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I have a 55 gallon FOWLR tank that was established last July. The first fish I added to the tank included a yellow tang, an orange clownfish, and a chocolate chip starfish. All are still thriving, so today I added a lawnmower blenny and a flame angel. Shortly after release into the tank my yellow tang started chasing the flame angel and batting him with his tail.

Is this a normal display of territorial rights playing out or something I should be concerned about?

I thought about placing the yellow tang in a container within the tank until the flame angel settles in, but I'm not sure if this would be my best move.

Looking for some advice from veteran saltwater hobbists.

Not a vet but the Tang should have been put in last.Can you move him to another tank for awhile or move the rock work to confuse his territory? The tail whipping is the Tang trying to do surgery with its scalple!

Tangs are generally aggressive to fish added to the tank after them, especially if the body shape is at all similar.

It could end after a few days, but you could also have more long term problems.

By "more long term problems" are you referring to trying to add new fish in the future with the yellow tang remaining in the tank?

Really I was just refering to the Tang constant harassing the new fish. Worst case it killing the new fish.

And here I was worried about the Flame Angel being aggressive.

I removed the yellow tang from the tank to keep him from harming the new fish.

With my yellow tang now gone, any suggestions for a replacement fish or two?

One way around it could have been this.

[1] Set up quarantine aquarium (although you should already have one - naughty naughty if you don't!)

[2] Put Yellow Tang in there for a few days.

[3] Rearrange decor in main aquarium.

[4] Reintroduce Yellow Tang as last occupant.

I know that prices of some marine fish make the policy difficult to implement in practice with some fish species, but if you can obtain ALL your aquarium occupants in one go, it solves quite a few hassles later on. Oh, and you'll find that this problem becomes acute if you have Premnas biaculeatus, the Spine Cheek Maroon Clownfish, in your set up. Put it in as the first fish, and it's practically hyperdominant, picking on everything else that moves, even fish larger than itself. Put it in last, and you hardly ever see it as it cowers and hides from the other fish.

Another reason why it'll be a long time before I can keep marines. Sigh.



Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Yes, My yellow tang was placed in my quarantine tank upon removal. He looks so miserable in that smaller tank that I've decided to give the suggestions here a try. I moved some of my live rock around in the tank today and will try to later reintroduce the Tang again.

This is my first saltwater tank and I was trying to go by all of the reading that I did before set up which seemed to indicate that you introduce a few fish at a time. Nowhere did I read that Tangs are aggressive to the point where I should introduce them last. Lesson learned

Last edited by PeaceB2U at 26-Nov-2004 13:08

Hey Peace,
Don't worry.... You are doing the right thing...Don't worry about what fish you "should" have introduced first. You have had your tank going around 5 months now so you are doing very good. You are just adding another fish is all. Plans for yours/mine tank change over time and everyone else here will have to deal with the fact that what we want in our tanks will change with time. So the only question is.... How do I add a new fish without them hurting/killing one another?

Your best bet is to put the tang in the "Q" tank and totally re-arrange ALL the Live Rock. I know this is stressfull to the tank but it's better than having your flame angle killed by a territorial tang.

I would rearange it all, let everything settle for about 24 hours and then re-introduce my tang after the angel has been in the tank the entire time. This will be like a "brand new tank" for your tang (and everything else as well) and they should get along better after that.

Please let us know what happens.

Last edited by razz at 29-Nov-2004 04:28

Rearranging the rock in my tank seemed to confuse my yellow tang and really did the trick. The aggression stopped and the two even began eating food side by side. I was very excited that everything seemed to be going great.

Then this morning I woke up to find my flame angel hanging out near the top of the tank with labored breathing. I placed him in my quarantine tank, but I'm sorry to say that he didn't make it through the day.

I'm really starting to get discouraged. I've tried doing everything "by the book". I started my 55 gallon tank with live rock and live sand for a couple of weeks in July. The three fish (orange clown, chocolate chip starfish, yellow tang) and cleanup crew (hermits & snails) that I added to my tank initially in August are still doing great. I do 8 gallon water changes once a week. I clean the skimmer collection cup out every other day. I maintain an 80 degree temperature, a PH of 8.2, and a 1.021 salinity. I check ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite levels which are registering zero. Yet every time I try a new addition to my tank it ends up dying. I don't want to keep killing fish, and can't figure out why I'm failing.



Last edited by PeaceB2U at 06-Dec-2004 16:28

For the time being, I'd back off on Flame Angels. Or Angels of any kind. Even though your Flame Angel survived for a time, Angels are not usually recommended as "Beginner's Marines" - some of them are delicate and need LOTS of TLC. Even the hardier ones can deliver woes, as you've just found out to your cost (and considerable cost at that if your Flame Angel was as pricey as the ones we get here in the UK).

If you're looking for something fairly robust and feisty, try a Strawberry Gramma. Small, but packs a lot of fire and personality in a small (and almost neon-glowing) package! Scientific name Pseudochromis porphyreus.

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002