Goldrim Tang

[thebrohem]

Hello everyone. I just got a new fish, a Fire Clown, totally awesome looking fish. I put him in last night and as soon as he was in the tank, my goldrim tang, or powder black tang, started bugging him a lot. Tail swipes, ramming into him, maybe even biting. The tang was the last fish in the tank, he has been in there for about 7 months. Once i started noticing this, i took the tang out, rearranged the live rock, and let him be out for good while before i put him back in. When i did, the lights were off and i turned off all the lights in the house to go to bed. This morning, before leaving for work (yeah i am doing this at work, i know i should be working ) when i turned the lights back on, the tang went right back to picking on the clown. The tang isnt that much bigger then the clown; tang is about 4.5 inches long while the clown is a little over 3 inches long. I know that every fish, like person, has their own personality, but is there anything else i can do to try to minimize this or eliminate it completely? Is this just going to continue until the clown is dead or will the tang just stop after a day or two? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[hlcroghan]

That is really hard. It could go either way. It could simmer down or the tang could just kill off the clown. Some tangs can be extremely aggressive unfortunately.
You did a great job of trying to minimize it. Maybe a breeder box so that the clown can be in the tank without the tang being able to get to it?.....you maybe could do that for a couple days or something.....then the tang could maybe get used to the clown more slowly.

 

[rcreations]

Here's something that worked for my powder blue tang. Put a mirror on the outside of the tank, facing in. You tang will spend all day looking at his own reflection and leave the clown alone. Do this for a few days until the fish get accustomed to each other.

 

[thebrohem]

Well, it took less then 48 hours but the Tang ended up killing the clown. I am not happy about this. I greatly appreciate the advise given. I tried the mirror thing and the tang would spend most of his time on his reflection, but if the clown got anywhere near him, the tang would attack, attack, attack until he would go to cave. I was going to do the breeder box and when i got back from the pet store from buying it, the clown was dead. Thank you guys very much for the suggestions, they were good ones, ones that i would not have thought of. But even with all that, the tang (appropriately named Nightmare) just didnt want the clown. Now i am very hesitant to want to add another fish, i mean if this is going to happen again, i dont want to buy a fish so he gets killed. I dont know, we will see what i do. Thanks again!

 

[rcreations]

That sucks, sorry to hear that. Some of these tangs are really territorial, especially with new additions.

 

[hlcroghan]

If you are not super in-love with the tang then maybe you could consider trading him in for something else that is more sociable....
I am very sorry for your loss....

 

[windlasher]

Originally Posted by hlcroghan
http:///forum/post/3050262
If you are not super in-love with the tang then maybe you could consider trading him in for something else that is more sociable....
I am very sorry for your loss....

Sorry about that. I think you need to remove the YT for longer than a few hours, like a week or two.
I have 2 yellow tangs. One in my 90 and one in my 220. The last time I add a new fish to the 220. I swapped the tangs which confused the hell out of them but it worked. Since the tanks are plumbed together I didnt even have to acclimate them.
-V

 

[rcreations]

Problem is tangs are so hard to catch, especially if you have a lot of LR.

 

[thebrohem]

I agree with the catching part, it is hard to do with live rock, also in just trying not to over stress the fish. That aside, i did not take him out for too long of a time, i dont have another tank or anything set up to be able to do that, but it is a great idea, one i did not think about. I will say i didnt expect him to go nutso on the clown though, or else i would have taken better precautions. Thanks again for all the advise though, i will keep it in mind if i ever get another fish to add in the tank. As stated, it might take me having to trade him or sell him or something for me to be able to get another one. I will say that it will be hard to part with since he turns a very "bright" black at times and looks very pretty.

 

[thebrohem]

Ok, so i have a new question and i feel a little silly for asking it because i feel like i should know it. Is it ok to keep my Gold-rim Tang in a 10 gallon tank for a few days while someone comes and picks him up? I wish he could go sooner, but it just isnt working out that way. Anywho, i have an empty 10 gallon tank where i could keep him in for a few days until someone comes and gets him, will he be ok as long as there is a filter and heater? I dont want to risk it if i dont have to. Any advise would be super helpful. Thanks!

 

[rcreations]

If the 10gal tank is cycled and has enough biological filtration, then it's ok for 2 days max. What you can do is put in a couple of LR from your DT to act as biological filtration, and check the water params twice a day to make sure everything is ok.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by RCreations
http:///forum/post/3053841
If the 10gal tank is cycled and has enough biological filtration, then it's ok for 2 days max. What you can do is put in a couple of LR from your DT to act as biological filtration, and check the water params twice a day to make sure everything is ok.
Most definitely add some rock for biological filtration...