[Otters]

I bought a flame angel, beautiful, bright in colors, and 3" in big for my 46 gallon bow which has been running for at least 4 months now. All water conditions perfect, however the next morning it was full of white spots, so I took it out the tank and placed it into a QT Tank, and all the white spots fell off the fish in 6 hours, completely all of the white spots off. And when I place the flame angel back into the tank the Yellow Tang VERY fast swims at him and turns around and makes his tail wiggle back and forth against the flame angel. Now the flame is starting to fight back a bit, any advice on how to prevent the yellow tang from attacking the flame angel.

[leebca]

Rearranging your tank decorations and live rock is about all you can do.

What you want to do is upset/change the territory the tang thinks it's defending. If the tang is unsure of the territory, which moving things around will do, it gives the Flame a chance to stake out its own claim on ground the tang doesn't recognize.

[rededteck]

Sometimes there are fish that are very terratorial. I have a yellow tang and a flame in my 220 but they do not bother each other.

The problem is your tang was there first and no matter what you do, he will protect his world.

[newatthis]

We could trade yellow tangs. All mine does is fight with his reflection

[Shells]

Originally Posted by leebca

Rearranging your tank decorations and live rock is about all you can do.

What you want to do is upset/change the territory the tang thinks it's defending. If the tang is unsure of the territory, which moving things around will do, it gives the Flame a chance to stake out its own claim on ground the tang doesn't recognize.

thats what i'd try and do. if all else fails you can try and catch him. I had
to catch my Salfin because he was harrassing my majestic angel.

[dave00gt]

if your tang is just using his tail against the angel, its not harmfull, but if he is constantly chasing the angel around and trying to take his limbs off, then you would have to take out the yellow tang and put him somewhere else for 2 weeks and re introduce him again to your tank.

[Ixthys]

Originally Posted by dave00gt

if your tang is just using his tail against the angel, its not harmfull,

dave00gt,

Are you saying the little barb just in front of the tail (on the tang) isn't dangerous to the other fish? I'd have to disagree...having been hit in my finger by it and drawing blood.

[leebca]

That 'barb' is what gave the "Surgeonfish" the 'surgeon' part of its name. It is like a scalpel, sharp and deadly to other fish. When the tang 'wags' its tail at another fish, it is warning it not to come closer. When the tang flips its tail, it is intending to kill or injure the thing it thinks is bothering it.

I always thought it was a bit amusing -- the 'cow' (herbivore) of the ocean is equipped with one of the most deadly of weapons to defend itself.