Foxface vs. Purple Tang: Venom Question...

[JennM]

Hi all,

Added a Foxface to the show tank today, predictably the Purple Tang was NOT impressed He appears to have been stung once or twice by the Foxface, and has white lacerations on his lips and one on his body.

Should I leave well enough alone, or should I intervene? The Purple is behaving normally otherwise, and has decided to permit the Foxface to stay

Any experience/suggestions/advice welcome

Jenn

[RWD]

WOW I've had both of those fish in my tank for years and had no problems. In my experience foxface are very docile and won't bother any other fish. My guess is the tang ran into him. All you really can do is watch and see how they interact and get along.

[Alice]

Hehe.....that purple got more than he bargained for this time

Glad he's ok.

[JennM]

Scott took some good pictures of the lesions but we left the camera cables at home Both fish are fine (knock on wood) the tang's marks seem to be fading already. Guess he knows not to mess with the yellow dude

Both fish are munching away on algae on OPPOSITE sides of the tank!

Jenn

[Sue Truett]

JennM, I can say been there done that with the same 2 fish. I had added a foxface to my 180 and it was so peaceful with my kole tang and sailfin tang I thought this is awesome. There was never any raised fins at all with this addition. So I found a smaller foxface to add to my 120 and my purple tang thought it was a day for beating that poor little fox. up. I got so upset and was not physically able to take the tank apart to get one out. But after all afternoon of dive bombing the foxface it got better and now the foxface justs ignores this bully of a tang. It was stressful for me and stressful for the foxface but now all is well. Glad yours got over itself too.

my 180 ecosystem sps/clam tank:
http://berlinmethod.com/suet/
my 120 ecosystem sps tank:
http://suetruett.homestead.com/home.html

[tdwyatt]

Originally posted by Sue Truett
... been there done that with the same 2 fish.... ...But after all afternoon of dive bombing the foxface it got better and now the foxface justs ignores this bully of a tang....

Same experiences for me, I will be doing the same in about 3 months when the display tank is reestablished after the move ( I have decided not to replace the vertebrate losses from the ice storm until after the move). If you're doing this from ground zero, it is better to establish the Signatus spp. first, then introduce your tang. Starting with a smaller tang will minimize the aggression/territorial behavior as well.

[JennM]

Thanks Tom - and again I'm sorry about the losses you sustained.

Normally I would agree about putting in the foxface first, he was an "afterthought" introduced to help deal with some microalgae. The purple tang I originally sold when he was tiny - back when I worked in another shop. He was traded in to me in the summer, when the owner decided to downsize.

It's now 3 days later and all are getting along. I attribute this partly to the tang being long-since acclimated to aquarium life (~2 years before I got him), lots of hidey-holes and a decent sized tank

I think that's all the fish I'm going to have in there, although I *might* put in another sleeper goby. My white sleeper passed away some weeks ago, and he did such a good job with the shallow substrate, I want another one. Perhaps a diamondback.....

Jenn

[Sue Truett]

I agree that with the foxface being such docile fish and tangs, mainly purple tangs being more on the side of bully's, foxface fish should be the first introduction. My purple tang will have been with me for 5 years next month{January}. He {?} is a bully from the get go, and the foxface was due to the ease of which the other foxface went into my 180 with no one even raising fins. I should of expected the purple tang to act like this but I didn't think it would go on so long. I'm sure it was longer for me than the foxface.

my 180 ecosystem sps/clam tank:
http://berlinmethod.com/suet/
my 120 ecosystem tank:
http://suetruett.homestead.com/home.html