with the other yellows for best results.

*Sigh - 3 yellow tangs survived 30 days of copper (one more didn't make the last week of copper)... all three couldn't last one weekend in DT. I think I've found my dominant fishes. They're all peaceful now.

 

[4FordFamily]

I have a reversed tang aggression question...

I had a purple tang(juvi), Desjardini(juvi) and a whitetail bristletooth(~2.5") coming out of quarrantine. The first fish going into the display was the whitetail bristletooth. As soon as I got it in the water, the Potter's angel(~2.5") went straight after it. It was a furious chasing around the Red Sea 525XL(5' tank with 108 gal in display). The whitetail suffered a couple of cuts from diving in at out of the rocks. I did get it out pretty easily as it was ready to jump out of the tank. I never bother to put the purple nor the Desjardini in the display. Instead, they went back to the quarantine tank as I plotted to get the Potter's angel out.

Was able to get the Potter out with a fishtrap after a couple of days. Now it is in the quarantine tank and the 3 tangs are peacefully coexisting in the display with the other fish. The question is, how long should I hold the Potter's angel in quartantine before reintroduction to the DT in order to maintain a peaceful tank? The Potter was in there with all the other fish pretty peacefully, before I try to move the tangs. I was not able to re-do the rock work significantly. Thanks.

You can probably move back after 2-3 weeks safely.

 

[4FordFamily]

*Sigh - 3 yellow tangs survived 30 days of copper (one more didn't make the last week of copper)... all three couldn't last one weekend in DT. I think I've found my dominant fishes. They're all peaceful now.

Sorry for the trouble

Who’s the aggressor?

 

[LeonThePeon]

Sorry for the trouble

Who’s the aggressor?

One of the yellows and the sailfin. The purple seems to be okay... now that it got rid of the other two purples. Troublesome hoodlums!

 

[4FordFamily]

One of the yellows and the sailfin. The purple seems to be okay... now that it got rid of the other two purples. Troublesome hoodlums!

That’s unfortunate, a tank well stocked with other “distractions” helps keep the aggression in check it seems. My 500 right now only has 15 fish in it and the tangs are bickering that wouldn’t be an issue if it was a smaller tank. Nothing serious but more than I suspect they will once my large batch of tangs and angels go in in a couple weeks.

 

[JJKK]

You can probably move back after 2-3 weeks safely.

Thanks. It will be interesting as the purple, whitetail bristletooth, and even the Desjardini has gotten a bit territorial in the tank. A bit of chasing and shoving against the anthias, melanarus and others. Not too serious.

I will probably use an acclimation box for the day and then release at night.

 

[RazorD]

I have a purple and whitetail bristletooth coming in tomorrow and will QT. Would you guys recommend I divide the QT (it's 20g) or should the two both have full run of the tank? The main DT they are going in will have some other tangs and I'm not sure if it's better or worse for them to be together ahead of time. Thoughts?

 

[HotRocks]

I have a purple and whitetail bristletooth coming in tomorrow and will QT. Would you guys recommend I divide the QT (it's 20g) or should the two both have full run of the tank? The main DT they are going in will have some other tangs and I'm not sure if it's better or worse for them to be together ahead of time. Thoughts?

I would allow them to co-exist unless it becomes problematic. Depending on the size of these guys the 20g may be a bit cramped.

 

[RazorD]

So currently I have an adult yellow in a newly upgraded tank and a small juvenile purple arrives today and will QT for a few weeks. I know it’s a gamble mixing the two, but hoping it works out. Toying with the idea of adding a 3rd Zebrasoma based on what I’m reading (to hopefully offset aggression). My question is, given the two kinds and ages above, would you recommend the 3rd be another yellow? Or purple? If so, what size?

Thanks in advance!

 

[RazorD]

....Or, a third kind of Zebrasoma tang entirely such as sailfin desjardini?

 

[scubadude]

I am starting a new 125 gallon tank. I love tangs but keep reading where there are always issues keeping more then one. I was hoping to keep 3 along with an singapore Angel. I was hoping there were 3 that might get along and was thinking of adding them in the beginning and together. I will be cycling the tank with 5 green cromisis. Any thoughts one 3 tangs that would be ok together

 

[RazorD]

Just noticed you asked to be tagged. A few questions above that I’d love your thoughts on. The purple I reference is tiny (if that’s helpful) @4FordFamily .

Thanks. Just re-read this thread again. So much helpful info here

 

[4FordFamily]

I would allow them to co-exist unless it becomes problematic. Depending on the size of these guys the 20g may be a bit cramped.

I agree

So currently I have an adult yellow in a newly upgraded tank and a small juvenile purple arrives today and will QT for a few weeks. I know it’s a gamble mixing the two, but hoping it works out. Toying with the idea of adding a 3rd Zebrasoma based on what I’m reading (to hopefully offset aggression). My question is, given the two kinds and ages above, would you recommend the 3rd be another yellow? Or purple? If so, what size?

Thanks in advance!

A different zebrasoma such as a black, Scopas, gem, etc would be more advisable. Sailfin grow very large for most tanks.

I am starting a new 125 gallon tank. I love tangs but keep reading where there are always issues keeping more then one. I was hoping to keep 3 along with an singapore Angel. I was hoping there were 3 that might get along and was thinking of adding them in the beginning and together. I will be cycling the tank with 5 green cromisis. Any thoughts one 3 tangs that would be ok together

A zebrasoma, bristletooth, and smaller acanthurus would be your best bet. If it were me I’d do a yellow, kole, and convict.

Could also do purple, white tail, and chocolate.