Mirror to stop tang agression

bobnicaragua · Mar 25, 2021

Just put in a new sailfin tang and my purple tang wasn't having it!

I held a mirror up a couple times to stop the skirmish and them sat it down in front of the tank. The purple had been squaring off to his reflection for hours now.

vetteguy53081 · Mar 25, 2021

One of the oldest yet effective method. You did well as this method does Not work for everyone.

arking_mark · Mar 25, 2021

I found a large mirror works best when adding new fish...

12" x 24" ⅛” Acrylic Plastic Mirror Sheet with Finished Polished Edges by E.H.C (1): Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

Rubberfrog · Mar 25, 2021

I have four tangs (yellow, purple, sailfin, and hippo) in a 5 foot tank. I put mirrors on either end. All of the nonsense stopped within 48 hours.

arking_mark · Mar 25, 2021

Rubberfrog said:
I have four tangs (yellow, purple, sailfin, and hippo) in a 5 foot tank. I put mirrors on either end. All of the nonsense stopped within 48 hours.

Do you need to keep the mirrors on or did you just use them temporarily?

Rubberfrog · Mar 25, 2021

I've had them on for about a week. Every one is as happy as can be. I'll take them off this weekend. They're six inch round mirrors I got from Joanne's.

tautog83 · Mar 25, 2021

I did this with my powder brown when out of nowhere he decided that he wanted to kill everything he set his eyes on ( all the same fish that he lived with for 4 months ). I left the mirror on for like 3 hours and I came back and he literally scratched his whole face from bumping into the glass . However after that he never chased another fish and stopped with the crazy erratic swimming in and out of the rocks that would freak my regal out . So i would say try it out but keep an eye on it

ca1ore · Mar 25, 2021

There are a bunch of tricks worth trying. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. Mirror is easy and a good first try.

Twillyg21 · May 2, 2021

I use a suction cup “makeup” mirror that magnifies 5x and can be positioned however I chooseUSB adjustable 5x makeup Mirror

I also leave the new fish in an acclimation box and attach the veggie clip directly to the acclimation box so that the other tangs are forced to eat right next to the new fish

after 3-5 days, I add the new guy to the mix and everyone gets along great! I imagine that every time the new fish swims by they are like, “Hey, it’s the salad guy! We love the salad guy!”

It’s worked wonders for me and I have a lot of tangs - Sailfin, Yellow, Hippo, Purple, Kole, and I will be adding a Blonde Naso on Tuesday and doing the same process.

Other fish in the tank:

6 line wrasse
Yellow Coris Wrasse
melanurus wrasse
3 Biota Pavo Damselfish
Royal Gramma
lyretail anthias
2 Bartlet anthias
2 black occeliris/percula clownfish
2 orange occeliris/percula clownfish
Diamond Watchmen Goby
Coral Beauty
Lawnmower Blenny
Magnificent Foxface Rabbitfish

bobnicaragua · May 2, 2021

Twillyg21 said:
I use a suction cup “makeup” mirror that magnifies 5x and can be positioned however I chooseUSB adjustable 5x makeup Mirror

I also leave the new fish in an acclimation box and attach the veggie clip directly to the acclimation box so that the other tangs are forced to eat right next to the new fish

after 3-5 days, I add the new guy to the mix and everyone gets along great! I imagine that every time the new fish swims by they are like, “Hey, it’s the salad guy! We love the salad guy!”

It’s worked wonders for me and I have a lot of tangs - Sailfin, Yellow, Hippo, Purple, Kole, and I will be adding a Blonde Naso on Tuesday and doing the same process.

Other fish in the tank:

6 line wrasse
Yellow Coris Wrasse
melanurus wrasse
3 Biota Pavo Damselfish
Royal Gramma
lyretail anthias
2 Bartlet anthias
2 black occeliris/percula clownfish
2 orange occeliris/percula clownfish
Diamond Watchmen Goby
Coral Beauty
Lawnmower Blenny
Magnificent Foxface Rabbitfish

This sounds like a great method for introducing new fish to an established tank!

OrionN · May 2, 2021

I have a plastic 30X18 mirror that I use. Very easy to put in front of my tank. Really effective.

Twillyg21 · May 5, 2021

bobnicaragua said:
This sounds like a great method for introducing new fish to an established tank!

It is! What’s great about the 5x magnification mirror is that when a fish looks at its reflection, it sees a fish that looks identical but is 5 times bigger than it is and thinks it’s a huge fish that could definitely beat that fish up if it messed with it. It’s funny to see the reflections that they see when they are looking at themselves in the mirror. I will try to get a picture of it if I can.

but I will be using this method today to add a new Blonde Naso Tang, which will be my last fish added to the tank and something dies or gets too big for the tank.

ill let you know how it goes!

redfishbluefish · May 5, 2021

I have used mirrors a number of times, and for the most part, with success. I have no problem finding a mirror.....I just pick one from my wife's collection and duct tape to the side of the tank.

One funny incident was when I had a yellow tang picking on my long nose yellow butterfly. I hung a mirror hoping the tang would entertain itself in facing off against the mirror. Instead it was the long nose butterfly who couldn't swim past the mirror without going into it's defensive dorsal spikes extended. It was amusing to watch.

Llyod276 · Nov 26, 2021

Not only for tangs either, here we see 5 species reacting to a mirror. Just got a copper band today and the sailfin was bothering with it too much. So the mirror went up. Guess I'm not mixing angels anytime soon. Not hawkish, or 6 line. Even the foxface is squaring off.

i cant think · Nov 27, 2021

I’ve tried the mirror trick but only the Copperband cared… The copperband is the first fish to go after newbie fish too. I have a Ctenochaetus binotatus that pays 0 attention to the new fish, same thing with the jade wrasse. The tang and wrasse only care about the old fish they were housed with and putting them in their place. All the fish that are said to be peaceful in my tank are aggressive and the fish that are aggressive in my tank are peaceful. The Jade wrasse is now the exception since she has been chasing the radiant around the tank at the same night every night.

jmichaelh7 · Jan 15, 2023

Using this method now!

Introduced Copperband to a party of 2 yellow tangs , powder brown, and sailfin. The PBT was too much … thankfully this method is working so far .

Bues0022 · Jan 22, 2023

I have a 130 cube with a lavender tang already established. I’m about to order a powder blue, and then got scared because they can be bullies. Will this method work with those? (Hopefully?). Should I introduce the powder blue last if I’m trying to a trio of tangs? Suggestions on fish and methods please if you have any.