Tang Aggression - Understanding and Combating

[Luis1992]

And it begins

 

[dustinc]

So I have a question about Tang Aggression. I've never really owned Tangs in the past as I've always been a fan of smaller fish, but have started to really like some of them. I added a Yellow, Convict, and Blue Hippo all at the same time (the first fish introduced in the tank) and have all been in the tank for about 2-2.5 months. They been fine the entire time until about a week ago, I noticed the yellow had some cuts on it's fins. Fast-forward to yesterday, and the convict has cuts on it's fins and has started relentlessly going after the yellow, but the yellow seems to be winning. I may be misinterpreting the aggressor, but below is a video of what I've started to consistently see. I feed a minimum of once per day a variety of frozen food and also have Nori available almost always. They don't seem to pay attention to the Blue Hippo at this point. Thank you.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

Uggh.. that is pretty nasty agression and if I had to make a call, one of them is not going to survive. I did not think the convicts were that aggressive but yours seems to be asking for trouble.

If it doesnt settle down soon I think I would advise getting rid of one.

 

[kungfujoe]

Hi, I’ve had a gem tang for about a week In quarantine and was thinking about adding a yellow tang, would you think this is possible? If so would I add a bigger or smaller yellow. My gem is about an inch and a half so he’s tiny. The tank they will be going into is 4’x2’x30 inches. Thanks in advanced.

 

[jaxteller007]

@4FordFamily what you think of keeping a desjardini, blonde naso and either a PBT or Lt tang (or both lol) in a standard 6ft, 180G tank? The only other large fish would be a magnificent foxface and a marine betta. The desjardini and foxface and betta are currently in the tank. We really want to add a couple more tangs. We have the ability to move rock around to change the hiding places and actually have some man made cave type structures that can be moved easily.
We also know that if we don't upgrade down the road, some of them may have to be re-homed if they hit max size and we are ok with that and already have a plan in place with someone we trust to help if that situation arises.

And I read what you say about keeping enough Nori that they can graze through the day. I'm trying that currently but they rip the pieces lose in minutes and then it's just floating around the tank. I have 3 of these clips and it just does not seem to hold the stuff well. Any suggestions on ways to keep the pieces in place for longer than a couple minutes?

 

[jaxteller007]

I should add that the probably order would be a large (larger than our sailfin) blonde naso first. Then down the road a PBT and/or Lt at the same time (these would have been through QT together for like 30 days before coming to us as well).
If a PBT and Lt is not a good idea, the wife is going to make sure the PBT is the choice lol. What would be another tang to add then? Or would those 3 tangs be about the max for our tank?

 

[jaxteller007]

bump for @4FordFamily

 

[4FordFamily]

Hi, I’ve had a gem tang for about a week In quarantine and was thinking about adding a yellow tang, would you think this is possible? If so would I add a bigger or smaller yellow. My gem is about an inch and a half so he’s tiny. The tank they will be going into is 4’x2’x30 inches. Thanks in advanced.

It's possible but that's a relatively high risk endeavor, two zebrasomas together alone. I wouldn't recommend it, but with size difference it may work. But with size difference, damage can be done quickly.

 

[4FordFamily]

@4FordFamily what you think of keeping a desjardini, blonde naso and either a PBT or Lt tang (or both lol) in a standard 6ft, 180G tank? The only other large fish would be a magnificent foxface and a marine betta. The desjardini and foxface and betta are currently in the tank. We really want to add a couple more tangs. We have the ability to move rock around to change the hiding places and actually have some man made cave type structures that can be moved easily.
We also know that if we don't upgrade down the road, some of them may have to be re-homed if they hit max size and we are ok with that and already have a plan in place with someone we trust to help if that situation arises.

And I read what you say about keeping enough Nori that they can graze through the day. I'm trying that currently but they rip the pieces lose in minutes and then it's just floating around the tank. I have 3 of these clips and it just does not seem to hold the stuff well. Any suggestions on ways to keep the pieces in place for longer than a couple minutes?

From a genus perspective, it could work. You already addressed the long-term concerns I would have. I'd say PBT is a better choice due to size. Is the desjardini aggressive? Sometimes incumbent tangs are ferocious to new tangs added.

I should add that the probably order would be a large (larger than our sailfin) blonde naso first. Then down the road a PBT and/or Lt at the same time (these would have been through QT together for like 30 days before coming to us as well).
If a PBT and Lt is not a good idea, the wife is going to make sure the PBT is the choice lol. What would be another tang to add then? Or would those 3 tangs be about the max for our tank?

I'd add tangs at the same time and quarantine them all together. I wouldn't mix an LT and a PBT due to real estate issues. They are both acanthurus but different enough in shape that it usually works out if added together, but that's just a lot of large tangs. LT tangs can be a bit shy and the PBT may beat the snot out of it eventually.

I'd say 3 tangs is max, but if you wanted to add a small bristletooth tang to the mix that oculd work for a while.

 

[jaxteller007]

From a genus perspective, it could work. You already addressed the long-term concerns I would have. I'd say PBT is a better choice due to size. Is the desjardini aggressive? Sometimes incumbent tangs are ferocious to new tangs added.



I'd add tangs at the same time and quarantine them all together. I wouldn't mix an LT and a PBT due to real estate issues. They are both acanthurus but different enough in shape that it usually works out if added together, but that's just a lot of large tangs. LT tangs can be a bit shy and the PBT may beat the snot out of it eventually.

I'd say 3 tangs is max, but if you wanted to add a small bristletooth tang to the mix that oculd work for a while.

Thanks for all the information! The sailfin has been a little aggressive to the foxface lately. Not the point of leaving any marks on either one of them, we haven't seem them actually seen them hit each other at all. But trying to flash his fins up and look big and what seems to my uneducated eye as just trying to act like he's the boss (of course he doesn't dare bother the Marine Betta lol).

That was one of our reasons of adding the the larger blonde as he's ready to come out of QT now (someone bigger than the sailfin that would distract him kinda). The PBT would be later down the road if we added one (we want to be quadruple sure our parameters are stable after the 1st PBT just randomly died after a couple days).

I would say the number one option for us would be blonde, PBT and sailfin if those 3 were the upper limit of large tangs in our tank. Of course if there is one we'd re-home and go another route it's the sailfin haha.

 

[jaxteller007]

@4FordFamily did you have any nori clip recs? My sailfin and foxfire rip it off those magnet clips in seconds lol

 

[Squidward]

@4FordFamily what you think of keeping a desjardini, blonde naso and either a PBT or Lt tang (or both lol) in a standard 6ft, 180G tank? The only other large fish would be a magnificent foxface and a marine betta. The desjardini and foxface and betta are currently in the tank. We really want to add a couple more tangs. We have the ability to move rock around to change the hiding places and actually have some man made cave type structures that can be moved easily.
We also know that if we don't upgrade down the road, some of them may have to be re-homed if they hit max size and we are ok with that and already have a plan in place with someone we trust to help if that situation arises.

And I read what you say about keeping enough Nori that they can graze through the day. I'm trying that currently but they rip the pieces lose in minutes and then it's just floating around the tank. I have 3 of these clips and it just does not seem to hold the stuff well. Any suggestions on ways to keep the pieces in place for longer than a couple minutes?

You mean pieces of nori? I would suggest folding 2 or 3 pieces of nori into 2" x 2" size where it's thick and stable and put it on your little fishies nori holder.

 

[jaxteller007]

You mean pieces of nori? I would suggest folding 2 or 3 pieces of nori into 2" x 2" size where it's thick and stable and put it on your little fishies nori holder.

Yea I've just been tearing off pieces off the big sheet and then putting them on the clips. I hadn't thought about folding them to make them thicker.

I might rubber band a piece to a rock like I did before I had the clips too.

 

[4FordFamily]

@4FordFamily did you have any nori clip recs? My sailfin and foxfire rip it off those magnet clips in seconds lol

My tangs can use most clips, I've not had this issue with any tangs. I have with my puffers in my wall tank, however. They rip it off in seconds. I have to toss sheets in 1-3 times per day for them to nibble on. It's annoying, I haven't found a good solution.

I do fold my nori a few times which seems to help. Which kind of nori are you using? Most store-bought (grocery store) tend to fall apart easily. I started buying ocean nutrition red and green, and purple in bulk from another source on amazon I cannot recall. The red nori recently has fallen apart easily but the others stay pretty well.

 

[jaxteller007]

My tangs can use most clips, I've not had this issue with any tangs. I have with my puffers in my wall tank, however. They rip it off in seconds. I have to toss sheets in 1-3 times per day for them to nibble on. It's annoying, I haven't found a good solution.

I do fold my nori a few times which seems to help. Which kind of nori are you using? Most store-bought (grocery store) tend to fall apart easily. I started buying ocean nutrition red and green, and purple in bulk from another source on amazon I cannot recall. The red nori recently has fallen apart easily but the others stay pretty well.

Ocean Nutrition mostly. I'll do like both of you said and fold it a couple times.

 

[4FordFamily]

Ocean Nutrition mostly. I'll do like both of you said and fold it a couple times.

I probably fold it 4 times.

 

[jaxteller007]

Our sailfin is really starting to turn into a bully I think. He is chasing the foxface far more than before. The foxface isn't showing any marks or scars yet but I'm sure it's stressing him out. He winds up "chasing" what I think is his reflection in the side of the tank after the sailfin chases him.

The blonde naso is ready to come out of QT so I think we're going to get it on Friday. Hopefully he can be a peacemaker/distraction. If not, the sailfin will be getting re-homed I believe.

 

[jaxteller007]

@4FordFamily what do you think.. serious aggression or just a tang doing tang things and not actually trying to injure our foxface? The last video is what the foxface winds up doing after the sailfin chases him around.

 

[4FordFamily]

Yeah that’s aggression. Hard to tell the frequency. No damage is good. The issue is so few fish, few distractions, easy to fixate.

 

[jaxteller007]

Yeah that’s aggression. Hard to tell the frequency. No damage is good. The issue is so few fish, few distractions, easy to fixate.

It has seemed to pick up since they've gotten more comfortable in the tank. Well we should have a bigger tank mate for them by Friday. Are there any other distractions we can try until then?

We put the mirror up for a little while the other day and that seemed to distract the sailfin for a bit.