Angel on Angel

corey.nolta · Oct 5, 2018

Medium/Large French angel has been in my 250 for a month now. Just added a Queen angel roughly the same size, slightly smaller. French is ticked! Chasing the Queen all over the place. It's only the first hour of the queen being in the tank. How long should I let the aggression go on before becoming worried? I always expect some form of aggression when a new fish is added, they all have to puff out their chest a little bit to show who is in charge

. But this is the worst I have seen..Help! (lights are currently out)

(I read up on compatibility between the two and asked several local club members who have large systems - some of which have numerous large angels, and the general consensus was that I wouldn't really see any, if any, issues). How long do I let the bullying go on?

Thanks!

Geebs19 · Oct 5, 2018

Is it chasing or is there actual damage being done?

corey.nolta · Oct 5, 2018

Hardcore chasing. But I have seen some fin nipping occur. I saw the queen smack into the glass once too.

I feed the tank to try and keep the French full and occupied. Seems to have helped a tad. Not much though :-/

Oshengems · Oct 5, 2018

I have seen two types of chasing and idk how to explain it but you can see when it’s a “imma kill you” chase to “this is my turf I don’t wanna see you here”chase lol... the imma kill you is very intense and they will chase even into the rocks with rough bites the other is like s 1-2-3 second Chase go about my biss see you again another few seconds chase go about my biss lol

Oshengems · Oct 5, 2018

Put some nori in like they suggested to keep them occupied

Geebs19 · Oct 5, 2018

If its causing damage, I would keep an eye on it. Not worth losing a fish over. There will always be some fish that just wont tolerate others or others within their species.

corey.nolta · Oct 5, 2018

bronxreef said:
I have seen two types of chasing and idk how to explain it but you can see when it’s a “imma kill you” chase to “this is my turf I don’t wanna see you here”chase lol... the imma kill you is very intense and they will chase even into the rocks with rough bites the other is like s 1-2-3 second Chase go about my biss see you again another few seconds chase go about my biss lol

It is definitely a "this is my tank *****" kinda chase. The french will show just enough aggression to get the queen to dart away, and then the french looses interest. Rinse and repeat. There is a fin nip here and there though.

Geebs19 said:
If its causing damage, I would keep an eye on it. Not worth losing a fish over. There will always be some fish that just wont tolerate others or others within their species.

I hear ya, that's why I threw out the question. I was expecting a little aggression, but this is my first "expensive" fish, so I'm a little more paranoid. Plus she is beautiful!

Oshengems · Oct 5, 2018

Hopefully the French will get tired after a good night sleep or until he gets accustomed to the queen hopefully!!!

corey.nolta · Oct 5, 2018

Would it be better if I put the french in my sump? I have a large sump that would comfortable hold him for a week. It's getting to the point I'm more worried about the queen launching itself out of the tank. It keeps throwing water everywhere trying to escape the french! Or should I just let it ride for a day or two?

Oshengems · Oct 5, 2018

How long for lights off? I did it when I added my hippo with my chocolate tang being a bully I had nori in to distract him but eventually had to cut my lights of 4 hours early to give my hippo time to find a hidden spot, the next day the chasing slowed but continued for a few days then it was just occasional but it was a 75g they were in each other’s face

corey.nolta · Oct 5, 2018

Lights have been off since adding the queen. I always cut the light when adding new fish. It's only been a few hours since the queen was adding.

Eggs · Oct 5, 2018

corey.nolta said:
Would it be better if I put the french in my sump? I have a large sump that would comfortable hold him for a week. It's getting to the point I'm more worried about the queen launching itself out of the tank. It keeps throwing water everywhere trying to escape the french! Or should I just let it ride for a day or two?

I had a Purple Tang that I would have to put in sump for awhile to allow a new fish to get comfortable. It always worked, no aggression after putting the Tang back in display. But I would wait a day or two to see if it subsides. I would think the Queen over time will run the show.

Some people place a mirror on the tank to occupy the agressive fish. Moving some rock around may help if that’s feasible.

roberthu526 · Oct 5, 2018

My guess is if you don’t take one of the fish out you will see fatality within a week. People always talk about tang aggression but in my experience angels are way more deadly than gangs. My regal angel had killed 7 angels in a year and it took me a while to figure out the cause of death because in the day time there was very minimal aggression. But when the lights went out the regal constantly bit the new angels so they stayed away from the rock works.