Tang war help!

CraigG · Jan 15, 2013

Okay, so the other day I decided I wanted to add some more tangs to my tank (a scopas and a blue eye). However, my powder blue is not having it. The blue was attacking the others pretty bad until I put a small vanity mirror with a 2x magnification in the tank. Now he is leaving the others alone for the most part, choosing war with the mirror. Do you think he'll accept them? What should I do?

MKOTAR · Jan 15, 2013

just have to wait it out

my tangs all beat the crap out of any new tang. but it's like a gang initiation

once they get there beatings they are usually then accepted.

J Rog · Jan 15, 2013

Powder Blues are super aggressive. He might stop but he might not..

cdness · Jan 15, 2013

If I read correctly this is a 120G tank which is 4 feet long... Let me know if this isn't right.

Powder Blues and Browns are known for aggression when they are the first tang added. In my experience the only way to tame a tang is a timeout period. Make sure it is long enough that he doesn;t recognize the tank when he goes back in. However this is not foolproof... You may just have too many tangs in there and they are destined to fight.

CraigG · Jan 15, 2013

Yeah,it a 4' 120. How much time you think he needs out of the tank if I go that approach?

cdness · Jan 15, 2013

I did 6 weeks with my yellow and he was still a pain so I ended up re-homing him to a friend's 125G...

It's just cramped quarters for 3 tangs. They are all known for aggression and to have 3 in that space can be a recipe for disaster. However you may get it to work out. All fish, like people, have different attitudes. Unfortunately at this point though, the Powder Blue is protecting "his turf" against the newcomers and will do that with no objection. You must make it not his turf anymore and let all 3 make a claim to an area for it to work out.

Good luck is all I can say unfortunately...

jen2828 · Jan 15, 2013

You may have been fine if you had added the other two first. The powder blue is one of the most aggressive tangs you can have (I have an achilles so I know ;-) It's going to be hard adding two more in addition to him in a 4' tank. After I got my achilles I knew I wasn't going to be able to add anymore tangs other then the purple that was already in there. Good luck!

CraigG · Jan 15, 2013

When the Powder Blue first saw the scopas he actually was so ****** that he turned a brighter blue color and had 3 white vertical stripes appear on him. It was very pretty but he then began to bully the scopas.

MKOTAR · Jan 15, 2013

I have an Achilles also and if the new fish can get through a few days they well be ok as long as they are in good health

jen2828 · Jan 15, 2013

MKOTAR said:
I have an Achilles also and if the new fish can get through a few days they well be ok as long as they are in good health

You're fortunate...my achilles almost killed both a naso and an angel within 30 minutes of them being added to the tank, they wouldn't have lived through the day.