Three tangs become two

[Zechirian]

So I had three tangs, a LT(lieutenant ), Tomini and Purple. The purple was the last one to be introduced and was doing pretty well for a week or so until the true identity broke through. He had to become the boss of the tank, yes I knew purple's were like this.

However over the last few months i've noticed all the fish in the tank have become WAY more skittish than what they used to be and the last week or so i've seen bits of fins missing on both the Tomini and LT and today i saw some missing on my flasher wrasse as well. So today I decided to watch from afar to see what was happening and sure enough the purple was chasing everyone he could.

I decided it was time to evict him. For the first time in my life I was able to catch a fish in under 10 minutes ahaha and put him in the penalty box (sump). He'll be having a new home come tomorrow as a local reefer is coming to get him.

Now for the more interesting part. After half an hour everyone in the tank started to come out and play, still skittish but came out. I noticed my Tomini and LT start acting a little strange, they kept going towards each other agressively and then ease up and swim a bit. Then i saw the LT shoot out of the rocks and start mouthing on the side of the foxface that i have, the foxface looked like he was enjoying it. Didn't move at all just sat there. The foxface is about 1.5" bigger so it reminded me of my kids trying to pick on each other.

That happened 3 or 4 times in the span of 5 minutes. I then saw the Tomini and LT start flashing their fins at each other. That happened for about 30 min or so.

I'm almost positive that the two tangs are just trying to show each other who rules the roost now but has anyone else ever seen that? So soon after the bully is removed?

Thanks!

 

[Joshky]

I know this isn't the same, well maybe it can be considered a similar situation... but I recently introduced a genicanthus caudovittatus to my brothers tank (holding my fish out of QT as he's breaking down and I'm about get my tank up), with a Whitetail Bristletooth. I had to use an acclimation box and even that didn't take away initial aggression for the poor angel, I fell back on using the mirror trick and after 5 hours of the tang freaking out the angel is perfectly okay now. Not long after the tang left the angel alone I noticed the angel chasing the wrasses in the tank, a male melanurus and yellow coris. It was unexpected as I thought the angel was pretty traumatized, but apparently not... So yes, I don't find this surprising at all.

 

[eatbreakfast]

So I had three tangs, a LT(lieutenant ), Tomini and Purple. The purple was the last one to be introduced and was doing pretty well for a week or so until the true identity broke through. He had to become the boss of the tank, yes I knew purple's were like this.

However over the last few months i've noticed all the fish in the tank have become WAY more skittish than what they used to be and the last week or so i've seen bits of fins missing on both the Tomini and LT and today i saw some missing on my flasher wrasse as well. So today I decided to watch from afar to see what was happening and sure enough the purple was chasing everyone he could.

I decided it was time to evict him. For the first time in my life I was able to catch a fish in under 10 minutes ahaha and put him in the penalty box (sump). He'll be having a new home come tomorrow as a local reefer is coming to get him.

Now for the more interesting part. After half an hour everyone in the tank started to come out and play, still skittish but came out. I noticed my Tomini and LT start acting a little strange, they kept going towards each other agressively and then ease up and swim a bit. Then i saw the LT shoot out of the rocks and start mouthing on the side of the foxface that i have, the foxface looked like he was enjoying it. Didn't move at all just sat there. The foxface is about 1.5" bigger so it reminded me of my kids trying to pick on each other.

That happened 3 or 4 times in the span of 5 minutes. I then saw the Tomini and LT start flashing their fins at each other. That happened for about 30 min or so.

I'm almost positive that the two tangs are just trying to show each other who rules the roost now but has anyone else ever seen that? So soon after the bully is removed?

Thanks!

The 2 remaining tangs are definitely trying to reestablish a heirarchy. While the purple was in the tank the other 2 did not have the opportunity to work out who was next up on the heirarchy, because if either were to 'flex their muscles' the purple tang would 'lay the smack down' on thoe upstarts.

The 2 you have should work it out, but a degree of aggression between tangs will always be there.

 

[Zechirian]

Appreciate the insight guys. Yeah it had me a tiny bit worried. It will be interesting to see how the tank politics end up being. Tomini's are usually docile and the LT tang sounds like it can be a boss fish but with much less of a bully attitude than that of a Purple.

I guess the small bonus of removing the Purple tang is that i can add an extra couple of fish and not worry that they'll be chased for the rest of their lives. I do realize that there will be some chasing, as is tradition but i'm hoping the cooler, calmer heads will prevail.