help with a psychotic purple tang

[transman]

i have a 125 fowlr, the first inhabitants were a purple tang and a emperor angel. the the tang and angel were together at the lfs and figured they would be ok.wrong,2 days later the angel tried to be the boss and i awoke to an angel floating with severe slices down his side. everything i have put in there with him he has killed (a spiny burrfish,and a stars and stripes puffer) well this weekend i purchased a large foxface figuring he would defend himself (larger than the tang) to no avail, the foxface is left cowering in the corner hidden behind one of the powerheads.he makes daring runs for the seaweed and is eating rather well considering his stress levels,but the tang won't leave him alone for more than 10 min. i tried rearranging all of my rock before i added the foxface tying to make the tang less teritorial.is there anything else i can try? i just don't want to stress the foxface to death.
on a side note,the tang has become absolutely beautiful while in his dominate state. his colors are brighter than ever

 

[hlcroghan]

I would take him back to the store and spend the store credit on some more compatible fish or find something super aggressive that will stand up for itself better. That is kind of mean though. I would take it back.

 

[transman]

if i was like micheal vick , i could go get another purple tang and charge addmission (just kidding) when i get home from work tonight i will observe them closely for a few hours and make my decision then. i will take the best path for both fish, i hate that the tang is so aggresive, i will not get rid of him as he is the prettiest tang i have ever owned.

 

[nicetry]

Make the tang your centerpiece fish and fill the tank with various small dither fish like clowns, chromis, blennies, gobies, etc.. PT's are among the most aggressive of the family and can be very intolerant of any other similar sized fish. You could move the tang out to a separate holding tank for a few weeks if you wanted to add another larger fish, but if you're set on keeping it, then be prepared to allow it to be the alpha fish.

 

[drex]

i wouldnt expect the tang to chance, they had a good sized one in the show tank at my LFS "375 gallon" with 1 blue hippo..a clown and may 2 other small fish..the blue hippo was HUGE, and it had no fins left, looked absolutely terrible..purple tangs can get REAL nasty, but they are great looking i still want one haha...so do as someone stated above,go get smaller fish that are not competitive.

 

[transman]

well it seems maybe the tang is starting to give a little slack.the foxface is able to come out in the open now. i added 3 more seaweed clips to the tank and it seems to have confused him on what he wants to gaurd. i don't put seaweed on them but they know what they are for.
it doesn't seem to bother the foxface when it comes time to eat,he will stay where he is eating and defend himself. i will give him a few more days and see what happens, he is basically staying yellow,for the most part,unless the tang is being a jerk.

 

[transman]

sorry for the double post, just thought about it, the tang loves silversides,when feeding the sfe last night, the foxface came out and took off with one also. is that normal,algea eaters with a taste for flesh?

 

[drex]

i have found with my fish, they will eat about anything haha my clownfish takes my seaweed and runs with it from the tangs. i do believe foxface do like having meaty foods though