I thougt blue tang are reef safe!

[chessnutt]

A few days ago I notice a piece or bite mark on my scoly and acan. I tried looking for what bit it. Stayed up late to see if it could be something that I dont see during the day.
Today I saw my blue tang (dory) take chunks off my acan. Should I just fish the blue tang out? The fish has been with me for more than 6 month. The acan and scoly are only a few weeks.

[AquaReeferMan]

My hippo tang wouldnt allow me to keep any brain corals in the tank. Wouldnt bother anything else just the brains. I personally liked the fish better so I got rid of the 2 corals.

[aleonn]

That's unfortunate. I hear sometimes tangs get a taste of certain corals and they don't go back :(. I hope mine continues to behave!

[chessnutt]

I guess I'll have to use the hook then. That sucks. I'll keep my scoly and acan.

[stoney1118]

sorry to hear that, you never know when a "reef safe" fish will go awol on ya, they have different types of behavior, i would just remove the corals until you decide what to do!

[aleonn]

It would be a tough call for me. I'd probably leave my blue tang in the tank, as it'll be tough to catch her. Since you're not necessarily attached to those corals yet, I'd either move them to the refugium if you have adequate lighting, or to a frag tank if you even have one.

[mc-cro]

I had a hippo tang for about 4yrs that never bothered a thing, then one day he decided he liked the taste of the clam that had been in the tank the whole time. He had to go, I kept my clam.

[chessnutt]

I just remove 2 of my scoly and all my acan to a different tank. Now I have to think of a way to catch the blue tangs out. I have three hippo and only one of them is picking on my coral. Thanks you all for the input

[kellerexpress]

My tang has acquired a taste for welso's, Im still trying to catch it...

[SpencerG]

"Reef safe" is never an absolute. I've read on here where blue tangs have gone wild and mow down acans or other corals. You just never know. I guess we're sort of playing the odds with different types of fish, like a blue tang is 90% likely to leave your corals alone, a flame angel is maybe 70% likely, etc. Good luck catching the tang and please let us know how you manage to catch it.

[mc-cro]

fwiw, I find the easiest way to catch a fish in a stocked tank is to just drain the tank. I only have a 72g tank, so I bring up one of my large rubbermaid stock tanks, drain the tank down to about an 1in of water, reach in grab the fish. Its a lot less stress on the fish and other inhabitants. Otherwise, get out the fishing string.