Another Purple Tang Aggression Thread

[EvolvedMonkey]

My tank is 133 g display, 165 overall. 5 feet wide. I have about 18 fish in the tank right now, mostly small fish and wrasse; the purple tang is the largest and most dominant fish in the tank.

My purple tang is my second favorite fish. The fish that she hates the most is my marine betta, my favorite fish.

My purple tang has been very aggressive towards my fox face, and pretty much every other fish in the tank at different times. I put up a mirror, which reset her behavior for some time and seemed to even out her relationship with every fish except the betta.

While I was away from home this weekend, and had someone else watching the tank, she tore most of the tail and dorsal fin off the betta (I think she is going to survive, and I'm trying to nurse her back to health).

The purple tang has been banished to the sump.

I love the purple tang, but I also want a peaceful and non-aggressive tank. Would any of you experts with lots of experience in such fish behavior be willing to try to return her to the tank in a week or so to see if anything changes, or is her behavior unfixable and it's time to trade her in?

Any recommendations for a larger, interesting, beautiful, peaceful, reef safe fish that might replace the tang if I send her back?

Thanks.

 

[EvolvedMonkey]

Oh yes, she also tail whips me every time I put my hand in the tank.

She's scared of no one

 

[bobnicaragua]

My purple tang dominated the tank, but is more peaceful now.
The sailfin tang got so big that the purple started acting like a decent citizen (most of the time).

 

[i cant think]

My tank is 133 g display, 165 overall. 5 feet wide. I have about 18 fish in the tank right now, mostly small fish and wrasse; the purple tang is the largest and most dominant fish in the tank.

My purple tang is my second favorite fish. The fish that she hates the most is my marine betta, my favorite fish.

My purple tang has been very aggressive towards my fox face, and pretty much every other fish in the tank at different times. I put up a mirror, which reset her behavior for some time and seemed to even out her relationship with every fish except the betta.

While I was away from home this weekend, and had someone else watching the tank, she tore most of the tail and dorsal fin off the betta (I think she is going to survive, and I'm trying to nurse her back to health).

The purple tang has been banished to the sump.

I love the purple tang, but I also want a peaceful and non-aggressive tank. Would any of you experts with lots of experience in such fish behavior be willing to try to return her to the tank in a week or so to see if anything changes, or is her behavior unfixable and it's time to trade her in?

Any recommendations for a larger, interesting, beautiful, peaceful, reef safe fish that might replace the tang if I send her back?

Thanks.

If you want a peaceful system, remove the purple. She will continue to be a bully towards any new fish that enter.

Other peaceful and reef safe species you could look into, what about the Genicanthus angels? They’re generally reef safe with maybe 1% of specimens not being reef safe. They can also be paired really easily due to being sexually dichromatic.

 

[EvolvedMonkey]

If you want a peaceful system, remove the purple. She will continue to be a bully towards any new fish that enter.

Other peaceful and reef safe species you could look into, what about the Genicanthus angels? They’re generally reef safe with maybe 1% of specimens not being reef safe. They can also be paired really easily due to being sexually dichromatic.

Thank you!

The Swallowtail Angel looks beautiful. May go that route.

Also considering a quoyi parrotfish.

 

[Dburr1014]

My tank is 133 g display, 165 overall. 5 feet wide. I have about 18 fish in the tank right now, mostly small fish and wrasse; the purple tang is the largest and most dominant fish in the tank.

My purple tang is my second favorite fish. The fish that she hates the most is my marine betta, my favorite fish.

My purple tang has been very aggressive towards my fox face, and pretty much every other fish in the tank at different times. I put up a mirror, which reset her behavior for some time and seemed to even out her relationship with every fish except the betta.

While I was away from home this weekend, and had someone else watching the tank, she tore most of the tail and dorsal fin off the betta (I think she is going to survive, and I'm trying to nurse her back to health).

The purple tang has been banished to the sump.

I love the purple tang, but I also want a peaceful and non-aggressive tank. Would any of you experts with lots of experience in such fish behavior be willing to try to return her to the tank in a week or so to see if anything changes, or is her behavior unfixable and it's time to trade her in?

Any recommendations for a larger, interesting, beautiful, peaceful, reef safe fish that might replace the tang if I send her back?

Thanks.

Oh yes, she also tail whips me every time I put my hand in the tank.

She's scared of no one

I know all about the tail swipes.
Mine does the same and she is now in a 150.

I sent mine to the sump added 2 bellus angels. I was afraid she would kill them if she was in the display when added.

IMO, while she is in the sump can you change a few rocks in the display? It may help, she will be in new territory. If it doesn't work, you caught her once, you can do it again and send her to the LFS.

 

[EvolvedMonkey]

I know all about the tail swipes.
Mine does the same and she is now in a 150.

I sent mine to the sump added 2 bellus angels. I was afraid she would kill them if she was in the display when added.

IMO, while she is in the sump can you change a few rocks in the display? It may help, she will be in new territory. If it doesn't work, you caught her once, you can do it again and send her to the LFS.

It was tough to catch her. I don't know if she'll fall for my tricks again

Wow that Bellus Angel is beautiful. Have you found them to be reef safe?

 

[Largeangels]

Take it back to the LFS and get a smaller one. QT and then introduce in a specimen container. Some fish are just more aggressive than others. Now, a purple tang will always be aggressive, but some are just plain nasty compared to others.

 

[EvolvedMonkey]

Take it back to the LFS and get a smaller one. QT and then introduce in a specimen container. Some fish are just more aggressive than others. Now, a purple tang will always be aggressive, but some are just plain nasty compared to others.

Yeah, I think I'm going to take her back, not worth the endless worries.

Is there a 'standard' LFS policy for swapping fish? I've never done it.

 

[Dburr1014]

It was tough to catch her. I don't know if she'll fall for my tricks again

Wow that Bellus Angel is beautiful. Have you found them to be reef safe?

Yes, they are 100% reef safe. I bought two hoping(should) 1 turns male.

 

[Dburr1014]

Yeah, I think I'm going to take her back, not worth the endless worries.

Is there a 'standard' LFS policy for swapping fish? I've never done it.

Depends on the store.
I have some stores that give no credit and some that do.

 

[pwfess]

First off. How did you catch her? Trying to catch mine. Two opinions on reducing aggression. 1) create as much flow as you can in the system (so as long as it’s ok with coral) and this will give it more exercise like in the wild. 2) consider always having red ogo in the display tank for her to nip at day in and day out ( this won’t increase nutrients like nori). I think this will meet both exercise and feeding demands such that she won’t be bothered by other fish or have time to bother other fish.
Now a last consideration…add 2 more tangs to really screw up the hierarchy. This could possibly backfire lol but an option!! And I say two bc if you do just one I think she will beat the crap out of it. But two at once will really mess things up. Oh and make sure they’re the same size as her

 

[EvolvedMonkey]

First off. How did you catch her? Trying to catch mine. Two opinions on reducing aggression. 1) create as much flow as you can in the system (so as long as it’s ok with coral) and this will give it more exercise like in the wild. 2) consider always having red ogo in the display tank for her to nip at day in and day out ( this won’t increase nutrients like nori). I think this will meet both exercise and feeding demands such that she won’t be bothered by other fish or have time to bother other fish.
Now a last consideration…add 2 more tangs to really screw up the hierarchy. This could possibly backfire lol but an option!! And I say two bc if you do just one I think she will beat the crap out of it. But two at once will really mess things up. Oh and make sure they’re the same size as her

Good advice, but at this point, my plan is just to trade her in to the LFS.. She has always had a tendency for aggression, and it has gotten worse and worse. It's just not worth it to me to continue to stress myself and the tank worrying about it.

The way I caught her is to hook an isolation chamber into the tank nearly vertically. I hook only the top suction cup so it can swivel on the cup. I turn off flow and gently feed her favorite food directly into the isolation chamber. Eventually she will go in. The hard part is swinging the isolation tank up to parallel with the water level to trap her.

For some fish I can just lift it up really slowly, and I can trap them easily. For the tang she can kind of feel it coming, so I had to be a bit more aggressive with how I was lifting it up. Your mileage may vary.

Good luck.

 

[OrionN]

130 ish tank is a little too small for Purple tang IMO, but it is doable. If you really like the Purple tang, like me, I would remove the one you have right now and try another smaller one. It seems your PT is fairly nasty, especially against an inoffensive fish like Marine Betta. In my tank (320 gal DT), considerably larger than yours fish, my Purple is chill, in comparison to my PBT, both of which I had since about 1.5 inches.
If you don't want to chance it, then go for another tank. Purple Tangs are known as one of the more aggressive of the tangs.

 

[Dburr1014]

It's really amazing that fish in to small a tank are more aggressive. My PT in the 75 was more aggressive has she got bigger but now in the 150 is calmer as time goes on. No more tail swipes! I'm a believer.