Bi-Polar Purple Tang

Bkatz1 · Jul 13, 2022

My purple tang acts very different in the morning vs the afternoon... when I feed in the morning he is right out front eating Nori on the clip and frozen food with everyone else. But, by mid day he retreats to the top of the tank by my returns and just chills in the shadows. He will pick at the back wall, swim down every now and then, and right back up to the corner. He misses the middle of the day and evening feeding for the most part and just chills up there. No one is really bullying him, I check the cameras daily, and watch in person in the evenings. He just acts like he's anti-social until the next morning when he's all jacked up for nori and frozen food... any ideas? He doesn't seem too thin, and no signs of ick, velvet, flukes. Rest of the tank is active and healthy... any ideas?

TastesLikeChicken · Jul 13, 2022

Maybe it’s the lights that are bothering him? I’m assuming your lights are brighter in the afternoon than the morning.

Bkatz1 · Jul 13, 2022

TastesLikeChicken said:
Maybe it’s the lights that are bothering him? I’m assuming your lights are brighter in the afternoon than the morning.

I was thinking the same thing, the tank is a FOWLR so they only ramp up to 30% by 8am and run at 30% until 8pm. Its not overly bright, I turned them up for that picture I posted... But it could be lighting. I feed at 8:30am when he is all happy and swimming around, doesn't seem to be bothered but something changes to make him go up there after 10-11am... and he doesn't seem irritated just anti-social.

i cant think · Jul 13, 2022

Bkatz1 said:
I was thinking the same thing, the tank is a FOWLR so they only ramp up to 30% by 8am and run at 30% until 8pm. Its not overly bright, I turned them up for that picture I posted... But it could be lighting. I feed at 8:30am when he is all happy and swimming around, doesn't seem to be bothered but something changes to make him go up there after 10-11am... and he doesn't seem irritated just anti-social.

How new is he?
If he’s relatively new he may just need time to establish as he appears to be a young specimen.

Bkatz1 · Jul 13, 2022

i cant think said:
How new is he?
If he’s relatively new he may just need time to establish as he appears to be a young specimen.

He is young, but he has been in the tank for months. This is new behavior, he never hid like this until just recently. No new tank addition in over a month as well. It just started...