Need advice on new fish

[alhmba]

I have a newish tank almost 8 months old and having an issue with aggression in the tank. My brown tang died and my scopas tang has been aggressive to all the fish since. The fox face and scribbled rabbitfish fox face stays in opposite corners of the tank with their spikes up and in their camouflage state. I feel like I have tried everything and I honestly don't want these two fish to die because they have been in the tank since almost the beginning. Is there anything I can possibly do? Also I would like to know more information about power heads and sump tanks and etc. because right now I have a normal hang on the side filtration.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

How big is your tank? What powerheads do you currently have?
How big are your fish? How longs your tank been up and running? Would you say its clean? And finally... welcome!
D

 

[alhmba]

Thanks for the response. I love my fish tank but feel I need more information from people other thank the aquarium store .
tank is 65 gallon
no power heads just the normal hang on the back filter
tank has been running for 8 months
its clean parameters were checked yesterday and everything was good
I would say both the fox faces are 4 inches
I meant to say the sailfin tang which is about 3 inches or so is the one being aggressive to everyone the scopas is the one that died

 

[Mav88]

I believe your problem is the tank is too small for the tangs and foxface, how much rockwork do you have? Tank picture? I believe sailfin tangs require much larger tanks than what you have, this will lead to stress and aggression.

 

[Jekyl]

Sounds like too much fish in a small tank. All of the fish need a bigger system. You're bound to have aggression and illness. How are your parameters? With only a HoB filter it may not be keeping up.

 

[alhmba]

Thank you everyone that has responded! I kept thinking the same thing too, everyone was all happy and then boom aggression started and I'm so upset because I really like all the fish I have. So how big of a fish tank do I need to have these fish? also I do have rock work about 8 rocks or so and I just had the parameters checked yesterday and everything was good. I will get a picture to upload. Also to help with these 2 fox faces, I just have to get a bigger tank now?

 

[Mav88]

live aquaria recommends 180 gallons for sailfin tang, foxface also get quite large.
example: https://www.liveaquaria.com/product/379/?pcatid=379

also its good to know your fishes compatibility with other types this can help:

Compatibility Charts for Marine & Freshwater Aquatic Life

Tank mate compatibility is crucial to a successful and healthy home aquarium. Incompatible species will increase stress in the tank which could result in disease and considerable loss.

www.liveaquaria.com

BTW, Welcome to R2R

 

[Mav88]

If you kept the 65 gallon, I would recommend to keep one foxface, this tank will eventually become to small for him though, and rehome the other one, and the tang.

 

[alhmba]

thank you for the information. you know when you go to the aquarium store they said oh get another fish to calm everyone down, but thought I would join a group to get other opinions

 

[Jekyl]

thank you for the information. you know when you go to the aquarium store they said oh get another fish to calm everyone down, but thought I would join a group to get other opinions

I use liveaquaria.com to get an idea of what size tank is needed. It's all up for argument but a good baseline.

 

[Mav88]

They stay in business by selling, it happens to most of us . Maybe they will give you store credit for the fish? Or you could get a larger tank, but the equipment is quite the investment.

 

[alhmba]

so when I get a larger tank do I have to start over or can I use the rocks and water I have and transfer it over? I hope this is not a dumb question, but hey I'm learning here.

 

[Jekyl]

so when I get a larger tank do I have to start over or can I use the rocks and water I have and transfer it over? I hope this is not a dumb question, but hey I'm learning here.

No dumb questions here. You will be able to transfer the rock over. You'll also need to add more on top of it. After the transfer the new tank will be able to handle the bio load from the previous tank.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I would lower white light intensity to ease the activity in the tank and assure there is no:

stray voltage
high ammonia
High PH
high salinity
Water temp at 77-79

 

[Mav88]

No dumb questions here. You will be able to transfer the rock over. You'll also need to add more on top of it. After the transfer the new tank will be able to handle the bio load from the previous tank.

Just upgraded tanks a couple months ago and did what Jekyl is suggesting, it's essentially the same as adding more water, if you have sand don't transfer that over, especially if you haven't been deep cleaning it. If you want details its in the first post of my build thread, accessed via clicking the Build Thread Contributor badge

 

[alhmba]

perfect I will go ahead and look at that post so I can get an idea how that works. also how long did it take to get your tank up and going for the new one?

 

[Mav88]

I waited a week before transferring over, but my tank is still on the small side, if you do upgrade to a much larger tank you will need to figure your filtration out. I’m not experienced with large tanks, but it will take some time to figure your sump out. I think your best bet would be to try and rehome while you get it sorted out and just keep one of the tangs/fox face especially with the aggression issues.
You can learn a lot looking at other people’s builds, especially with the larger tanks.