Hello Leebca (HELP!)

[Fxdupcobra]

It's been a long time Leebca, but I needed your expertise once again. Please read below and tell me what you think.

Thanks!

I just added my Regal fish into my display and my powder blue keeps attacking it and now he is swimming up and down along the aquarium glass. I have turned off all the lights and acclimated him properly. I just dont know what to do to stop him from getting attacked. I added some extra aquarium decor to try to change the environment a little and it has helped but he is still comming close to him and possibly planning his next attack. Any suggestions?

[leebca]

WELCOME TO REEFLAND

It looks like you found my new 'hiding place.'

Some of your situation is a bit unclear. Is it a Regal Tang? (Hippo?) that the Powder Blue is attacking? I'd think that the most likely scenario.

If the aquarium is under 180 gallons, the Powder Blue will not be inclined to now share it's space. General order of introduction is: docile tangs first, medium tangs next, then finally the assertive/aggressive tangs last.

That would mean:
Convict and Regal Tang
Kole, Naso
Powder brown and blue
Desjardini and Chevron
Clown and Sohol

In fact, in a community tank the Clown and Sohol should be the last of almost any fish added.

Sometimes a fish will attack another fish for only a week or two and then lay off. During this time if the two fish will 'tolerate' each other, both fish will eat. That is, neither fish tries to keep the other fish from eating.

If the scenario here is that one fish is trying to keep the other fish from eating, then you have a major problem. This behavior usually results in the subordinate fish hanging around the edge of the aquarium and/or near the top corner, and of course, not eating at meal time.

If you think you are in this last group of situations, then the Powder Blue will recognize the Regal Tang for what it is. By this I mean that changing decor will not change the behavior. It's a 'fish thing' not a strict territorial thing. If the tank isn't 180 or larger, there is little hope for the subordinate fish.

Best to find a new home for one or the other (or, of course, both!). If you still want to have these two kinds of fishes together and the tank is 180 or larger, then remove the Powder Blue and find it a new home. Buy a new Powder Blue, put it through quarantine and then put it into the tank with the established Regal Tang. These two should then get along.

Part of fish behavior is more than just territory -- it can be a matter of hording resources. That is, if the foods you feed are marginally nutritious or in insufficient quantity and frequency, the fish of the same/similar Genus will fight each other. It's the same for space. If your tank is too small for these tangs, they will feel a space shortage -- a space stress -- from a lack of the 'space resource.' This is a competition for resources. But when there is an excess of the correct resources, this factor is significantly reduced and what may even be enemies in nature, will tolerate each other.

In my 300 gallon tank (as far as tang and tang-likes go) I have:
Desjardini
Powder Blue
Powder Brown
Naso
Chevron
Regal
Foxface
Convict
Clown

They are all together. They 'posture' with one another sometimes and you can read how my Clown and Convict started off in this thread: Fish Antics - "It's MY Algae Clip!"

But they don't fight. Two may occasionally 'argue' but no one gets hurt and they will usually break off to each go chase the lowest fish in the pecking order -- one of my Butterflyfish.

The point to this is that they get fed TWICE daily algae on the clip, and three times daily frozen foods. Food frequency/availability is not an issue with them AND they get all the nutrition they need. AND space is ample. This negates a resource issue.

Each addition to the tank had to learn this for itself, like the Clown Tang in the above post.

One suggestion is to overfeed and feed very frequently for a couple of weeks. But this approach works best starting before the new arrival shows up. Some acclimation procedures that don't use a quarantine tank suggest you feed the other fish before you acclimate the new fish. The feeding has a way to let the fish know or understand that their resources are not diminishing with the new arrival.

If you really still want to try to keep these two particular fish together, you can remove the Powder Blue to a quarantine tank for three weeks. Rearrange the decor in the display tank as soon as it is taken out; let the other fish settle in; overfeed the Powder Blue and try to put the Powder Blue back into the rearranged display. I've only seen this work after the things you wrote was tried, about 10% of the time. It seems that once a fish 'has it in' for another fish, time apart and decor rearrangement doesn't count for much.

Sorry I don't have any better suggestions to give on this one.

[Fxdupcobra]

Hello Leebca, glad to hear from you again. I read everything you said. I really don’t want to get rid of either fish (I know this is selfish of me). I quarantined both fish for 6 weeks I really don’t want to get rid of a perfectly healthy fish. I have put a mirror in front of fish tank and the powder blue is going crazy in front of it. I am thinking this will keep him distracted. The Regals fins are nipped and he is breathing hard. I just fed all of them and they all ate. I don’t see the powder blue trying to keep from the regal getting food. They all ate fine. At this time the regal is ok in a new hiding place but if the abuse continues I believe I will take the powder blue out and put him in the quarantine tank for 3 weeks as you suggested. What are the chances that they will come to peace if they are both eating (guessimation)?

As always, thank you!

[leebca]

I think that if competition can be lowered then what you're left with is a personality clash. It seems like the competition factor is more important to the Powder Blue than personality. If that is the case, then the separation, rearrangement, feeding the optimal foods, frequency and providing optimal nutrition (according to: Feeding Marine Fish and Fish Nutrition) will give you a 50/50 chance they'll settle down to 'tolerate' each other, from what you've written so far.