Psychopath Biota Tang

[jbaur]

I purchased this fish approximately a week ago from the lfs. They had around a dozen 1.75" Biota yellow tangs in a 75g with some damsels.

I got the fish home and started to qt him in a 20g long, so he was in the tank by himself for 2 days.

On day 3 I added some fish which I ordered from another lfs...

- 3.5" redfin wrasse
- 2.5" Naoko wrasse
- 1.75" lyretail anthias

The following day I woke up, found everyone but the Naoko out and about when I fed them in the morning. When I got home the Naoko dead. Fins were shredded and loose scales all over the bottom of the tank.

The next day it was the redfins turn. Understand prior to this point I didn't know what killed the Naoko, I thought it may have been the redfin.

The 3rd day was the anthias.

So now I've got this yellow tang by himself. All seems well with him so far.

What would you all try to do with him? I think it'd be insane to put him in the display at this point.

The only option I was thinking of is to sump him for a few months and have him grow out... Maybe the time would get whatever is going through his crazy head sorted. Eventually house him with something like a chromis or a molly and see what happens. If he goes psycho again, with him being bigger, maybe I could get back what I paid for him?

Very frustrating. I'm by no means rich... He chewed up more than $200 worth of fish and was around the same price himself.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

@Slocke @i cant think @vetteguy53081?

 

[Brandont21]

Im assuming after two days he may have claimed all the territory in such a small tank. I believe they would all have to be added at the same time. Also, if added to a tank with an already established hierarchy, he should do just fine. Sorry this happened to you

 

[Cthulukelele]

I purchased this fish approximately a week ago from the lfs. They had around a dozen 1.75" Biota yellow tangs in a 75g with some damsels.

I got the fish home and started to qt him in a 20g long, so he was in the tank by himself for 2 days.

On day 3 I added some fish which I ordered from another lfs...

- 3.5" redfin wrasse
- 2.5" Naoko wrasse
- 1.75" lyretail anthias

The following day I woke up, found everyone but the Naoko out and about when I fed them in the morning. When I got home the Naoko dead. Fins were shredded and loose scales all over the bottom of the tank.

The next day it was the redfins turn. Understand prior to this point I didn't know what killed the Naoko, I thought it may have been the redfin.

The 3rd day was the anthias.

So now I've got this yellow tang by himself. All seems well with him so far.

What would you all try to do with him? I think it'd be insane to put him in the display at this point.

The only option I was thinking of is to sump him for a few months and have him grow out... Maybe the time would get whatever is going through his crazy head sorted. Eventually house him with something like a chromis or a molly and see what happens. If he goes psycho again, with him being bigger, maybe I could get back what I paid for him?

Very frustrating. I'm by no means rich... He chewed up more than $200 worth of fish and was around the same price himself.

What did you see the tang do to the other fish? Wrasse and anthias can be pretty terrible shippers, and I'd actually be more worried about aggression from a lyretails with those types of wrasse as theyre all planktivores and losing anthias in quarantine is INCREDIBLY common.

Also if it was an aggression problem I'd be less concerned in a larger tank with a not added first yellow tang. Though a 75 is quite small for a yellow tang.

 

[jbaur]

What did you see the tang do to the other fish? Wrasse and anthias can be pretty terrible shippers, and I'd actually be more worried about aggression from a lyretails with those types of wrasse as theyre all planktivores and losing anthias in quarantine is INCREDIBLY common.

Also if it was an aggression problem I'd be less concerned in a larger tank with a not added first yellow tang. Though a 75 is quite small for a yellow tang.

That's the thing... I really didn't see aggression from the tang. I did see what looked like cleaning behavior. I know some fish can exhibit this while juveniles. Could he have tried to clean the fish to death?

 

[Cthulukelele]

That's the thing... I really didn't see aggression from the tang. I did see what looked like cleaning behavior. I know some fish can exhibit this while juveniles. Could he have tried to clean the fish to death?

That is oftentimes a mild form of aggression. Usually for my fish their first aggressive action is a tiny little mouth nip. To be clear that's not the sort of aggression I'd expect to do any real damage.

 

[jbaur]

Im assuming after two days he may have claimed all the territory in such a small tank. I believe they would all have to be added at the same time. Also, if added to a tank with an already established hierarchy, he should do just fine. Sorry this happened to you

I actually did a 100% water change after the redfin passed and sorta "rescaped". I use PVC pipe in my qt tank... I removed a piece, changed the position of my tank heater and moved the other piece of pvc. Not sure if that is enough to reset his brain into thinking it's another territory.