White Tailed Tang

[Sean Norman]

I added three fish last week. I ordered them from Marine Collectors- Eliot Lim was easy to work with and the fish arrived in great shape. I chose to spend the extra money because I wanted two Wrasses and the White Tailed Tang- all fish that I felt were more difficult to do a prophylactic quarantine with medication.
The fish spent a few days in an observation tank and I was able to ensure they were all eating and were over the stress of the shipping.
I placed them all into my DT. Overall it has gone well.
I chose the White Tailed Tang because I had read that it was potentially the least aggressive of the Tang species.
The Tang immediately moved into the largest cave and kicked out my Foxface. The Tang has made the center third of the tank "his" and will chase any of the other fish from the area.
He seems to have come to an agreement with the FF after being spiked a few times..
I am adding some additional rock, to create a few more barriers for the smaller fish. The Tang really does not like the brighter fish- Royal Gramma and Ruby Wrasse. He leaves the two Clowns alone.
I am hoping by adding some additional rock, it will break up the tank a little more, and maybe shirk his territory down.
I would say there is a moderate amount of chasing going on- and it is not all day- it seems to come in waves. I have two magnetic rocks on opposite sides of the tank that I offer Nori for them all day.
Is this an adjustment period? Has anyone else dealt with this?
Thanks.

 

[Sailfin11]

I also have a very aggressive Ctenochaetus tang. It's been in my tank for over a year now and is still quite a bully. I once introduced a flame angel and the tang forced it to wedge itself headfirst into a rock. I rescued the angel and let it recover before trying again. The second time, the angel jumped. I hope yours is just going through an adjustment period, but be prepared for its aggression to last.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Bristletooth tangs can be very aggressive, i find them more so than yellows.
Some things to try.


-mirror
-a little experimental but for the first 30 days can add l-tryptophan to the diet. Still hashing out a dosage on how much but my current mixture is 50ml of water and .25g of l-tryptophan. And add one drop for each cm2 of frozen food. Do not feed longer than 30 days. Mixture will decompose quickly without sterilizing the bottles(this part gets complex), can add .1g of n-a-cystine to last a little longer. So don’t make a large amount of solution. Works by creating more serotonin in the fish.