Tomini tang aggressive to Potter's angel?

[Ben jammin]

I've got a 260 FOWLR with, among other things, a tomini tang and a powder blue. I've had both those fish for 6 months or more. Recently, they've been getting into it a little bit and the tomini's fins are a little ragged. My powder blue is only recently becoming more aggressive, especially to new additions.

On Sunday I added a decent sized Potters angel (about 3.5-4"). I have some large angels (french, emperor) but they've ignored him. The powder blue chases him periodically, but much worse, my tomini tang is keeping him penned up in the corner of the tank. Whenever the tomini notices him trying to explore the rest of the tank, he goes after him bad. I would catch the tomini but it's hopeless - he's too fast and skittish and the tank is too big. But I'll be very ****** if he kills the Potter's or causes it to get sick or starve. (The Potter's is eating, for now at least - he gets the food that drifts to the corner).

I can't imagine what beef a tomini tang has with a potter's angel. They're not supposed to be aggressive to non-tangs. Maybe he's taking out his frustrations from the PBT picking on him? He left alone a pearlscale butterfly that I added a few weeks ago. This is just weird. Is it likely to subside or have I got a problem?

 

[Mike&Terry]

It should subside within a few days. The best way to introduce new fish is to use an acclimation box to alleviate aggression while the current tank mates get used to your new addition(s).

A few suggestions that may help your current situation:

• Tape a mirror to the glass to distract the tang for 2 to 3 days. I would recommend moving it to different areas around the tank once or twice a day.
• Add an extra feeding or two for 2 to 3 days.
• Try rearranging some of your rock work.

Hope this helps.

 

[Ben jammin]

Things generally seem to have settled down in my tank. My PBT is leaving the tomini tang alone, and both seem to have lost interest in the potters. However, the potters is confining itself to the upper corner of my tank and is not swimming around at all. At night he will go down into the rock work but come morning he goes right back to his corner and stays there all day. He is eating at least - as long as I get food to him in his corner before the other fish come steal it, but the poor guy is not venturing out of his corner at all.

Hopefully he's getting enough to eat and will continue to get more and more comfortable as the days and weeks go by, but it's a strange situation.

 

[Z06-Hec]

My PBT was causing a lot of trouble in my tank..
It was picked on from the previous tank i got him from and when i put him in my tank, he started taking it out on everyone...
Would beat the crap out my blenny whenever he saw him, would pick fights with my Purple tang which was 2 inches bigger than him...
Would try to intimidate my Blue face and Majestic but they were not having it and would totally ignore him and turn to him and face him off...
It wouldnt stop so i had to get rid of the PBT... But to your point, I do believe it is like you say.. he gets picked on and needs to take it out on someone smaller than him.
If all is well then cool, but if it continues i would try to catch the PBT and put him in time out... isolation box in the DT so everyone can come explore.
If you need to catch any of them, wait till night time lights out for a half hour and sneak up on it...

 

[Kworker]

Things generally seem to have settled down in my tank. My PBT is leaving the tomini tang alone, and both seem to have lost interest in the potters. However, the potters is confining itself to the upper corner of my tank and is not swimming around at all. At night he will go down into the rock work but come morning he goes right back to his corner and stays there all day. He is eating at least - as long as I get food to him in his corner before the other fish come steal it, but the poor guy is not venturing out of his corner at all.

Hopefully he's getting enough to eat and will continue to get more and more comfortable as the days and weeks go by, but it's a strange situation.

Glad it all seemed to work out. My Tomini is fine for the most part, however he enjoys hanging around the bottom rock work near his cave and pick on the rock there, I noticed most of anything that gets in that area is fair game for a flare and back up into.

As for the Powder blue tang, be prepared to see new fish go through trouble when they are added with him there.

 

[Ben jammin]

The problem was less with my PBT than my Tomini harassing the Potter's. The PBT is a bit of a bully, but I knew that would be the case when I got him. PBTs are divas, but good looks will get you everywhere :xd: , so I will put up with a lot from him. Tomini's on the other hand, aren't bad looking, but I got him to do a job (eat algae off my rocks) with the understanding that he was supposed to be peaceful, and he's proving to be a PIA. Every fish is an individual, of course, but it's frustrating when a species that is supposed to be peaceful ends up being a major bully. I'd get rid of him if I could catch him, but no chance.