Purple Tang

[guitareefs]

I have a 300 gallon system and recently added a medium sized purple tang

I added the PT to the tank already housing 3 yellow tangs, a sailfin, small angels, anthias, clowns, wrasse...

The yellows i would say are medium/large and the sailfin is large. Yes, the yellows and sailfin didnt take well to the PT. They chase it all over. Luckily the PT eats really well, both meaty foods and nori. But the tangs isolate him a lot.

I should have placed the PT in my modified critter box before i placed him in the DT but didn't. Now of course i cant catch it.


If the PT continues to eat well, should it eventually be ok? It seems to hold its own well when they slap at it, he seems to fight back but eventually goes into hiding


Any other suggestions? Will they eventually leave it alone?

 

[rossco]

In my experience the hostility tapers to acceptance. Might take a week or two but if the Purple tang is still keeping active and eating I would’t worry much.

 

[mitch91175]

As @rossco mentioned, as long as he is eating well you should be fine. Once he doesn't eat well then you have to be concerned. I would say try to do this. Adding multiple nori clips in your tank. One where he hides and the other where your other fish dominate. They will likely eat from the place where they dominate and he will from where he hides. Put the clip in the dominate place first (or the side where you feed from the most), then add the other clip. Also, do you turn off your return when feeding? If so, maybe run it while feeding for a week so the food can go all over the place and have the fish chase the food. That way you PT will have a better chance of getting some before the other tangs devour all of it.

If he does get beat up too much he will be easy to catch I think. I recently introduced a Chevron to my tank and my fish beat the snoot out of it. So much so they put him in the top corner of the tank so he was easy to catch. Now I have it in a fish trap that I am nursing it back and feeding him there.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Place mirrors at the ends of the tank. The established fish will be more concerned with their reflections than with the purple.