new purple tang bullied

[Rocky99]

i got a purple tang and put it into a tank with a yellow tang, a blue tang, a sailfin tang and a brown tang. none of them is disturbing the newcomer except the brown tang. so after much consideration, i captured the brown tang and put it inside the beta box.

my qn is shall i release the brown tang after a few days when the purple tang has adapted to the tank? will they fight again?or do i have to choose one between the two?

sorry for this dumb qn, but its v hard to catch fishes from my tank. thanks

[lightningstrike]

IMHO, u hv way 2 many tangs for a 3 footer. thus the bullying.

[livebait]

Whenever there is a new fish added into my tank,the YT will always be the first to "inspect" it (tang especially)and usually the 'bullying' will last for 1-2 days but no major damage done.I guessed this is the way the YT tell them who's boss.

The fiercest of the lot is still not my YT but the true perc which will 'attack' my hand whenever I have to do some re-scaping.Don't follow my 'method',might not work for you.

IMO,if re-scaping the tank is a lot of hassle & I believe it is then it boils down to which fish you like better,don't take the chance,maybe can adopt out your brown tang instead;)

[Rocky99]

thanks thanks..... my true percs aren't a problem.....i turned off the lights early tonite..... hope "ming tian hui geng hao"..... the purple tang started feeding.....

[limbssg]

IF the purple tang is the biggest fish among them, then it will establish itself as the 'boss' in a couple of weeks. My experience tells me that PT is the most aggressive among the tangs that u have now. Otherwise, bullying will still occur.

[thioeh]

If you still want your brown tang, can try release till your purple tangs stable to your tank condition. If they fight, try placing a mirror against the glass.

If you decided not to keep your brown tang, than sell it.

[AhLoon]

Hi Rocky99,

Try the mirror trick... it always work.

At least it confuses the other tangs and they'll whack themselves on the glass, giving your new tang more time to climatise...

Quite funny to watch also...

[lightningstrike]

u can try the mirror trick, change rockscape or other methods. end of the day, is ur 3 footer able to take the bio load of all 5 tangs??? i believe there r other LS/inverts/corals as well....... can ur macro skimmer keep the parameters at bay? do u wish to see nuisance algae sprouting out from nowhere due to high nutrient levels, etc?

[Rocky99]

thanks guys for all your very useful input..... i turn off the lights already... so i cant try all these interesting tricks tonight.... got to wait till tmw...... thanks

my purple tang is smaller than the yellow tang and sailfin tang. but bigger than the brown tang which surprisingly is the bully....

i have been literally overfeeding the fishes... and noticed that they have grown fatter by quite a bit over juz 3wks....but my fish pass motion quite frequently... nuisance algae growing, but i do regular cleaning of the tank glass....

NH3 and NO2 0

NO3 12.5

don't have phosphate test and controlling with media is beyond my budget.

Livestock(biggest on top)

Regal Blue tang

YT

Red Sea Sailfin

PT

Brown tang in beta box

True Percs Pair

cleaner wrasse

cleaner shrimp

i have a bubble, a plate, a v small white color hammer and a gonio.

juz ordered a good dc... will post some pics up when it comes....

[tansh]

Bro,what happen to ur AT,did not see in the fish list?

[Ekia]

thats a lot of tangs... u need a very good skimmer to cope with the bioload....

[Dispar_Anthias]

The amt og tangs in your tank is way too much..... Heavy bio load and also i dun think its right to squeeze that many fish which need ample of space to swim into a 3 footer.... Naturally a scopas tang being zebrasoma would wack a newcomer purple tang which is a zebrasoma too..... You wun see problems for now but once your tangs get bigger and more established, you willsee war.. suggest you remove a few of them instead of adding more....

My 2cents

[Rocky99]

The amt og tangs in your tank is way too much..... Heavy bio load and also i dun think its right to squeeze that many fish which need ample of space to swim into a 3 footer.... Naturally a scopas tang being zebrasoma would wack a newcomer purple tang which is a zebrasoma too..... You wun see problems for now but once your tangs get bigger and more established, you willsee war.. suggest you remove a few of them instead of adding more....

My 2cents

Thanks DA and the rest...

i will keep a close lookout at them.... and will give one or two away if they are fighting again...i agree my tank is too small for so many tangs.... in the mean time, i'll make plans to upgrade them to a bigger home.... since i love tangs....

[Rocky99]

The amt og tangs in your tank is way too much..... Heavy bio load and also i dun think its right to squeeze that many fish which need ample of space to swim into a 3 footer.... Naturally a scopas tang being zebrasoma would wack a newcomer purple tang which is a zebrasoma too..... You wun see problems for now but once your tangs get bigger and more established, you willsee war.. suggest you remove a few of them instead of adding more....

My 2cents  

Thanks DA and the rest...

i will keep a close lookout at them.... and will give one or two away if they are fighting again...i agree my tank is too small for so many tangs.... in the mean time, i'll make plans to upgrade them to a bigger home.... since i love tangs....

[Rocky99]

just to update... my 5 tangs have stopped fighting and i have released the offending brown tank back into the main tank.... i dunno how come they stopped.... prbly they are tired of fighting.... and my purple tang now swims to every corner of the tank...... thanks for everyone's time n input.....

http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?...pic=24143&st=80