Tomini Tang is Reclusive

[nickkohrn]

I have had a Tomini Tang in my display for nearly two months now, but it doesn't seem to be out much. It is roughly 3", and it appears healthy. The details of my system are below:

Aquarium
- Waterbox Aquariums 100.3 (36" long x 24" tall x 24" wide)

Substrate
- Bare-bottom

Flow
- 2 EcoTech Marine VorTech MP40s
- Neptune Systems COR-15

Lighting
- 3 EcoTech Marine Radion XR15w G3 Pros

Inhabitants
- 1 Forktail Blenny
- 1 Royal Gramma
- 1 Blue Sapphire Damsel
- 2 Mexican Turbo Snails
- 10 Astrea Snails
- 3 Red Banded Trochus Snails
- 1 Emerald Crab
- 1 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

My aquascape consists of a single bonsai structure and two fish dens from West Mariculture. You can see those below:

The Tomini Tang has claimed the fish den on the right side of the aquarium, and that is where is sleeps and hangs out for most of the day. You can see the den below, which measures 5" long x 4" wide x 3" tall:

I have two more matching fish dens and two smaller structures (for the Blenny) coming soon, so there will be plenty of hides for the fish. Currently, they all get along well, and they even share dens at night. They swim through them throughout the days, and the Tomini Tang allows them to enter the den that it has claimed as its own.

The aquarium is downstairs, and I do see the Tomini Tang swimming around when I come down the stairs, but it bolts into its den when it sees my movements. For the last month, I have had my automatic feeder turned off so that I can feed the system by hand, hoping that the fish will associate me with food and not be scared. The Blenny, Gramma, and the Damsel all come out when I am around; the Tang does not. I leave nori in the tank only a couple of times each week because I am going through a large brown hair algae bloom, and the Tang seems to enjoy eating it; it doesn't seem to care much for the nori.

All of the fish love Reef Nutrition TDO Chroma BOOST pellets, which is what I fed from the automatic feeder. As soon as the feeder would initiate its feeding mode, the loud sound would cause all of the fish, including the Tang, to swim to the corresponding side of the tank and await the food to drop. Every fish would swim enthusiastically, so it was apparent that they know when it's time to eat.

I picked up the Tomini Tang since I know that they stay on the smaller side, but I am prepared to re-home it when/if the time comes that it outgrows my system. It doesn't seem to be much of a swimmer; instead, it loves hanging out in its den.

Is this something to worry about?

Should I add another small Tang to promote more activity?

It appears healthy, and it has a healthy appetite. It doesn't mess with any of the other fish, and they don't mess with it. I would love to see it more often because it has beautiful coloration and markings. I spend a lot of time near the tank, so I figured that it would be used to me by now.

 

[AngryMike2016]

I think it is because there is very little hiding space for him. Counter intuitively, I've found that fish will be out more when there are more places to hide. Since they won't have to go as far, if they need to hide.

 

[nickkohrn]

I think it is because there is very little hiding space for him. Counter intuitively, I've found that fish will be out more when there are more places to hide. Since they won't have to go as far, if they need to hide.

That makes sense. Maybe getting the extra dens will make it feel more comfortable.

 

[nickkohrn]

I captured a few, short videos that show its behavior. In the last video, the Tang comes out of the den at the end, but it quickly goes back in.

I apologize for the sound of the videos; I thought that I saved them as silent videos.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

You’ve created something more like a quarantine environment than a typical reef environment, so I imagine the fish is just not very comfortable with its surroundings.

 

[nickkohrn]

You’ve created something more like a quarantine environment than a typical reef environment, so I imagine the fish is just not very comfortable with its surroundings.

When given the current state of my system, do you have any suggestions that may help make it better? I don't want to re-home the Tang, but I will if I can't give it a more suitable environment.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

More dens may help. I understand the look you are going for, but until the corals grow out, I would consider adding more structure (pillars, maybe long branching rocks or even large dead coral pieces). These are reef fish that are very structure-oriented, they don’t live in open water or open sand flats (especially when juveniles).

 

[living_tribunal]

@nickkohrn what ended up happening with this?