Coral Banded Shrimp/Yellow Tang Behaviour

[firegarden]

My Yellow Tang has developed interesting behaviour towards my Coral Banded Shrimp...he stays under a rock most of the time, he was a Christmas gift from a client. I noticed in the last couple of days my Tang is 'picking' on him! She hovers over him and I even saw her grab his leg once. Has anyone noticed such odd behaviour before? She's very docile towards the rest of her tank mates. My initial thought was to get the shrimp out and return him, but the LFS said she won't hurt him, any thoughts?!

 

[kris m.]

The yellow tang will not harm the banded shrimp, it will take time, but you should be fine.

 

[hondo]

I wouldn't go so far to say the tang won't hurt the CBS as I had a yellow tang that ate a CBS. but this may also be a case of the tang wanting the CBS to clean it or the CBS trying to clean an unwilling tang. give them time and more than likely they will settle down and ignor each other.

 

[joe5_15]

well does the cbs stay in the tangs territory? if it does take the tang out to confuse him for 30 mins and change your rocks around a lttle in his territory and put ur tang back in

 

[firegarden]

They will clean the fish? Interesting. CBS is hidden from my immediate view-my tank is in my hair salon and I just get to glance at it while I'm working. I can't tell exactly what she is doing to it...I hope it turns out to be innocent. I would feel awful, besides he was a (very cool) gift! Thanks for the replies..........
Laura

 

[von_rahvin]

CBS can take care of themselves. usually. Is he a really small shrimp vs a larger tang? I have a mated pair of CBS and they rule their part of the tank.

 

[dwf]

my yellow tang got along well with my cbs. it always wanted the shrimp to do some cleaning. my flame angel chased the cbs and ripped its claw off at the stomach! no more cbs! <img src="graemlins//yell.gif" border="0" alt="[yell]" /> three days later the flame died for unknown reasons <img src="graemlins//angel.gif" border="0" alt="[angel]" />

 

[firegarden]

Today things were pretty normal again-I didn't see her even look at him much. He's pretty big, actually. He really doesn't come out much, but stirs around when I feed them or clean the tank. I bet having a pair of them is awesome! Oh, and a couple of weeks ago I did see a 'leg' missing. I read that happens so I didn't think to much about it. There is a huge bristleworm (I'm guessing 8 inches!!!) in that rock that I worry about, but that is a whole 'nother subject. He's to fast for me yet, I can't catch him.