Yellow Tang aggression towards reflection?

Chameleon

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 5, 2012
Messages
2,249
Reaction score
88
Location
Rockville, MD
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Hey yall,
Today after scraping my glass i noticed my tang freaking out over its reflection. attached is a video. is this aggression bad for its health? any tips for preventing it.
[video=youtube_share;stDFJwY6FeE]http://youtu.be/stDFJwY6FeE[/video]
 
Let your tank get covered in algae so he can't see it!

I had one do this but he eventually either got tired of it or figured out that it was a reflection and gave up. I wouldn't think it would be bad for its physical health unless he started hitting the glass, to me they have always seemed like a high anxiety fish, and there's nothing you can really do about that.
 
Ok. Here is my question. Can he see his reflection? I mean when we look through the glass and water into another pain of glass we see a mirror image. I have just assumed that is what the fish see. But I don't think this is true. If anything it would be like us seeing our face when we look into the tank right?

Maybe he is wondering where the algae went.
 
I don't know I mean I've experienced several wild caught fish having trouble understanding the limits of a tank. I swear its like object permanence for fish. It seems like they have to learn how to see beyond the mirror sometimes (I've noticed this more with tangs than anything else)
 
My kole tang does this as well. he is worse than yours and tail slaps the glass. I got him when he was really little and didn't start doing this until he got to about 4". Nothing I do deters him from doing this. I was about to let coralline build up at the bottoms of my glass and I think I just might.
 

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

  • Yes!

    Votes: 32 45.7%
  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%
  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%
  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
Back
Top