blue tang trouble

[morgan]

hey steve i purchesed a very small blue tang and added it to my main system after about an hour of acclimatizeation
it was quicly harressed by a blue and yellow damsel and my 2 black Oc clowns although he was seeking shelter right next to there 2 anenomes so thats a variable, made a nice contanment box for it which it is sitting in now
i want to take the blue yellow damsel out or my only other option is to put it in a differnt tank which has a moon wrasse which is about 9 cm long will it eat thed small blue tang?

 

[shallowreef]

How bad is the blue tang beat up Maorgan?

Nick

 

[NaH2O]

How small is the tang?

 

[ronj]

this may or may not work, but you could try moving your liverock around some...it will change the tank and break up established territories!!!! if it were me and a nother fish was picking on my blue tang, i would scoop out the other fish and throw it in the yard!!!! J/K, or am I ????

 

[shallowreef]

Thats a good idea about changing around the live rock but i think the yard is a better alternative.

Sometimes the beating/harassing only lasts for a day and then everybody cools down but it may not be the case in this tank it seems as if everybody is trying to kill your BT. How big of a tank is this?

 

[morgan]

the tank is 4 foot but not for much longer hopefully its probley no bigger then
{ fish length } that right there its not getting bashed by everyone just the damsel and clowns although they didnt seem to mind it to much just showing whos boss but the damsel was after blood
its in a containmant box now on the otgher side of the tank it is looking good except where it got nipped i want to remove the damsel preferbly with out movig too much stuff as theres quiet a bit of corals
still no one has said if i could keep it with the lunar warasse or not thank for everyones replys didnt thionk there would be so many so fast

 

[shallowreef]

I think it might be okay with the wrasse but i'm not 100% sure. I would say you could try it and see what kind of response you get.

 

[morgan]

well we have feed the wrasse live food but i think it would lnpw the differnce between f/wfish an saltwater fish
if the wrasse wants it he will hit it hard and if it killed it that 66 bucks gone

 

[Scooterman]

Damsels are forever!

Oh sorry wrong quote, I think I wouldn't trust the damsel, anything close to its size will be a target. JMO no experience on this particular Wrasse.

 

[shallowreef]

Well i don't know what to tell you Morgan. It seems your in a real situation here. I would ditch the damsel in all honesty. I mean they can be very territorial towards other tankmates, and i hear that they are a real pain to try and catch. Thats why i always stayed away from them.

 

[ronj]

you could put the damsel in a smaller tank for a while...my first blue tang has almost doubled in size and i haven' t had it that long...you could try putting the damsel back in after the tang is bigger....or you could try to teach your tang to use its caudel spike!!!!!

 

[morgan]

i acuired my tank 2nd hand and the damsel was not one of my choice fish so putting it in anoither tank is not a problem i just knew i should have caought it when ihad the chance to couple months ago but i will try might invest in a trap box maybe?

 

[ronj]

here is a link that might help you catch it, although the hook idea doesn't seem very good to me....just my opinion!
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-06/sp/index.php

 

[steve-s]

Regal or Atlantic?

If the only issue is the damsel, I would move the damsel to the tank with the wrasse or a different tank altogether (return it?). Either fish can be moved over, the wrasse will most likely ignore the tang (you have not indicated it's size) but the wrasse may snack on the damsel. Lunare wrasses are still quite playful at that size. I wouldn't be surprised if the tang followed the wrasse around eventually. They do tend to be like little lost puppy dogs even when full grown if a Regal.

In any event, the damsel will do this with any/all additions you make to this tank so that's something to consider. The blue tang will also be doing it in about 8-12 months.

Cheers
Steve

 

[ronj]

if it a regal, and you don't want it, i will gladly keep it for you!!!

 

[morgan]

its the one in ur pick
the damsel didnt attack a scooter blenny i added i think its cause there the same clours its in a containment box old toy cage with netting on it , the wrasse is 3 1/2 inches long i could put the tang in there but would rather put the damsel in there if i can catch it taking the display down is not an option to much coral to move no enough places to put it

 

[morgan]

ow an ronj if u want it u got to come to australia mate ill post a pick of this little feller

 

[morgan]

the length between the bars on the cage is 1.5cm across which makes the tang about 2 cm 2.5 max and the wrasse is 9 so i dont know if he would be a snack??

 

[steve-s]

The thing you need to worry about the wrasse is; will it see the tang as a threat, a playmate or ignore it. The latter being preferable and most likely but at 1", the tang is too young to play with a wrasse and too risky. It won't see the Regal (any tang) as a threat. Regals are not the most co-ordinated or strong swimmers at that size either.

I would seriously consider removing the damsel.

Cheers
Steve

 

[alison]

If you remove the damsel, I would worry about the wrasse. Perhaps even adding a thing or two to the landscape of your tank would help in the territorial aspect. (Live rock, etc.) Try creating a space away from the clowns so the tang can hide. You could probably re-introduce the damsel after the tang is bigger.