Purple Tang beat up my psychedelic mandarin

[jdlc]

So like the title says, my purple tang beat up my psychedelic mandarin. Purple Tang was the final addition to my display. Woke up this morning and noticed Mando was looking rough. Then moments later I caught my purple tang in the act nipping at him.
I isolated my mandarin to try and save him the stress. Now I'm not too sure how ro proceed. I'm 7 months into the hobby and this is my first run in with bullying in the tank.
Any suggestions on how to reintroduce my mandarin?
Can I expect the tang to continue bullying him?
What can I do the help my mandarin recover?

I attached a few shots of my mandarin. Also the culprit. My tank is a 55g AIO reef.

 

[i cant think]

So like the title says, my purple tang beat up my psychedelic mandarin. Purple Tang was the final addition to my display. Woke up this morning and noticed Mando was looking rough. Then moments later I caught my purple tang in the act nipping at him.
I isolated my mandarin to try and save him the stress. Now I'm not too sure how ro proceed. I'm 7 months into the hobby and this is my first run in with bullying in the tank.
Any suggestions on how to reintroduce my mandarin?
Can I expect the tang to continue bullying him?
What can I do the help my mandarin recover?

I attached a few shots of my mandarin. Also the culprit. My tank is a 55g AIO reef.

Easiest way;
Remove the purple. It’ll be a problem fish long term and in a 55G isn’t going to be happy. Those guys need 6’ swim room at a minimum IMHO.

 

[PharmrJohn]

Easiest way;
Remove the purple. It’ll be a problem fish long term and in a 55G isn’t going to be happy. Those guys need 6’ swim room at a minimum IMHO.

Agreed. I wanted a purple in my upcoming tank (4') and had to scrap the idea when I read about them. I can have one of a smaller variety (yellow, tomini or kole for instance) but cannot have SO many others.

 

[saltytanked]

Why would you put a fish that get BIG in a tiny tank? Additionally, it’s most likely gonna kill everything due to being stressed in a a tiny tank.

 

[ros3to]

Rehome the purple tang and problem fixed. No other option.

 

[jdlc]

The plan is to upgrade to a larger tank in a year if not sooner. Maybe I jumped the gun purchasing the purple tang but I figured he was small enough for the current tank. Maybe it would be best to rehome him.
Any ideas on helping my mandarin recover?

 

[cdnco2004]

Purple Tangs are jerks and they get much worse if they are confined for space which a 55G is going to be extremely confined in it. I am not a member of the Tang Police, but I agree with the others above. You need to rehome the Tang until you get a 6' long tank.

 

[jdlc]

I'll be reaching out to my trusted LFS tomorrow for help finding a new home for the purple tang. Planning on getting a bucket to place all rock in to catch the tang. Anyone know of a better/easier way of catching him?

 

[littlefoxx]

So like the title says, my purple tang beat up my psychedelic mandarin. Purple Tang was the final addition to my display. Woke up this morning and noticed Mando was looking rough. Then moments later I caught my purple tang in the act nipping at him.
I isolated my mandarin to try and save him the stress. Now I'm not too sure how ro proceed. I'm 7 months into the hobby and this is my first run in with bullying in the tank.
Any suggestions on how to reintroduce my mandarin?
Can I expect the tang to continue bullying him?
What can I do the help my mandarin recover?

I attached a few shots of my mandarin. Also the culprit. My tank is a 55g AIO reef.

Purple will need to go, they shouldnt be in a 55 gallon. The small tank is probably stressing him out and that leads to aggression

Edit just saw you will rehome. Good choice. As for catching the tang multiple nets work for me

 

[cdnco2004]

I'll be reaching out to my trusted LFS tomorrow for help finding a new home for the purple tang. Planning on getting a bucket to place all rock in to catch the tang. Anyone know of a better/easier way of catching him?

This is why I don't glue my rocks. Can make catching fish an impossibility with out a trap and you need large traps for tangs.

 

[jdlc]

Update

So I caught the Purple Tang but not before he wreaked havoc. I managed to catch him Friday night after work. I lost three different fish due to his harassment. All 3 had their fins completely wrecked. Lost my red firefish and flame angel.

Pure Tang currently in a breeder box inside the display. I approached my preferred LFS about helping me rehome him but he didn't come from them so they offered to help through word of mouth.

I'm going to try going back to the LFS I purchased the tang from. I know they have a No Fund policy so I'm not to sure how that's going to go.

 

[jdlc]

Picture and video from this afternoon

 

[vetteguy53081]

Purple-sohal- Powder blue and most Clown and sailfins are the most aggressive.
In a 55g, for now ok but will become more territorial in such size tank

 

[GARRIGA]

Update

So I caught the Purple Tang but not before he wreaked havoc. I managed to catch him Friday night after work. I lost three different fish due to his harassment. All 3 had their fins completely wrecked. Lost my red firefish and flame angel.

Pure Tang currently in a breeder box inside the display. I approached my preferred LFS about helping me rehome him but he didn't come from them so they offered to help through word of mouth.

I'm going to try going back to the LFS I purchased the tang from. I know they have a No Fund policy so I'm not to sure how that's going to go.

Place it for sale on R2R. Gotta believe he won't last long.

 

[cdnco2004]

Update

So I caught the Purple Tang but not before he wreaked havoc. I managed to catch him Friday night after work. I lost three different fish due to his harassment. All 3 had their fins completely wrecked. Lost my red firefish and flame angel.

Pure Tang currently in a breeder box inside the display. I approached my preferred LFS about helping me rehome him but he didn't come from them so they offered to help through word of mouth.

I'm going to try going back to the LFS I purchased the tang from. I know they have a No Fund policy so I'm not to sure how that's going to go.

This is why you don't put a Tang in a 55g tank except for the Bristletooth type Tangs. Purples are highly desired you should be able to find him a home. I'm shocked the LFS will not take him. They should be able to sell him, unless you were trying to get the LFS to buy him from you. You either did not do your research or you ignored it because you wanted the beautiful Tang. I got a very young one that I let get to about half full grown in a 75g but moved him to a 220 before he got to more than half size. But even a 75g is small for even a half grown Purple. They are among the most aggressive and territorial tangs. Mine is still a terror even in the 220.

 

[jdlc]

This is why you don't put a Tang in a 55g tank except for the Bristletooth type Tangs. Purples are highly desired you should be able to find him a home. I'm shocked the LFS will not take him. They should be able to sell him, unless you were trying to get the LFS to buy him from you. You either did not do your research or you ignored it because you wanted the beautiful Tang. I got a very young one that I let get to about half full grown in a 75g but moved him to a 220 before he got to more than half size. But even a 75g is small for even a half grown Purple. They are among the most aggressive and territorial tangs. Mine is still a terror even in the 220.

You're right I did not do my own research. I was sold on the idea of having a "show fish" as the LFS owner called it.
The LFS that wouldnt take him was not the one i purchased him from. I have 2 LFS near me. I tried reaching out to the LFS that helped with my set up from day one. They couldnt tale him due to quarantine procedures.
It was the second LFS that i recently discovered that i purchased the tang from. The owner recommended this tang actually which leads me to believe he was only interested in making a sale considering he knew my experience level and tank size.
Lesson learned. He was an absolute terror, about a week after introducing him he went on a serial killer spree.
Anyway, the tang is now isolated for the time being I'm hoping to find him a home today. Unless someone wants to give away a 6' long tank

 

[exnisstech]

So many post I read about aggression always seem to be too many fish in too small of a tank or fish in smaller tanks than they that should be in or fish that just shouldn't be placed together. These threads are getting almost as common as why do I have algae in my tank. I've also heard "I'm planning on upgrading in the future" far too many times. I'm crotchety and these are JMO but the animals pay the price in the end which I find a bit depressing.

 

[twentyleagues]

Years ago I had a purple tang in a 120g standard 4x2x2 he was very aggressive. He was very aggressive to my 2 yellows and my watanabi angles but ignored the smaller fish mostly. I moved him to a standard 125 6' tank and he chilled out considerably. Not completely, I dont understand what 2' of length and 5 gallons did to change him but it worked. I was thinking that it was more about he was the last fish put in that tank and was put in with a very bossy lemon peel mimic.

 

[crazyfishmom]

I have several large tangs in a 210 and in my opinion we are talking about a few factors:

1) these guys are very active so having those extra two feet when they’re swimming around really helps. It’s the equivalent of a 2000 square foot house versus a 1200 square foot apartment. It definitely makes a difference. Particularly when you compare it to a Covid like quarantine scenario where you can’t leave when the baby is crying and your spouse is stressed out.

2) having more space and therefore more fish of similar size and build that can handle the aggression can help with displacement. Same concept as having a predator tank or a cichlid tank, it works because they can’t pick on the weaker/smaller fish.

3) feeding and water quality; it is easier to maintain water quality in a large tank with many fish so over feeding to keep aggression down is not as much of a concern.

Sounds like you’ve learned a valuable lesson in reef keeping: LFS owners are trying to make money too. Conventional wisdom (aka don’t keep tangs in small tanks) is there for a reason. Not only does the tang go tang and then needs to be rehomed but then it sours you for future tangs. They can be amazing and can all get along. I have two yellows, a gem, a hippo, a purple, a blue eyed Kole, and a PBT that all live in the same 210 and I have zero aggression. Never had to do the mirror trick, never had to isolate anyone. I was very careful about the size of the fish as I added them. The purple gave me the biggest issues on addition because my yellows were mad at him. They swam after him for about 24 hrs and then stopped and now they’re buds. He’s half their size which is important if you’re adding fish at different times and I added him as I added other fish (not tangs) so he wasn’t the only new arrival. I had my PBT in hypo salinity for a while and then in observation for a bit. He’s also 3 inches where the yellows, gem and hippo are all 7 inches or so and again they cared for maybe 3 hrs and then went back to normal. It’s all about how you do it and having the space and nutrition locked.

Good luck!!!!