My tang is a jerk

Naiad · Jun 10, 2014

So I have a purple tang in a 120. I know that the tank is a little small for it. Once my basement renovation is complete I will be moving everything to a larger system downstairs. In the meantime that fish is harassing my pregnant cleaner shrimp relentlessly. I get the territory issues with other fish but a shrimp? I think the fish has lost it.

EDM · Jun 10, 2014

well have you tried feeding it algae ?

algae acts as a de-aggressor in most tangs ive handled, some people have found seaweed frozen blocks helpful. i just farm algae for my sail-fin (desjardins) he gets territorial if he dosnt get his algae fix, fights with my anthias pair

i feed it to him every 3 days and makes him calm and docile. try it?
i use the seaweed blocks every saturday as wel,l if i dont have enough algae for him to eat

Naiad · Jun 10, 2014

I have nori Strips I have been giving once a week. I will try adding it more often and some more variety. Thank you for the advice.

Trex · Jun 10, 2014

This is similar to what I experienced when I tried a purple tang in a 4 foot tank --- it drew blood from my male Clarkii clown.

One fix --- get it into the bigger tank.

Naiad · Jun 10, 2014

Trex said:
This is similar to what I experienced when I tried a purple tang in a 4 foot tank --- it drew blood from my male Clarkii clown.

One fix --- get it into the bigger tank.

Hopefully no one is hurt too bad before the new tank is up. I was hoping to cycle the new tank before moving livestock but I may scrap that plan and just do a standard swap.

Eienna · Jun 10, 2014

I imagine too much animal protein may do to tangs what too much grain does to horses - makes 'em crazy from having too much energy.

EDM · Jun 10, 2014

i would say a tang usually needs minimum of 70 gal tank for swimming or they get aggressive and skidish

i would suggest starting it on a vegi diet to reduce aggression and regress it back to a more gentle nature. but then some tangs are just jerks .....
tangs are classified as semi aggressive generally and the purple tang is no exception

i hope for the best and let us know how it goes ?

Naiad · Jun 10, 2014

Eienna said:
I imagine too much animal protein may do to tangs what too much grain does to horses - makes 'em crazy from having too much energy.

I have had a similar experience when breeding rats. If given too much animal based proteins they became more skittish and harder to handle. Didnt think too much about diet effecting fish temperament. The tang is very healthy and I feed a mix that has algae in it. The tang does get a lot more meat then veggies though [emoji19]. Well my other fish may not like it but I may have to make one or two meals a week strictly vegetarian and see if that helps curb the attitude a bit.

EDM · Jun 10, 2014

its a good idea to try

another thought occurs to me
-feed a normal meal schedule say in morning (regular food)
-then at night add the new vegie food ?

Naiad · Jun 10, 2014

I will try it. I normally feed two small meals everyday because of my leopard wrasses. I also add live baby brine or worms for my mandarin throughout the day. The tang doesn't bother with the brine but loves when I put in worms. So adding a veggie course shouldn't be too much work lol.

EDM · Jun 10, 2014

lol, sounds like my feeding routine, another thought is to place a few fake plants into the tank (tacky i know) but they can generally build red algae which is a loved treat for tangs , i have 2 long fake kelp plants in my tank and my tang keeps them polished clean (before him they were gross Dx) so another thought to consider

Naiad · Jun 11, 2014

Operation veg out is a go. Put in a half sheet of dried red algae at breakfast and it is gone already! So I put a half sheet of brown in for lunch.

EDM · Jun 11, 2014

good job , you should see improvements within a day or so, the tang will come out and be more active as well

Eienna · Jun 11, 2014

Hope it helps! Keep us posted!

TruRacr314x · Jun 11, 2014

Yeah...following along to see results! I've never run across the theory that more protein/meaty foods could worsen aggression. Makes sense...

EDM · Jun 11, 2014

yes its natural order and such. my mother initially had yellow and blue tangs in a predator aquarium and fed nothing but shrimp and goldfish, for triggers, lionfish, pouffers. and i had not discovered this feeding habit till i worked with my desjardins tang and had excess algae that i would scrape off my Led lights(threw in tank as its food for blenny, ect) and my tang went at it and downed it quickly, i noticed he became very docile and calm around the other fish , a few more test proved it calmed him down so we started getting the seaweed and vegie food to calm him and the anthias down

saltwater fish are always surprising me with stuff we still learn about them