killer tang????

[sanchoy]

OH LORD
I came home today to find my scorpion fish with a 1 inch gash on his right side. Earlier today my purple tang suddenly started harrassing the Scorpion.. But was not really attacking him. Just the usual tail whipping..
than now, I find the scorpion with the gash. Scorpion will likely die from his wound. It is pretty deep cut. Has anyone ever experience a tang using his speared tail to cause this amount of damage?
The only other culprit will be my other russell lionfish, who has behaved quite well. The lion never attacked anyone yet.
I suspect the tang, but I never knew he was capable of unleashing this deadly skill..

 

[luvmyreef]

Well, I can tell you from experience that my yellow tang has done this before to a coral beauty and a powder brown tang. This fish is so aggressive that when I use my algae scraper or have my hand in the tank, he comes at it/me with his tail. I can't add any new fish because of him. Just keep an eye on your tang, I suspect that he is the culprit!

 

[crypt keeper]

was the purple tang established then the scrop added later? Purple and Yellow tangs are very very aggressive fish

 

[olemiss]

My purple ripped up a powder brown that I tried to add. The pbt was in the the tank about 15 min, in the dark, and had 3 large gashes. AS pretty as purples are-- they can be mean as hell.

 

[latinlord]

Originally Posted by OleMiss
http:///forum/post/3124179
My purple ripped up a powder brown that I tried to add. The pbt was in the the tank about 15 min, in the dark, and had 3 large gashes. AS pretty as purples are-- they can be mean as hell.

Yea my Yellow has helped along the death of a blue hippo tang and a powder brown tang... he tried picking on my emperor angel.. but that stopped...
I recommend if you have a purple tang to print out on your computer a picture of a larger tang... either purple or yellow and tape it on your glass... move it arond a bit... it should scare your tang and he will freak out. Do it everytime he starts to pick on your other fish... after a while he should let up...
Good luck with your future fish!
I have a flame angel on the way... if my yellow tang kills it... i will probibly sell the yellow tang and or just get a much larger tang that will hold it off and dominate the tank..

 

[sharkbait35]

I used to have a yellow tang that did the same thing. Everytime i would add a new fish it would attack it. It even killed my naso tang.

 

[sanchoy]

This is day 2 after the attack..
I have removed and placed the scorpion fish in my 30 gallon quarantine tank. The scorpion survived the night and appears to be very weak. The scorpion suffered not one but two large lacerations on both sides of his body. It appears as though someone took a sharp knife and chopped at his side horizontally. The scorpion also has a small abrasion on the top of his skull.
Can the PT use his scapel weapon to hook into an enemy and carve upwards. I thought the PT will only use it to poke. This wound appears to be a plunge attack followed up with pulling (as though a hook was placed into the skin and scraped). Delivering a deadly carving combination blow..
I hope the little scorpion pulls through the night, I highly doubt it. His breathing increased, but he is still fighting on. Brave little fella.
the Purple tang was established before the Scorpion. However, for 3 weeks the tang never attacked the scropion. Than suddenly yesturday I noticed the tang picking at the scropion with it's mouth. Than when I came home the Scropion was sliced open.

 

[rcreations]

Wow! Sorry to hear about your scorp.
Strange that the scorp wasn't able to defend itself, with all that venom and the spikes.

 

[sanchoy]

Day 4..
RIP.. SCORPION FISH...
The scropion did not pull through. The wound was too large. The little fella bit the dust prior to me coming home.
RIP