purple and kole tang togther

[Ross]

I have a 84g tank with 85lbs lr and i want to get a purple and a kole tang. I will also have a flame angel, along with 2 percs, 1 royal gramma, and 1 firefish. Do you think the tangs and angel would get along or would they constantly be fighting. The tank is 6ft long BTW.

[Instar]

What is making you think that the tangs would really be all that interested in the angel? Tangs, especially the purple guy need to go in last.

[Henry]

The Kole and purple should be okay, but that Purple will need to go in last as Larry said. They are pretty mean little buggers. The only reason I can see the tang going after an angel is if their shapes & size are very similar. I was over at Aquatic Warehouse, they had small purple tangs for sale (cheap) I don't remember the price. The also had a beautiful Kole(yellow eye) for under $20(I think) I would have brought this one home, but three tangs is enough for me.

[Ross]

Thanks guys

The reason i was worried about the angel and kole tang is because they are the same body shape. I thought they might get a little territorial.

I saw those small purple tangs over there too. Most of them had a really bad case of HLLE. I also saw the small kole tang. He was really cool. I am getting my flame angel tomorow!

[GaryP]

For some reason my yello tang follows my coral beauty around like a puppy dog. The coral beauty is pretty shy and I think is somewhat itimidated by the yellow tang. I have not seen any aggressive behavior by the tang. The only bad part of this behavior is that the tang is such an aggressive feeder, and the angel so shy, that it gets scared off when I try to feed.

[Henry]

Gary My yellow tang follows my sailfin tang aroung all day. Its like watching follow the leader. Funny to say the least.

[Ross]

Hey guys

I just got an awesome flame angel and kole tang from aquatic warehouse. Both were eating great and the flame angel has starting eating after being in the new q-tine for only about 15 minutes. The kole tang is being very territorial though. He is constantly picking on the flame angel so i had to section the tank in half. The tank is a 10g BTW. Do you think the kole will get use to the flame angel? I would really like to take the divider out but i'm afraid the kole will keep being mean.

[Ross]

Oh yea, the flame angel is about half an inch bigger than the kole tang.

[GaryP]

Henry, that makes since to me since they are both surgeons and have the same body shape. I have always heard that you don't want to put surgeons in a tank together unless they go in at the same time, before one has established its territory.

I've seen war between a yellow and a sailfin. Its actually fun to watch, they slap tails at each other. They try to cut each other with that little protruding bone at the base of their tail. I think that is the basis of why they are called surgeons.

Gary

[kaiser]

Ross leave the divider in for now. When You put them in Your show tank they have more room that should take care of the fighting. They are probably just crammed.

[Ross]

Thanks kaiser

I think they will do much better in the big tank where they can have there own territories.

[shellback]

Was at the wharehouse today they got in a shipment Mon. the fish they had were very nice was there at 4:00 and first in door picked up a blk/wht. clown 14.00 and a panther grouper for 19.00 both are eating and swimming wonderfully.

[denniss]

Ross
I was in aquatic warehouse the same time you were and my naso tang is also going great.

[kaiser]

Darn, ther wer the 3 of us at the same place and didn't even now it. I was at AW at about 4 pm myself and picked me up a nice Flame Angel.

[Henry]

denniss, Welcome to MAAST!!!!!!!!!!!

Ross, I second leaving the divider in. They should be ok in the larger tank. Congrats on having the q-tank, not many of us (me) take the time to set one up.

[denniss]

Im only in my 7th week of my reef tank.Maybe in a couple of months when I learn more and dont feel stupid about this hobby a will see you all at one of the meetings.

[Ross]

LOL!!!
Shellback i didn't know your were a maast member. I saw you there but i didn't introduce myself because i had never seen you at any of the meetings.

Denniss-Welcome to maast!!! I don't remember seeing you but ohh well.

Kaiser-did u end up getting one of those big ones from the bottom left tank. Mine has already started eating stuff off the bottom!!!

I also met Adam RS80. Really nice guy.

[Ross]

Here he is. :D 8)

[shellback]

Kaiser if you say a guy running aroung with 4 kids it was me (1 was't mine) I was the first in the door. As for the Kole Tang it almost went home with me but I stopped still have a couple of fish to go before tangs.

[kaiser]

I was the short fellow with 1 kid in tow.

[shellback]

Was it a girl

[kaiser]

Yep

[shellback]

remember seeing you just didnt relize it was you. Force of habit see all kids but dont realize who the parent is use to watching out for mine.

[kaiser]

I know what You mean. Looked like You had Your hands full.

[Ross]

Whew!!!!! I feel lucky!!

He looks really good. I'm surprised they had him for like 2 weeks.

[OrionN]

......a panther grouper for 19.00 both are eating and swimming wonderfully.
Panther grouper is a fish best leave in the Ocean. A cute baby turn into an ugly, big and mean adult. 1 year and the fish store don't even want him back. It is beat if you bring him back now for full refund or credit.
Minh

[Ross]

The fish are pretty stressed in the q-tine. I have been watching them all morining and last night. They are wanting to swim alot i can tell. Would it be a really bad idea to just go ahead and put them in the big tank.

[kaiser]

Do You have anything in the QT where the fish can hide under or between? That may calm them down.

[GaryP]

If you decide to take anything out of the QT I would suggest the flame angel and leave the tang in for a while longer. If one was going to be sick, my bet is on the tang. BTW, I'm not sure if you know this, but AW runs copper in their fish tanks. I seem to recall that copper only works on one stage in cryptocaryon's life cycle (the free swimming stage. I think).

Gary

[Ross]

Thanks for all the help.

I put the angel in the big tank and he is very happy!!!! After about 15minutes he started swimming and hasn't stopped since. He has even nipped at the live rock already.

[Ross]

Now i am worried about the tang in the 10g. He is VERY unhappy. He is constantly swimming along the back glass then he stops and sits on the bottom then he swims along the back glass some more. What should i do?

[GaryP]

That sounds like a typical Tang to me. Most tang's are a bit hyper and definitely high metabolism fish. If one of mine stopped moving I would suspect something was wrong rather than not moving.

Gary

[kaiser]

For a tang a 20 L would be a better tank for a QT, but hey we ain't made of money, so he'll have to hang in there for now.

[Ross]

Well there is nothing wrong with him that i can tell. He has no ich or popeye or torn fins or anything. I'm know some of you guys saw him at the store and he was doing great. I think it is just stress. Any suggestions.

[matt]

FWIW, I bought a purple tang at AW and it was fairly parasite infested when I got it into my reef tank. It could have been brought on by the move to my tank. After 3-4 days it looks alot better, and it appears like my other fish have not suffered anything. I think the copper q-tine is a good idea, but the fish need to stay in quarantine for a few weeks, not a few days. Maybe 2 weeks in copper, 2 weeks out of copper, would be ideal. I'm pretty sure AW will do something like this when they get their full quarantine set up going. Also, I was at CB pets the other day and they're setting up a nice quarantine system as well. Oh yeah, as a sure sign of great customer service, the owner of AW offered to take back the fish and re-quarantine for a while, even loaned me a DIY fish trap to catch it. As it turns out, I couldn't catch the fish and it improved quickly, so I'm leaving everything alone.

I always had lousy luck with my 10 gal quarantine/hospital tank. I was always trying to get copper going in it, and could never keep copper levels up and ammonia down. Copper kills the biofilter. At AS&S, Ken told me that their biofilters had built up some strains of bacteria resistant to copper, plus the size of the system helped. Maybe UV sterilization and the occasional fresh water dip might be better treatment than copper in a small quarantine/hospital tank. Anybody have an opinion on this?

[Ross]

Well the tang is doing much better he even ate a little bit.

But now i'm worried about the angel. It looks like he scraped his face in a couple places. Below his left eye and above his right eye.

[Ross]

Heres the best pic i could get.

[Ross]

He is still constantly simming and picking stuff of the live rock. He has about 4 or 5 tiny white spots on each side. You can barely see them.

[Ross]

Ok well i took the angel out and put him in qtine again. Now he is fighting with the tang again. Gosh this is frustrating. I guess i need to find another qtine for the tang. Does anyone know if AW will qtine him or does someone is SA not using there qtine right now. Any help would be very appreciated. How should i treat the angel if he does have ick?

[Instar]

Personally I would have left the angel alone in the big tank. Little abrasions come and go as do the lymphocytic nodes. You can see junk, spots, scrapes, etc. in the mucous of any fish from time to time when the light hits them right, esp. right after moving them from one tank to another. All that fighting is going to cause abrasions so when you move him back into the show tank, the same thing is going to happen again.

On another note, I got 4 fish from AW and dropped them right into my show tank. 2 little hippo tangs and 2 little pink anthias. Got the pink guys b/c he was having trouble getting them to eat, I think. They are a pain to feed. Won't even eat cyclop-eeze! But all 4 fish are eating, no signs of any diseases and doing great! (BTW: I really don't encourage anyone to skip the QT. It does need to be big enough, with enough cover, etc.)

[GaryP]

Just a thought, but the stress of being confined in a small tank with the tang and being moved again may be worse than the small bit of ich. Most authorities say that ich can be brought on by stress. Is there anything in the QT to treat ich?

Gary

[DeletedAccount]

I have never personally treated the ich with anything other than cleaner shrimp and a neon goby. Especially when it is stress induced and mild. Never lost a fish to ich, yet. Many of the treatments seem to stress the fish worse than the ich does.

[GaryP]

Misti, I'm glad you mentioned cleaner shrimp and the neons. I was going to in my post and forgot to.

Gary

[Ross]

Thanks for the help

Beth at swf.com said it definetly looked like a parasite. I sure hope not. I'm gonna get a couple cleaner shrimp but i can't afford them right now.

[Ross]

Hey guys you are never gonna guess what happended today.

My kole tang died. I know it was the stress of being in a small tank. He was eating this morning. Man when i walked in my room just a minute ago and didn't see the tang swimmig around i just felt sick to my stomach. I know it was my fault. The angel is doing ok and i just put him in the big tank. This is the first(and only) fish that i am going to lose. Ohh well theres nothing i can do now....

[Jenn]

Man Ross, after all that...Sorry :( How is the angel?

[Ross]

Thanks Jenn

The angel is doing good. I am going to get a cleaner shrimp today just so i won't have to worry about ich.

[robertpower3]

Ross
I don't tjink the cleaner shrimp will help out to much. My fish get a few spots of ich some times when I add them to my tank and it usually goes away on it's own. When I added the two flames I got from Jim Norris they looked great the first day and then they got some spots of ich the second day and now they are great. I think it is just from stress. Just make sure all your parameters are good and there is no unnecessary stress. Just my 2 cents

[shellback]

Sorry to hear about the kole, but things do happen and we learn from them. Hopefully your flame will feel much better soon.

Chuck

[Ross]

Thanks guys

The flame is doing pretty good. He is very happy in the big tank and loves to just swim across the whole thing. He is always picking at the live rock. The only problem is that he hasn't started eating seaweed sheets. He will eat flakes and my home made fish food but he won't touch the sheets. I really need to get him to start eating some seaweed. Maybe i should try seaweed flakes? I am already soaking them in garlic.