I think my yellow tang is a tail biter?

[momitts]

Just wondering if anybody has had any problems with there yellow tangs biting other fishes tails? I have it pinned down to him because he was one of the first fish in my tank when I started noticing that my Mandrin Gobys tail was being bitten off. He does'nt pick on any of the other fish except for my 2 Mollies I keep in there for feeder fish who's tails have also be bitten. When I watch him during the daytime he shows no signs of aggressive behavior and will swim and eat right along with the other fish. Also this does not happen regularly, my Mandrin was just about fully healed and I have been adding Stress Zyme weekley to help with the tail regrowth but when I checked this morning I noticed that the Mandris tail was chewed more than before. Is there anything that could be done to help with this? More rockwork maybe? Any suggestion appreciated.

 

[sleasia]

Yellow tangs can certainly be agressive. I used to have a large one 4 years ago and it would fight every new addition to the tank. It indirectly killed a rabbitfish, because it would not let it eat....I since read that their aggression is sometimes calmed a bit if you put an odd number of them in your tank. Not two because then they will fight, but three, or 5. When my boxfish anihilated my tank and I started over with a 200 gallon system, I put three yellow tangs in this time. Now I have no problems with them. They seem to stay focused on each other and leave other tankmates alone. Now my tail nipper is my blueface angel.

 

[momitts]

That does sound like a good idea but I only have a 55g tank, I was wanting to add a Blue Hippo as well but I have heard that my tank may be to small for one let alone 2 or three tangs. How many do you think I could have?

 

[sleasia]

In a 55 you are right...three yellow tangs might be too much especially since you will want some other fish for variety. then what you should think about doing is adding the yellow tang last. Sometimes this helps because the fish added first tend to establish their "seniority" "territoriality" whatever. If you put the yellow tang in early, or already have put one in...then you can try moving your live rock, decor, etc. around whenever you add another fish...When you do this sometimes they think they are in a new environment and starting off new together....just some ideas I've learned on this website.

 

[momitts]

I have heard that about adding the yellow tang last, of course it was after I added it to my tank. It makes sense about maybe moving the rock around, I also was thinking about adding more live rock as well to give him a more secure spot to sleep at so other fish dont bother him. Well see how it goes.
I appreciate the responce.