agressive yellow tang

[senior]

hello,

I am NEW to this so please bear with me...anyway, we have a 50gl FOWLR tank (since the beginning of Nov 07) and in it we have a yellow tang, serpent sea star, flamehawk, zebra moray eel and a maroon clown.

the yellow tang is so agressive. along witht the flamehawk, and the eel, it (the tang) was first in the tank. We added a butterfly - the tang stressed it out and it died in about 4 days. We added a blue regal- tang stressed it out and it died - maybe the tang or a water change - moth sure but it died after 2 weeks. Then everyone was happy and we added the Maroon and yellow clow - tank raised - 6 years old. all was cool until today - all of a sudden the tang is nipping its fins acting territorial - we are so confused. They have been in there together for about a month now. Whats the deal.

We set up another 50gl FO tank and have let it cycle and since we love the clown - we moved the tang to the new tank- was this cool? We do want to add to this tank obviously but now we are afraid that it will bully anything we put in with it. Its by itself right now.

Please help anyone....

sincerely,
senior's wife

[mitcore]

sorry to hear about the agression, congrats though it seems you have done a great job on raising and caring for your fish

i dont know about yellow tangs sorry i wanted to say congrats for your well managed tank,

can you post pics

[Drumachine09]

I'm going to move this to the saltwater section, as you will get better answers there.

[~Erik3.8.07~]

i think tangs get more aggrssive the older they get but im not sure, i would try adding fish that could hold their own against him like some angelfish

[senior]

thank you Mitcore - we are learning and ENJOYING our new hobby. as soon as i get the hang of this forum i will have my hubby add some pics.

thanks drumachine and erik. i look forward to more info.

[cocoa_pleco]

weird, my tank only fights when someone bugs him.

is he getting enough good food? ive heard that some tanks need airstone and some need more algae in their diet. i give my tang pellets, algae, and dried seaweed.

dont feel bad, LOTS of people have trouble with their first tangs, mine caught ick 3 times when i first got him, now all is good

[Fish Whisperer]

Tangs can be aggressive, especially when they are the first inhabitants and have established territory. You could try leaving him out for a while & move the rock around to change the territory and add him back afterwards.
If this doesn't help (and I'm afraid it won't) the best bet would be to trade for another-perhaps smaller. The bigger the tang, the more aggressive it will be.

[Tigerbarb]

Ever tried getting another yellow tang of the same size as the tang's tank mate?