Tang Drama

[AlexReef100]

So I recently had to break down an older tank and move its residence to my main 225G. The issue I'm having is that I've had a Powder Blue Tang established in the 225 for 6 months and I just moved 2 Yellow tangs and a Sailfin tang into the system and my PBT is being a massive bully. Luckily the new additions are taking it all in stride and aren't getting too stressed out about it. The PBT broke his barbs trying to attack a rock the new tangs were hiding in when I first added them so he can't really hurt them now, but I know the bullying will take its toll and stress everyone out if it goes on for too long.

I've made an attempt to catch the PBT, but with it being a reef he has too many places to hide and I don't want to tear up the tank trying to get him out. I've heard about using a mirror to keep his attention and I've also heard that placing another new larger fish in the system can sometimes squash existing aggression issues.

So my question is, what do you guys think is the best method to handle this situation? If I add a new fish what would be the best choice? I've looked at other tangs and potentially an angel, but I'd like to get input before I do anything.

 

[Ling_Thing]

Drain the tank down to 1 inch of water. That’s the only way.

 

[BestMomEver]

I had the same issue recently.... I have a yellow tang and a pair of clowns and wanted to add a tiny tomini. The tomini hid for a few days and I thought the other fish would stress him to death because they kept trying to get into the little hole he was in. When it was feeding time, I used a turkey baster and put some mysis into his cave. After about five days, the clowns and tang just gave up. Tomini came out and has been ok since. He’s still a little scared of the yellow tang but for the most part he’s fine.

Can you give them more time? It might end up ok.

 

[AlexReef100]

Can you give them more time? It might end up ok.

Oh yeah, its been about 2 days and I was planning on giving them at least a week before making any additional changes. At this point the PBT seems to just be showing dominance, so I'm hoping that will die down over time. The larger of the Yellow tangs seems to be holding his ground on occasion(he is the same size as the PBT), so it may end up that the PBT gets moved down in the pecking order. We'll see what happens, but regardless I'd like to have a plan in place in case it all gets worse, I'd rather not lose a fish if I can avoid it.

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

So I recently had to break down an older tank and move its residence to my main 225G. The issue I'm having is that I've had a Powder Blue Tang established in the 225 for 6 months and I just moved 2 Yellow tangs and a Sailfin tang into the system and my PBT is being a massive bully. Luckily the new additions are taking it all in stride and aren't getting too stressed out about it. The PBT broke his barbs trying to attack a rock the new tangs were hiding in when I first added them so he can't really hurt them now, but I know the bullying will take its toll and stress everyone out if it goes on for too long.

I've made an attempt to catch the PBT, but with it being a reef he has too many places to hide and I don't want to tear up the tank trying to get him out. I've heard about using a mirror to keep his attention and I've also heard that placing another new larger fish in the system can sometimes squash existing aggression issues.

So my question is, what do you guys think is the best method to handle this situation? If I add a new fish what would be the best choice? I've looked at other tangs and potentially an angel, but I'd like to get input before I do anything.

I just added two wrasses to my DT that has had a PBT for the last year and he doesn’t want to share the tank, he was all over them anytime they came out. I used a 12”x12”square mirror and it worked. I took the mirror down 48 hours later and now they swim together. Try a mirror

 

[Nhltc99]

Mirror is definitely worth a shot. I've had success with it when introducing more tangs and seen countless others post success stories from it. My kole tang went crazy and was on a mission to kill the smaller sailfin and purple that I added. After a few hours fighting his twin in the mirror, he forgot they even existed. Hopefully it can help you too!

 

[4FordFamily]

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/tang-aggression-understanding-and-combating.76/

I wrote an article you may find useful on this subject.

For what it's worth, a powder blue is the most aggressive tang (all considered) in my opinion. This is because they can hold a permanent grudge.

A powder blue tang that has had a tank all to himself that has been able to "keep tangs out of it" successfully (their natural behavior is to chase other herbivores, especially tangs, out of their territory) and is established is literally a worst-case scenario. Adding three tangs was better than one, I am convinced if you added one or two you'd have dead fish. If he's so aggressive that he's slapping his spines hard enough on rocks to break the scalpel, you're dealing with a tang with intent to kill. You can try to put him in "time out" but in truth PBT can (and often do) remember for months and immediately resume the same behavior. Unlike many other tangs who seem to be nasty for a few days to a week (zebrasoma genus for example), they have the propensity to be real grudge holders.

More tangs may help, but that may be reckless with a fish that aggressive. How large is the PBT relative to the other tangs?

You may need to re-home him to someone else with an aggressive FOWLR and add a new PBT after everyone else is established.

 

[AlexReef100]

How large is the PBT relative to the other tangs?

He is the same size as 1 of the yellow tangs and only slightly larger than the remaining two. As I said, the larger yellow tang that is the same size has started standing his ground and the PBT will back off when he does this. None of the new tangs seem overly worried about it at this point, they still wander around and eat and only hide when the PBT starts chasing, however they're all still sort of stuck on the far left side of the tank.

I've had the PBT for almost 2 years(previously existed in a smaller system) and he has always been the only tang in the tank, so I think that was part of the reason he was so aggressive in the beginning. But now all the tangs have battle scars(including the PBT) and the "attacks" from the PBT have been reduced to circling, posturing, and chasing; but no further swipes/attacks. So I'm hoping his initial aggressive behavior will die down over time, I'm going to try the mirror trick and see if that takes care of his remaining aggression.

 

[AlexReef100]

UPDATE:

So I grabbed a mirror on the way home yesterday and got it setup after I got home. Within minutes the PBT was solely focused on his own reflection and the other 3 tangs were free to explore the rest of the tank(which they haven't had a chance to do since they were introduced). Within a few hours all the tangs were swimming together in front of the mirror, with the PBT occasionally chasing the Sailfin away and then going right back to his reflection.

I'm going to leave the mirror in for at least another 24-36 hours, hopefully once its removed the peace in the tank will remain.

Thanks again guys for the suggestion.

 

[bdare]

Any update after the mirror?

 

[AlexReef100]

Any update after the mirror?

Sorry, I've been busy and didn't get a chance to update.

So after the initial few days with the mirror, my PBT seemed to be more peaceful, but then he started back aggressively chasing the sailfin and posturing at the yellow tangs again. So I did another 48 hours with the mirror a few days later and the tangs seemed to be behaving much more peacefully. Sadly, the PBT started chasing the sailfin again about a week or so ago, so I'm going to try and trap him and move him to my frag system and fix the issue for good.