Tang Aggression - Understanding and Combating

[4FordFamily]

Having a well-established tank can make adding fish quite challenging. We had some acrylic available and decided to build a divider. After a few years of use, we are happy to say that it has been a complete game changer. We added multiple fish, including tangs, and experienced zero casualties due to fish aggression. The divider also provides safety for new additions, and feeding them has become a breeze.

This can help indeed!! Nice contraption and tank!

 

[4FordFamily]

Wanted a PBT since forever, and finally I have a big enough tank for one (200 gallon).

I have been reading the thread. So one question, can I have the PBT as the only tang, or do I need multiple bigger tangs to curb the aggression? What tangs are good to stop it from being aggressive?

Hello, and I apologize for the delay in replying.

If the powder blue tang is the only tang, you may be OK. However, if you ever decide you want to add other herbivores, particularly tangs; a lone powder blue in a decent-sized tank where he’s been able to maintain a territory is probably the most hostile situation (statistically) you could have for later tang or rabbitfish additions.

However, it is rare that a powder blue tang with tangle with wrasse. Angelfish typically not seen as a threat (but you never know).

As far as options to curb aggression, I generally recommend zebrasoma genus tangs such as scopas, yellow, purple, etc. If you wanted to add three tangs you could do one zebrasoma, a PBT, and a type of bristle tooth tang (Kole, white tail, flamefin, etc).

I hope this helps!

 

[LiquidSpace]

I want to add a Gem Tang checking to see how to ago about doing it.

I have a 4” Lieutenant, Orange Shoulder and Blue Hippo. They have been in the aquarium for a month now. They were all added together and get along.

The tank is 200 gallons, 6ft. My original plan was to get a larger fish, but since Zebrasomas can be nasty I’m not sure if that’s the way to go about it.

No matter what I plan on using my acclimation box for at least a week.

 

[4FordFamily]

I want to add a Gem Tang checking to see how to ago about doing it.

I have a 4” Lieutenant, Orange Shoulder and Blue Hippo. They have been in the aquarium for a month now. They were all added together and get along.

The tank is 200 gallons, 6ft. My original plan was to get a larger fish, but since Zebrasomas can be nasty I’m not sure if that’s the way to go about it.

No matter what I plan on using my acclimation box for at least a week.

You may have no trouble either way due to having multiple tangs now and zebrasoma tangs being a different genus.

It’s always a risk but I’m not extremely worried high level. :)

 

[Dgunn]

First off I would like to thank 4FordFamily for maintaining this thread for 10 years! I read through all the posts for the first few years and jumped to the end to see if you are still answering questions.

I have a somewhat different situation that I hope that you might offer some advice on.

I have a 280 gallon tank 72 x 30 x 30 that I just moved from my former house to a new house and have just reset up. I have housed all the fish, rock and coral in 5 different smaller tanks for the last month while I was moving the tank. I brought from the old setup a somewhat large (4-5") Hippo and Sailfin as well as a large Magnificent Foxface. Those three have been housed temporarily in a 65 gallon tank with some rock and need to be placed either in their original tank or re-homed, my wife prefers the latter...

In the process of moving I purchased a friends setup with a smaller purple tang, Hippo tang and another tang that I have not been able to identify yet, it's about three inches long and all black, possibly a juvenile Scopus or Kole tang? Those three are doing fine together in a 40 gallon breeder tank,

My question is this, I can trade the three larger fish to a local fish store for a Biota yellow tang, valued at $200.
Since all the fish would be going into a new setting do you think that the purple and yellow will get along okay?

The other option is to put all of the tangs into the newly setup tank at the same time and since the Sailfin and Hippo are larger the Purple will not be as aggressive towards them. Will a large Hippo and small Hippo get along?

Thanks in advance for any advice that you can offer.

 

[4FordFamily]

First off I would like to thank 4FordFamily for maintaining this thread for 10 years! I read through all the posts for the first few years and jumped to the end to see if you are still answering questions.

I have a somewhat different situation that I hope that you might offer some advice on.

I have a 280 gallon tank 72 x 30 x 30 that I just moved from my former house to a new house and have just reset up. I have housed all the fish, rock and coral in 5 different smaller tanks for the last month while I was moving the tank. I brought from the old setup a somewhat large (4-5") Hippo and Sailfin as well as a large Magnificent Foxface. Those three have been housed temporarily in a 65 gallon tank with some rock and need to be placed either in their original tank or re-homed, my wife prefers the latter...

In the process of moving I purchased a friends setup with a smaller purple tang, Hippo tang and another tang that I have not been able to identify yet, it's about three inches long and all black, possibly a juvenile Scopus or Kole tang? Those three are doing fine together in a 40 gallon breeder tank,

My question is this, I can trade the three larger fish to a local fish store for a Biota yellow tang, valued at $200.
Since all the fish would be going into a new setting do you think that the purple and yellow will get along okay?

The other option is to put all of the tangs into the newly setup tank at the same time and since the Sailfin and Hippo are larger the Purple will not be as aggressive towards them. Will a large Hippo and small Hippo get along?

Thanks in advance for any advice that you can offer.

Thanks much for the kind words, I enjoy helping! I work two jobs these days and am not on here as much but I definitely do my best around here.

Regarding your query - it can work. Hippo are not frequently aggressive toward conspecifics. Particularly not when a dominant fish can be determined such as size discrepancies.

I suspect that since you’ll be adding multiple tangs in to a new tank you have a lot of options that should work out well. Of course, these are live animals with unique personalities but I think you could succeed relatively easily regardless of the avenue that you take.

I hope this helps! :)

 

[akau]

Here's one way to deal with aggressive tangs...

 

[Dgunn]

Thanks for the quick response and advice.
I've decided to place all the fish together in the large tank starting with the smaller ones.
I'll monitor it for a few days and if there is any definite bullying I will just remove enough rock to catch the worst offender(s).

 

[4FordFamily]

Let us know how it works! Good luck! :)

 

[LiquidSpace]

You may have no trouble either way due to having multiple tangs now and zebrasoma tangs being a different genus.

It’s always a risk but I’m not extremely worried high level. :)

Wednesday is the day. I added a Lieutenant Tang because while I was on vacation the first one got the crap beat out of it and died. I think it was my large angel, and my theory was aggression because they were not being fed four times a day like when I am home. So I have ordered a replacement Lieutenant to go with the Gem. I have an acclimation box but I’m not sure it’s appropriate for two 5” tangs. They are from Dr. Reef and have been in quarantine together.

Should I keep them in the acclimation box anyways? Or just release? It sounds like you’re not foreseeing any issues but I don’t want to just assume.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Wednesday is the day. I added a Lieutenant Tang because while I was on vacation the first one got the crap beat out of it and died. I think it was my large angel, and my theory was aggression because they were not being fed four times a day like when I am home. So I have ordered a replacement Lieutenant to go with the Gem. I have an acclimation box but I’m not sure it’s appropriate for two 5” tangs. They are from Dr. Reef and have been in quarantine together.

Should I keep them in the acclimation box anyways? Or just release? It sounds like you’re not foreseeing any issues but I don’t want to just assume.

I would not place two in one box risking injury to both . While often not feasible, two separate boxes are best o one in the sump area as long as there is sufficient room

 

[4FordFamily]

Wednesday is the day. I added a Lieutenant Tang because while I was on vacation the first one got the crap beat out of it and died. I think it was my large angel, and my theory was aggression because they were not being fed four times a day like when I am home. So I have ordered a replacement Lieutenant to go with the Gem. I have an acclimation box but I’m not sure it’s appropriate for two 5” tangs. They are from Dr. Reef and have been in quarantine together.

Should I keep them in the acclimation box anyways? Or just release? It sounds like you’re not foreseeing any issues but I don’t want to just assume.

Two acclimation boxes would be ideal but I am not overly concerned. It’s always a risk but this isn’t a high risk situation, IMO. Good luck!

 

[buruskeee]

One of my yellow tangs (have 3 - they're all about 2 years old now) started getting bullied by the other 2 and the Purple a couple weeks ago, not much aggression besides chasing and making it last in pecking order for what food last to eat in the tank. It got a little skinnier, so I figured I'd just feed a bit more.

Fast forward to today, it's the first time there was real aggression. There is a 1/2" long laceration and a couple other pin like punctures, along with some fin nips.

I have already caught it and placed it in a 12"x6"x6" acclimation box. Should I keep it in there or move it to the sump? Planning on just letting it get healed and feeding it directly.

 

[vetteguy53081]

One of my yellow tangs (have 3 - they're all about 2 years old now) started getting bullied by the other 2 and the Purple a couple weeks ago, not much aggression besides chasing and making it last in pecking order for what food last to eat in the tank. It got a little skinnier, so I figured I'd just feed a bit more.

Fast forward to today, it's the first time there was real aggression. There is a 1/2" long laceration and a couple other pin like punctures, along with some fin nips.

I have already caught it and placed it in a 12"x6"x6" acclimation box. Should I keep it in there or move it to the sump? Planning on just letting it get healed and feeding it directly.

If its doing well in box, it can stay there but will have more room within sump and heal just fine but assure no redness or sores develop which if so will need to be treated in separate container with Seachem Neoplex

 

[buruskeee]

If its doing well in box, it can stay there but will have more room within sump and heal just fine but assure no redness or sores develop which if so will need to be treated in separate container with Seachem Neoplex

Thanks!

I think I'll keep it in the box for now (under my auto feeder) and monitor if it gets stressed from the lack of swimming space it's used to.

I originally wanted to put it directly into my sump since I have a fuge light there at night, but I'll hold off for today and tomorrow.

 

[4FordFamily]

One of my yellow tangs (have 3 - they're all about 2 years old now) started getting bullied by the other 2 and the Purple a couple weeks ago, not much aggression besides chasing and making it last in pecking order for what food last to eat in the tank. It got a little skinnier, so I figured I'd just feed a bit more.

Fast forward to today, it's the first time there was real aggression. There is a 1/2" long laceration and a couple other pin like punctures, along with some fin nips.

I have already caught it and placed it in a 12"x6"x6" acclimation box. Should I keep it in there or move it to the sump? Planning on just letting it get healed and feeding it directly.

How big is the tank? Other tankmates?

It’s not uncommon for tangs to get slashed occasionally and they often heal up fine. If one is being singled out regularly though it can lead to death.

Letting it heal isn’t a bad thing. Is this one smaller than the others?

 

[buruskeee]

How big is the tank? Other tankmates?

It’s not uncommon for tangs to get slashed occasionally and they often heal up fine. If one is being singled out regularly though it can lead to death.

Letting it heal isn’t a bad thing. Is this one smaller than the others?

Tank is a 5x2x2. Have 13 fish total. 4 of the same genus (3 yellow and a purple).

Yeah, this one is the smallest of the bunch. They got along fine for 2 years. Once this one started getting a little skinnier about a month ago (still see it eat enough), I started seeing more aggression towards it. In the past I’d see random slashes here or there spread out to the different tangs every couple of months, but today I found this little yellow one in worse conditions. 2 little punctures and a slash, along with the fin damage.

If it was still peaceful I would have left it, but the purple, and occasionally other yellows, would constantly seek it out. Decided I would pull it before it got worse.

This smaller yellow is maybe 3.5” … a 12x6 inch box is fine for a couple days? Ive attached an algae clip which it’s somewhat getting distracted with and grazing on.

I just want to make sure it doesn’t go insane and start injuring itself in there. I might end up rehoming it once the wounds heal.

 

[4FordFamily]

Tank is a 5x2x2. Have 13 fish total. 4 of the same genus (3 yellow and a purple).

Yeah, this one is the smallest of the bunch. They got along fine for 2 years. Once this one started getting a little skinnier about a month ago (still see it eat enough), I started seeing more aggression towards it. In the past I’d see random slashes here or there spread out to the different tangs every couple of months, but today I found this little yellow one in worse conditions. 2 little punctures and a slash, along with the fin damage.

If it was still peaceful I would have left it, but the purple, and occasionally other yellows, would constantly seek it out. Decided I would pull it before it got worse.

This smaller yellow is maybe 3.5” … a 12x6 inch box is fine for a couple days? Ive attached an algae clip which it’s somewhat getting distracted with and grazing on.

I just want to make sure it doesn’t go insane and start injuring itself in there. I might end up rehoming it once the wounds heal.

I wonder if there’s something underlying with the tang. It isn’t very common for fish to get along for a while and then suddenly “break up”. It’s possible, but I’m wondering if the fish has underlying issues. I’d nurse it back to health and get it good and fat and you can try adding it back. Try an acclimation box and if they single it out there - rehoming may be best

 

[dustinc]

I have a 300 gallon reef tank (6x3x30”). I currently have the following tangs and this was the order placed in the tank:

1) Blue Hippo
2) Convict
3) Blonde Naso & Desjardini

I would definitely like to add another Zebrasoma (not sure which one) and a bristletooth (probably white tail).

Any thoughts on this?

I only have one experience with a purple tang year ago killing a well established Blonde Naso that was triple its size in 3 days, so it scares me a bit, but love their look but also still love a yellow tang.

Thanks for any thoughts/feedback

 

[4FordFamily]

I have a 300 gallon reef tank (6x3x30”). I currently have the following tangs and this was the order placed in the tank:

1) Blue Hippo
2) Convict
3) Blonde Naso & Desjardini

I would definitely like to add another Zebrasoma (not sure which one) and a bristletooth (probably white tail).

Any thoughts on this?

I only have one experience with a purple tang year ago killing a well established Blonde Naso that was triple its size in 3 days, so it scares me a bit, but love their look but also still love a yellow tang.

Thanks for any thoughts/feedback

Purple are probably the most aggressive zebrasoma although of course different fish have different personalities. Yellow or scopas are probably the most docile.

Naso are particularly vulnerable when new - the smaller ones in particular are not very hardy until established.