Tang Aggression - Understanding and Combating

[4FordFamily]

So I traded the powder brown for a mimic and I removed the egg crate barrier in the qt tank. The blond naso, who is about 4-5", bullied the achilles, who is about 3-3.5", and tore part of his dorsal. I separated them again but I'm at my wits end. I don't know what to do. It seems this achilles is either weak or just very timid. What can I do to get them to coexist? Help please!

Remove the aggressor and add back after a couple weeks or more, I’ve not run in to an aggressige naso before but they’re very strong with dual scalpels so they can do some serious damage.

 

[ReefReady9]

Remove the aggressor and add back after a couple weeks or more, I’ve not run in to an aggressige naso before but they’re very strong with dual scalpels so they can do some serious damage.

The achilles died overnight. I think he got too stressed/beaten up. I feel terrible for putting him in that situation. Thanks for all your help.

 

[4FordFamily]

The achilles died overnight. I think he got too stressed/beaten up. I feel terrible for putting him in that situation. Thanks for all your help.

Sorry for your loss

 

[ReefReady9]

Sorry for your loss

Thank you. I think something's wrong with the blond naso. I created a post in the disease thread. I'll tag you in it since there's photos.

 

[ReefSlice]

@4FordFamily I'm looking to add 2 tangs to my 150 5x2x2. Out of these which would get along best? Chocolate, eibli, kole, tomini, scopas, and yellow are my options based on long term health of the fish. Leaning towards chocolate or eibli as one of the 2. Also which would you add first if adding separately?

 

[4FordFamily]

@4FordFamily I'm looking to add 2 tangs to my 150 5x2x2. Out of these which would get along best? Chocolate, eibli, kole, tomini, scopas, and yellow are my options based on long term health of the fish. Leaning towards chocolate or eibli as one of the 2. Also which would you add first if adding separately?

Chocolate and “Eibli” are both variants of mimic tang. They’re very similar in temperament. The eibli variant mimics the eibli angel and is less common in the hobby and a cool fish. They allegedly get larger but I would say I’m home aquaria they probably stay about the same size. I would pick the Eibli mimic based on rarity. A kole would be a cool second tang but they can get aggressive for a bristlooth. So I’d add together or add the Kole second. A tomini might be a better fit, or either a yellow, purple, or scopas.

 

[RazorD]

@4FordFamily
Yet another question for you...I'm still a few weeks away from being done with all my QTs and will be attempting to pull off a trio of different zebrasomas. One of them is a purple who is doing great in QT. I have a egg crate dividing the tank in half with a sailfin on the other side. The purple doesn't really even notice or bother him at all. Well, today I wanted to further test the purple tangs aggression so I put a mirror next to him on the tank he went nuts!! He kept slapping at it like crazy. My question is should I a.) leave the mirror up in hopes he settles down a bit over time and is calmer when the introduction occurs, or b.) move the mirror because it may be causing him stress?

Thanks! (and sorry for all the questions)

 

[4FordFamily]

@4FordFamily
Yet another question for you...I'm still a few weeks away from being done with all my QTs and will be attempting to pull off a trio of different zebrasomas. One of them is a purple who is doing great in QT. I have a egg crate dividing the tank in half with a sailfin on the other side. The purple doesn't really even notice or bother him at all. Well, today I wanted to further test the purple tangs aggression so I put a mirror next to him on the tank he went nuts!! He kept slapping at it like crazy. My question is should I a.) leave the mirror up in hopes he settles down a bit over time and is calmer when the introduction occurs, or b.) move the mirror because it may be causing him stress?

Thanks! (and sorry for all the questions)

At this point I would remove the mirror, give him some time to calm down. He may just really dislike other purple tangs. At least you know if the mirror is needed later, that it works.

 

[tkiry1]

I have a 265 with about a total of 500 gallons of water.... I have a small sohal tang and powder blue is of medium size and a purple tang that is 4 inches... Just saw an Achilles that would be the last added and the largest... Asking for trouble? Other tangs fairly new in my tank.... Input please... Will upgrade to 8 foot tank in near future..... Thanks.....

 

[4FordFamily]

I have a 265 with about a total of 500 gallons of water.... I have a small sohal tang and powder blue is of medium size and a purple tang that is 4 inches... Just saw an Achilles that would be the last added and the largest... Asking for trouble? Other tangs fairly new in my tank.... Input please... Will upgrade to 8 foot tank in near future..... Thanks.....

Adding an Achilles to a sohal and powder blue is definitely asking for trouble... that’s not a risk I would take, personally. Not without adding other tangs but I don’t know how plausible that is with your stocking. The PBT is likely to fixate and extinguish the Achilles.

 

[tkiry1]

Adding an Achilles to a sohal and powder blue is definitely asking for trouble... that’s not a risk I would take, personally. Not without adding other tangs but I don’t know how plausible that is with your stocking. The PBT is likely to fixate and extinguish the Achilles.

I'm going to pass... Rather add to my trigger collection. Lol.. Thanks for the input....

 

[vetteguy53081]

the mirror trick is a sure bet. Talk about distracting the aggressor !!!!
All they care about is food and another tang, so food is clear winner to keep them occupied and distracted . Another good write-up by Ford family

 

[ReefOn55thDubai]

I have had 6 different types of tangs together.
PBT, Clown, Sohal, Yellow Eye Kole, Desjardini, Bristletooth and 3 Regal Tangs.
Small shows of aggression, but the slightly bigger Desjardini kept everyone else in check. This worked fine for a while.

Then I introduced a big Goniopora that required a little redecoration of the rockwork.
That reset the territories slightly, and suddenly I had fighting for 3-4 days resulting in a dead PBT. I still suspect the boss (Desjardini) for being responsible. Following all this stress several fish got Ich, but no casualties.

After the aggression died down again, and Ich was all but gone my appartment building had a power outage that cost me the Kole, Clown and Sohal.

My 3 Regals are all in fine shape still, and my Bristletooth is thriving, but the boss Desjardini has a bit of Ich from the stress.

Would love to reintroduce a new Clown, PBT and Sohal, but waiting until I can afford backup power, and find the fish in an appropriate size

 

[Richardver]

Building a 900 gal system at the moment. Hoping to place a group of naso elegans in it ;Bookworm

 

[Cessna89811]

I have a hippo tang on the way from Algae Barn coming in next week. The hippo will be joining a Yellow Tang. Going to be using all this advice,

 

[Nokiaec11]

Would a yellow tang be ok with a Niger trigger?

Never had a problem...But the Yellow tang needs to go in first, or take the Niger out if is much bigger than the tang. The Niger can go back in after the Tang has acclimated to the tank.

 

[Steve Elb]

I have a Biota yellow tang in a 25. He's about 2 inches. I'm upgrading to a 100 gallon and was wondering when I move him to the new tank if it would work to add a different tang...same size? Type? Suggestions would be welcome

 

[Nokiaec11]

I have a Biota yellow tang in a 25. He's about 2 inches. I'm upgrading to a 100 gallon and was wondering when I move him to the new tank if it would work to add a different tang...same size? Type? Suggestions would be welcome

Yellow are irritated by other yellow Tangs that come after them, unless there is already a school...same or different size at the same time, or the last addition should be bigger, this just lets the older resident know it should not mess with the new one...But, these are fish anything could be possible...I had a Clown Trigger that used to swim into the palm of my hand and eat food, and never attempted to bit me, a power outage took him.

 

[mjreefs]

I actually have a Mustard Guttatus Tang. Not necessarily a terror but hates my purple tang, even though purple tang was one of the first residents (I think he came in slightly larger than the purple tang). When I introduced a PBT, the mustard went nuts and chased my purple tang. I don’t know why, probably he was exerting dominance over the purple and just to show the purple and PBT who’s the real boss. After a few weeks, they calmed down, but the mustard still has a dislike of the purple tang and would just flash at the purple, and not really chase it, probably just to scare it (and everyone else, including my large annularis angel) away. I also introduced a smaller HYT prior to the PBT, and there were chasings between the purple and HYT for a few days before they calmed down. Now, there are no more chasings between them. Not sure who’s the boss, probably my annularis angel, who’s bigger than everyone else, but that guy’s a very docile, very shy angel.

Btw, is there a similar thread for angels? I do know which angel would be at the top and the bottom of the list though, just interested in everyone else.

 

[ShawnSaucier]

My Powder Brown just recently died. He was a real handful and ruled the tank. I have not been able to successfully add fish to my system for years as he would just bully them to death. My Regal Hippo some how survived years of chasing from this guy. As sad as I am that he’s passed, I’m now hoping to add to my system. Just hoping the Hippo doesn’t become an aggressor since he is the largest in the tank now.
Would love some recommendations on another possible tang to add. Display is 190g (60-30-24) with moderate aquascaping and full mixed reef. Fish in the system are: Lawnmower Blenny, Mystery Wrasse, Leopard Wrasse, Porcupine Puffer, mated pair of perc. Clowns (10 years old) red fairy Wrasse, royal garamma, long nose hawkfish, Regal Blue Hippo, Lyretail Anthias and a small snowflake eel.
It’s nice having the Hippo not constantly hiding and swimming about without getting chased. He’s only about 4”. The Puffer is only about 3”, a model citizen as long as you don’t get between him and his food. We feed him off of a feeding stick as he’s rather slow or blind. Usually Have to bring the food right to him and then he bits the stick on the first attempt of getting the food. Very silly..
People have mentioned Naso tangs to me in the past and I’ve usually brushed the thought off as I felt my tank was far to small. But I am wondering on the growth rate now. I got the Hippo when he was the size of a 50 cent piece and that was 5 years ago. So to me his rate of growth hasn’t been super quick. Is this the same with the Naso? A much larger tank is coming in the future..