how to stop powder blue from bullying my blue tang

[bullitr]

currently have 10 tangs
3 yellow 3" -5"
1 purple 5"
1 kole 4"
1 tomini 4"
1 blue 5"
1 powder blue 4"
1 10" female naso
1 10" male blonde naso
my powder blue tang i just added 2 weeks ago but it won't leave my hippo tang alone to the point that i want to pitch the powder blue with a tong. anyway i want to know whats the best way to deflect the powder blue from attacking my hippo , i was thinking of getting a chocolate/ mimic tang because of the same family acanthurus and make it 3 just like what i've done with my yellow and purple tang. any suggestion?

[xskyzx]

if you can either catch it and put in the sum for while and/or rearrange your rocks work.

[bullitr]

catching it means i have to empty my 300 gallon mixed display tank . the water just stablizing for sps i don't want to mess it up right now. anymore suggestion?

[bullitr]

rearranging the liverock won't help either the tank already have too much rock already for it to hide but the powder blue follows the hippo from end to end of my 8' tank

[newmoon]

If you want to keep both together and can't rearrange the rock work, then your best chance then is to give the PB a time out, but you need to catch it, and put it on hold long enough until the Hippo starts feeling confident again.
The Powder Blue will kind of "forget" about the other Tang and will feel new to the tank again after the time out.

Put him in the sump or in a container insdie the tank.
3 days usually do the trick, good luck.

[Tswifty]

I had a powder blue that had a serious attitude problem. I added a Tomini Tang that he basically was going to harrass to death (he chewed him up pretty bad the first time I added him). What I did was divide my tank in half with eggcrate for a few days. It gave the tangs a chance to get comfortable with one another, while not allowing them to hurt one another, and once I removed the eggcrate... no more problems.

Although with the size of your tank that may not be possible.

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll128/tswifty8/Crate1.jpg

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll128/tswifty8/Crate2.jpg

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll128/tswifty8/th_MOV02699.jpg (http://s287.photobucket.com/albums/ll128/tswifty8/?action=view&current=MOV02699.flv)

Before I removed the eggcrate completely I cut a hole to allow them to pass through to check each other out for a day:

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll128/tswifty8/tangscreen.jpg

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll128/tswifty8/th_MOV02726.jpg (http://s287.photobucket.com/albums/ll128/tswifty8/?action=view&current=MOV02726.flv)

[john rochon]

okay, you have WAY to many fish and tangs in that tank!!
not very responsible. I'd sell/trade off at least 5 of them the NASO's especially. your headed for some serious water qaulity issues which could result in the death of most of those fish.
the stress level in that tank for those fish must be insane.

[fishysteve]

It does seem like way too many. I agree with john rochon, get rid of a few.

[LOTUS50GOD]

I would agree... 300 gallons is a good amount of water, but not for 2x10" fish. I have 1x12" sohal in my 340 and need to get rid of him because the tank is too small.

If you have 10 juvi tangs I would say okay.. but 10 adult tangs is a distaster waiting to happen, unless you have enough space.

I also dont know how you keep you nitrates in check feeding 10 tangs, but if you have your nitrates low enough for a SPS reef then please share your secret (other than HUGE water changes every week...LOL)

[crvz]

The best solution is to get rid of one or the other, I don't think adding another fish in hopes that the aggressiveness is spread around will be wise (nor do you currently have 2 acanthurus species in the tank, as the blue is in the Paracanthurus genus). Get rid of a fish.

[Patrick12]

You do not have to get rid of them...but that is an option.

I have the same combo in my own tank. Both fish have been "neutered" so to speak. I removed them both to a bucket, took toenail clippers, and cut as far down on their spikes as I could without cutting any skin. They continued to swat at one another for awhile, but after realizing that there was no result, now get along fine. They show no aggression at all. The hippo has resorted to biting if he really needs to, but it has not done so in awhile and it was towards other fish.

Good luck.

[john rochon]

WOW, PATRICK12, you must be the most discusting fish keeper I've ever come across on this site or anywere in my 10 years.
please GET OUT OF THE HOBBY! your a disgrace

[Lost in Tanks]

actually John that is common practice and is not hurting the fish one bit. Their spikes grow back in no time at all...I'm not condoning it, just giving input.

[plyr58]

This will sound crazy, but I have seen it work with my own eyes. Grab some of those super strong rare earth magnets, super glue one to a mirror and mount the mirror outside of your tank with the shiny side pointing in. The powder blue will take notice of another, more immediate threat (his reflection, or own species) and his aggression should be diverted to reflection. Don't be surprised if he repeatedly rushes his reflection and knocks himself silly in the process. After a day or so of kicking his own @$$, he should calm down and leave your other tang alone. Again, I am not guaranteeing that this will work, but I have seen it work before.

[john rochon]

common practise? on what planet. thats not common practise AT ALL. and not common sense either. look at it this way, barb or no barb the fish are stressed due to overstocking. read the first post, that tank is VERY overstocked so taking fish out of a tank to cut his scalpels off is no answer at all. matter of fact, its the very first time I've heard of such a dumb practise.

[Tswifty]

Seriously I'm done replying to any thread that has the word "tang" in it... sheesh. :rolleye1:

To the OP... try to wade through the BS... there are a couple of good suggestions up there.

Good luck however you decide to procede.

[Chihuahua6]

Here we go again with the irresponsible remarks. Everyone is a better fish keeper than the next guy. Blah Blah Bla.
I'm sure when your fish grow out a bit you will weed out as necessary.

I would do as Tswifty suggeted. I did the same when my Purple Tang was upset after I added a larger Yellow Pyramid Butterfly to the tank. I left the eggcrate there for two weeks and when I took it down things were much calmer. It's the easiest thing to do since you don't need to catch anything or break the tank down.

[bullitr]

thanks for the unneccesary criticism john. my tank is a mixed reef mostly softies and clams that like nitrate .my nitrate right now 5 for more than 3 months.thats why i don't like many sps anymore. i have only a slighty modified asm g4 as a skimmer that works great for me and i don't change my water often maybe only quarterly or so .i never algae problem either and i used tap water as a top off after a day of aeration on a 60 gallon container when my r/o was left on my old house . everything that you may say reckless , you should get out of the hobby ,you are a disgrace category . you have a big tank and its probably great but everybody tank are different. please if you don't have nothing good to say shut up! you are too stuck up !

[bullitr]

by the way i added a orange shoulder tang and remove one of my yellow tang i placed it on my 150 sump .at first the powder blue continue to harassed my hippo but it stop after 1 hour and there is no more chasing happening right now what so ever .thank you very much

[bullitr]

thanks for the good suggestion.

[john rochon]

honestly its terrible how irresponsible alot of people have become in this hobby. its seems to be getting worse every year.
I've been running different tank for a decade now so I do have an informed oppioning. your fidh load on that tank is insane.
the guy who suggested cutting off the scalpels of tangs is insane.
and you use tapwater to top it off!! we'll see you posting sooner or later about a massive crash or dead fish sad sad sad.:(

[DiverD]

I can see where you are coming from John. Maybe a bit zealous or parental in your comment, but that may just be your way of being "football coach" help...:)

I have seen larger tanks with stock that heavily, but I would not keep that mix permanently in 300 gallons.

John, if he is dosing some limewater consistently, he may be able to use the tap in his region?...just my .02

[bullitr]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13737279#post13737279 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LOTUS50GOD
[I also dont know how you keep you nitrates in check feeding 10 tangs, but if you have your nitrates low enough for a SPS reef then please share your secret (other than HUGE water changes every week...LOL) [/B]
i have lots of xenias and clams that loves nitrate and i used kalkwasser top off and vinegar/ vodka dosing, look at melev thread. i used vinegar instead of vodka its cheaperand it works for me but it may not work for you . i just rebuilt my tank but i was doing a vinegar dosing for more than 2 years now with my 225 cube sps predominated tank before.

[bullitr]

i position my underpower asm g4 skimmer directly on the overflow return and increased my sump water level to 12 " i get a full collection cup of thick skim mate every 3 days or less

[clekchau]

removing the scapel from the tang sounds very cruel and an usual suggestion

although 10 tangs in a 300 should be fine imho i've seen more thrive in the same, even david saxby's huge aquarium is overstocked by most people's standards and the fish are robust, fat and nicely colored and have been for years.