tang vs wrasse

[dine]

ok so i added a fairy wrasse yesterday to the tank. figured there would be an adjustment period but was not expecting my powder blue tang to be this upset! he basically just circles the wrasses hiding spot 24 hours a day waiting for him to try and come eat. the wrasse is doing surprisingly well given the circumstances but that will change if i cant get any food in him (he wants to eat but the tang wont let him come out of the hole hes cornered in). any suggestions?

lights have been kept off for about 24 hours now. helped a little.

 

[gregoryleonard]

I guess powder blue Tangs are just the devil disguised as a fish. I got my powder blue just a few weeks ago and he acclimated to all my fish just fine, so I decided yesterday to add a purple tail wrasse to my 125 and was concerned about my 1.5" six line wrasse, not expecting my 2 week old powder blue tang to bully the wrasse that is twice as long as he is! Six line could have cared less. Saw the new wrasse this am for a few minutes before I left, but when I got home this afternoon, no where to be found. Not in either over flows, and can't find him anywhere. Can't jump out, covered tank. So maybe he's just hiding, I hope so. He's a beautiful wrasse and almost 4" long. Just goes to show you that what you sometimes think to be a possible problem with one fish, turns out to be one with another.

Dine;739295 wrote: ok so i added a fairy wrasse yesterday to the tank. figured there would be an adjustment period but was not expecting my powder blue tang to be this upset! he basically just circles the wrasses hiding spot 24 hours a day waiting for him to try and come eat. the wrasse is doing surprisingly well given the circumstances but that will change if i cant get any food in him (he wants to eat but the tang wont let him come out of the hole hes cornered in). any suggestions?

lights have been kept off for about 24 hours now. helped a little.

 

[ralph atl]

shoot the tang.

 

[dine]

mysterybox;739418 wrote: shoot the tang.

dont tempt me. the site wont allow me to use the words neccessary to describe how i feel about him at the moment

 

[tangaray]

You can try to rearrange your aquascaping. A slight change in scenery may offset any territorial issues.

 

[ldagger]

use a mirror on the side of tank. tang will chase himself.

 

[dine]

Ldagger;739484 wrote: use a mirror on the side of tank. tang will chase himself.

we have a winner! thanks, tang has been attacking himself for hours and the wrasse was able to come out and eat

 

[patrick]

Ldagger;739484 wrote: use a mirror on the side of tank. tang will chase himself.

That is a good trick. It works quite often

 

[dine]

How long should I leave this mirror up. The tang had literally been attacking himself non stop for 8 hours. Wrasse is out and swimming freely. Ate twice for me

 

[patrick]

I'd leave it til the tang gets over it all. Sounds like a turd. i'd recommend neutering him.

 

[dine]

Patrick;739904 wrote: I'd leave it til the tang gets over it all. Sounds like a turd. i'd recommend neutering him.

he is. everything seems to have calmed down. he still flares every once in a while but the wrasse seems less intimidated so i think we are on the right track.

 

[edulover]

What worked? The mirror?

 

[dine]

yup

 

[elfloyd]

Last time I had this problem I used pictures... and they worked very well. I will try the mirror next time.

 

[ldagger]

glad that worked, old freshwater trick. Give plenty of food often for a day or so, a belly full of mysis always helps

 

[winkkle]

Id also feed the tang nori for awhile thatll keep him grazing and happy.