World War 3

[aquarius 1]

I just took my Powder Blue out of QT and when I put him in my show tank, my Clown Tang freaked out and wouldn't leave him alone. After two hours of watching the Clown Tang bash, bite, and slice up my PB, I had enough and netted the PB and put him back in QT overnight. The next day I divided up my tank leaving the Clown Tang in his own solitary corner and then I put the PB back into the rest of the tank. The PB is adapting well and eating fine, although he has a nice gash on his side from the Clown. My only question is how long do I keep the tank divided and can you recommend any other strategies to ease up the tension. The tank is a 2 year old 150 FOWLR, and includes Flame Angel, Niger Trigger, Koran Angel, Clown Tang, Pair of Percs, Neon Goby, and the PB. The Clown Tang was the last fish added before the PB and he's been in there for about 4 months, healthy as a horse but as you can see a territorial nightmare. I knew they were aggressive in my pre-purchase research, but I had to get the PB because he was so darn cheap! Now, when the PB comes anywhere near the divider, the Clown Tang darts at and gets all riled up. Any ideas?

 

[shawnhardy]

Maybe you can try putting the clown tang in the QT for a few weeks and put the PB in the display tank. I have heard that is it best to add tangs of similar shapes at the same time. This way, neither one establishes territories withut the other being present. You need to do something though because a PB doesn't hold up well to abuse. He will not last long being harassed.
Another thing to try is to rearrange your rock. This can help to disrupt the established territory of the clown tang.

 

[latino277]

I'm not an expert but what i would do is take that clown out and put him in QT then completly rearange the display(so that he thinks he is in a new home) and then put him back in the display.
i had this problem with a picaso (sp) trigger and this helped.
OOoo also and the Clown back in durring lights out.

 

[cmquiroz]

Or you can trade PBT's with me cause mine is just like your clown as far as territorial-wise.
I had to do the whole "re-arrange your rock" thing for a couple of days before my PBT would leave my other fish alone and eventually we still had to get rid of the newer fish cause we couldn't stand the fighting, especially during lights out. We couldn't divide our tank either cause we have a bow-front and they don't sell dividers for those tanks.
Hope it works for you though

 

[shawnhardy]

What did you end up doing?