Tang aggression

[Renelope]

Hello folks,

Looking for some advice. Recently purchased 2 tangs, a yellow and a kole. Bought them together, acclimated them together- they are besties.

Problem is my fox face. Had him for several months before getting the tangs and he is easily twice their size, but he is the shyest fish I've ever seen, and even before the tangs would panic and hide frequently when in open water, and changes color to gray and white with his fins fully expanded...

Well now with these tangs, he hides all the time, I'm not even sure how much he is eating, and he looks panicked with color change a lot. I tried to watch the tank for awhile to see what might be going on and low and behold both tangs keep coming up to him- and like backing their bodies into him, and wiggling their tail end at him...

What should I do? I don't want my beautiful one spot fox face getting stressed to death, and these little a**holes get along with all my other fish...they won't leave this gentle giant alone...

Tank is 120 gallons. Plenty of hiding spots and I placed a mirror in the tank to see if that would help, so far no luck.

 

[Reefer40b]

Well cant really say this will help as usually its the tangs being ***** to other tangs, but i put in a big plastic plant in the tank when I add a new tang and it seems to throw off the territory issue and confuses them... leave it in there for like a week and put it somewhat near where the foxface hangs around. I have done this a few times with success and also in a QT tank when adding another tang into the mix without it they will tail slap each other to death...

 

[eatbreakfast]

Aggression from tangs seldom gets better. Their aggression is usually more focused toward other herbivores and deep bodied fish. If they are keeping the foxface in hiding then either the foxface or the tangs need to be rehomed.

 

[HB AL]

How long have the tangs been in your tank? I would give it at least a month, as long as the fox face keeps eating eventually the bullying will subside.

 

[Renelope]

How long have the tangs been in your tank? I would give it at least a month, as long as the fox face keeps eating eventually the bullying will subside.

2 weeks, is there anything I can do to make it go easier...

 

[HB AL]

Not really, they should get bored with him eventually, the key is that your fox face keeps eating, if he stops eating then I would worry. I added a purple tang a few months back having a yellow tang in there already for a year, the purple got tore up pretty good and although he was not being allowed to leave a certain spot in the rear back of the tank behind a rock I made sure to squirt some food to him and make sure he was EATING, that is key. A couple weeks later he was allowed to start roaming around and now is an accepted part of the clan. Make whatever effort you need to to get food too him. If you notice he is not eating then your gonna have to get rid of someone because he will surely die. If he stops eating I would move fast on your decision on who to get rid of.

 

[Sonam]

Thank you for the thread. We have a blue powder tang we just added to our 125 gallon where we've had a yellow tang for about 6 months.
They've been slapping butts but they don't stop each other from eating. They alternate between swimming together, slapping tails, and sharing a nori clip.
Sounds like this is ok. The blue powder tang has been in there for a few weeks.