Sailfin Tang and Regal Angel

ConstantNRG · 08-09-2006, 07:15 PM

Need some help from everyone once again. I replaced my aggresive threadfin butterfly who was picking at my feather duster today. I replaced him with a beautiful regal angel. Now my only problem is that it looks like the sailfin tang is not happy with the regal angel. He charges up to him and then tries to bump his tail into him. Is this something that i should be concerned about? did i screw up again by adding this angel? Should i rearrange to break territories? HELP PLEASE

Booboo33062 · 08-09-2006, 07:28 PM

I just read in my fish book that they require at least a 100 gal. tank. They will nip at large polyped stony corals and some soft coral. (hope you don't have any xenias, the book said they like to nip at them) If they have an orange rather than blue chest they are more likely to adapt to captivity. It didn't say anything about how it would adapt to tank mates. The book did say that this fish does not acclimate to the home aquarium well and often refuses to eat, That is my two cents worth.

Twitterbait · 08-09-2006, 07:47 PM

All else aside, if you keep him i would rearrange right away. time to change the boundries. what are your tanks stats including size, filtration, and corals?

ConstantNRG · 08-09-2006, 08:20 PM

its a 55g, live sand, lace rock, live rock, bubble tip anemone, 2 feather dusters, 2 clowns, royal gramma, snails, spotted toby puffer, sailfin tang, emerald crabs.

I am going to try to rearrange the rocks by where they are fighting, and hope that it solves the problem a little bit. I think it migh also be because they both look similar in shape, so they might confuse them with their own species.

I'll let you know how it all works out in a few,

jim

partobe · 08-09-2006, 08:32 PM

I think you if rearrange the rocks that should help allot. Also when you add new fish I find it helps to turn the lights off then rearrange the rocks leave the lights off for the rest of that day. I also like to feed the fish in the tank right before I release the new fish. I find fish fight less on a full belly

Twitterbait · 08-09-2006, 08:53 PM

Houston we have a problem! Your tank is waaaayyyyyy overstocked. I would worry about putting that much in a tank twice that size. I would recommend that you look at returning the angel for sure and you may want to look at moving the tang and/or the puffer too. your gonna have room issues with that small of a tank.

ConstantNRG · 08-09-2006, 09:21 PM

so heres the update. I moved the rocks around and so far no more fighting. The regal is still a little shy, but i expect that because he is new.

As far as the overstocking goes, i am pretty sure that everyone should be fine. All of the fish are very small, and there is a lot of open space for swimming. There is not a lot of rock in the tank, i would say less than 1/3, but enough to create ample hiding places. Eventually i am sure that there will be a problem, but i'll cross that bridge when i come to it.

I'm going to give these fish the night, and hope for the best. If in the morning, the regal has nipped fins, or cuts, i'll have to give him back. In the mean time, lets hope for the best!

Jim

ConstantNRG · 08-09-2006, 10:22 PM

so maybe i was wrong, it appears i still do have a problem. The regal is still hiding in his spot, but now the tang sneaks in as well to fight with the regal. The dilema is: Do i keep the fun and perky tang, or the shy but beautiful regal?

Anyone have any pointers on which fish would do better?

and btw, i had to take out the spotted toby puffer that the guy at the LFS told me would do fine with the inverts in my tank, because he already killed and ate one snail, and ripped half the crown off of one of my dusters.

I hope eventually this tank will settle down. This is becoming frustrating.

dobejazz · 08-09-2006, 10:39 PM

Sailfins are bullys and it's recommended that you add them last

VWD · 08-09-2006, 11:58 PM

I think that sometimes we jump the gun when fish are added to the tank, Sometimes it is best to let them work it out, I'm not saying let one kill the other, But most tanks have a pecking order that they work out on themself. But at the same time it is even more so in a smaller tank with alot of fish in it, Turn the lights out and let the new guy adjust to the new tank and then see how whats happens.JMO

afbengochea · 08-10-2006, 12:34 AM

im with you vince, I recently put in a fish in my tank and my angel and tang were picking on him for about a day or so. I just let them be and let them get used to eachother. It like a gang in my tank and the new guy has to go through initiation

ShirleyM · 08-10-2006, 06:35 AM

Ditto what Twitterbait and Vince said.

We have a 120-gal tank... 4ft long is minimum standard for tangs... they SWIM hard and fast in the ocean... if you ever snorkeled and watched tangs, you'd all but feel guilty for keeping them (I did/do) b/c they are such magnificent long-distance swimmers.

Anyhow... we have a Regal and a Sailfin. (See my video posted yesterday in this forum) they are very peacefull together NOW but the Sailfin is the dominant fish of the entire tank. He'll slap the Regal if he gets too close sometimes, but nothing major now. The Regal was there first, as a 50-cent piece size fish. The Sailfin came much later as a larger fish. It's often risky keeping two tangs, but especially so in a smaller tank such as yours.

We we downsized from two tanks to one about 3 weeks ago, we really wanted to keep our Naso tang - large beautiful peaceful fish - from our FO/LR tank. We opted not to... it would have overloaded the 120 (we had 6 fish in there at the time) and caused huge problems most likely with the other two tangs. He lives in a 180 tank now with Jeff/junkzoo and is very happy there.

There's just not enough "territory" in the 120 for three, and hardly for two.

You can wait and they will likely work it out unless they just can't find territory. Then the Regal may become stressed to the point of an ich outbreak. Maybe.

Puffers are not reef safe. They eat all sorts of reef corals/inverts. They also create substantial waste, depending on the species/size you have.

Tangs grow large and fairly quickly... relatively speaking. To say they fit now is just not going to be the case in a few months. I don't mean to sound negative... just to save you the heartache and possible loss/problems later.

Keep an eye on nitrite/ammonia levels weekly if you keep them or if you keep lots of fish in the tank. When it spikes, it can be rather sudden, and then you have gasping fish and likely losses.

Hang in there -- and good luck!

ShirleyM · 08-10-2006, 06:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ConstantNRG

...that the guy at the LFS told me would do fine with the inverts in my tank, because he already killed and ate one snail, and ripped half the crown off of one of my dusters.
...

Just reread your post... that's a shame. It's well-known puffers are not reef safe. I would recommend a nice book on reef fish or research on the net before believing the LFS guy. He should have known better. But, if he was just an employee he may not know much of anything other than he needed a job, or he likes fish. I'm sure he meant well... he just doesn't know enough to be making recommendations. You might politely enlighten him.

skeety · 08-10-2006, 11:22 AM

Shriley...EXCELLENT post! Very true, very heartfelt, and very nicely put.

ShirleyM · 08-10-2006, 12:19 PM

Thanks!

I think we all just do the best we can, whoever we are and whatever we do... and we never stop learning -- and we can't know it all -