[Mman]

I just bought a powder blue tang out of impulse and realise that it is ich-magnet .... ...

furthermore i have a powder brown in my current tank .. OMG ...

I now place the powderblue in a fish trap in my tank ,, and i can see that the powderbrown aggression towards it .....

Should i release the PBT ?
What is the best way to introduce new tangs to the tank where there are already old residents .... ) got a YT,SFT,PBrownT currently ....

how to release the newcomer ....

[zhenya]

What is the size of your tank?
In my hamble opinion, I think you may have chosen wrong species of Surgeonfish to add to your tank, simply becouse you already have similar species tang already established in yur tank. Unless your tank is in the 400-500 gallons range you will definately have problems releasing your new fish.
If you have large tank, I think the best way to release new fish would be to turn off all the lights and feed established fish well prior to that. When lights are off, you can slowly release your new fish but I think it may not help all that much with agression. If you have quarantine tank, you may place your powder brown tang in it and let the newcomer establish its territory first and then release your old fish back in the dispay tank.
However, I would take one of them back to the store, personally.

[charlie]

I think Gene is right on here!! You are gonna see plenty of aggression. What size tank do you have?

[Mman]

My tank size is 5x2x2.5(feet) .

Hi Zhenya, by taking out the powder brown and introduce Powderblue , then back the powerbrown, will the aggression be less? cos my powerblue is bigger then the brown .

I checked with my LFS , they told me to let the powderblue in the fishtrap and monitor the Brown aggression towards it . let it be there for 1 - 2 weeks ... will this really help ?

I do not have a quarantine Tank .

I think worse come to worse might give the fish away .... : (

[blue_eyes53813]

What kind of fish trap are we talking about? I put my yellow tang in one because I got mad at it. It was in there for about an hour and it started breathing funny and laying on its side. make sure the trap gets neough air and water flow. It might help to take the brown out but I would leave it in a quaratine tank for a day or two and rearrange some rock work while it is out. How much rock or hiding places do you have for the blue tang to hide?

[Mman]

Oh to clarify , i am not too sure is it call a fish trap .. basically it is a floating acrylic container with both side sliding door and the doors and floor of the container is with many drilled holes ... I am quite sure there is enough flow and water is not stagnant in there . : )
I have about 50-60kg(if correct) of liverock in there , yes there are quite a numbers of hiding places . ..
What i am afraid is , if at the later stage when the brown is been introduce back to the main tank , will it be another way round ? Blue chasing brown ...

Thanks ...

[zhenya]

Mman,

Here's my honest thoughts on your situation, and please don't take this personally or as an attempt to start any negative comments on your thread, far from it.

The most important thing I would like to say first is that no one can give you any guarantees as to how any of the fish will behave. All the advices that were given to you are good and may work or may not.

Secondly, I think your tank is way too small to house this many Surgeonfishes. As you know, they require a lot of room due to them being extrememly active swimmers and need a lot of rock/substrate that they may graze( which they like to do almost constantly).

And lastly, to answer your question about possibility of reversing roles and agression to resume.It may happen and it may not. By removing established resident for couple of days you give a chance for the newcomer to establish itself and perhaps watch if it accepts food or not. Letting the newcomer float for a while in some sort of container(which I saw in the stores a lot) may help as well.

In conclusion, I like to reiterate my point that housing four Surgeonfishes in a 5' tank may be a problem in the long run as fish matures and grows, even if it seems like your new aquisition suvived and doing well. So, I would suggest that you make your choice on which of this fish you would love to keep and sell/trade the rest. Just my honest opinion, I must add.

[Mman]

Hi Gene ,

I do agree with you ...

No problem since i am here to learn and accquire more knowledge to this hobby, i take all comments as positive and good advice ... but not blindly

Ya i do think that my tank is abit of small if the fishes grow ....

Howver i have decided ... since the powder Blue is a know ich-magnet , i have decided to pass it to a friend who have currently no tangs in his tank.
I have to let go this beauty ...: (

Thanks for all who have given me advices ... : )

[hrdneglcry]

Hi. If the Powder Blue Tangs get Ich, what is a good medicine that will not screw up the Bio-filter. Anybody have an opinion on housing PBT with Sailfin Tangs? Oh, and is a Powder Blue Tnag meaner than a Niger Triggerfish, or a Picasso Triggerfish?

[The R/C Man]

Unfortunately I do not have access to my Coral magazine collection while I am deployed or I could look this up for us. One of last years articles covered Surgeonfish and if memory serves me right, these tangs are specifically aggressive towards similar species especially the browns..... Maybe some quick research should be in order.

This could be a lesson learned for all. I have impulse purchased fish without researching them first for compatibility and have had some problems with aggression, although not with such dramatic results. Another recommendation is for people to base there tanks on a biotope which will help (not eliminate) unnatural behavoir in our mini ecosystems....

You may need to return it to the fish store or find another aquarist to take it off your hands..... Good Luck!