Powder Brown Tang and Lawn Mower Blenny

[pagan.n.damaged]

Okay so apparently my new Tang does not like my lawn mower blenny at all. He's picking on him and while the blenny hides I'm a little concerned. They are in a 40 hex to make sure they don't have ick and so far after a week this is the only problem. The tang was added with two black and white clowns and a eight line wrasse and then the lawn mower was added on sunday. There were no issues until today. Any suggestions????


Dani

[mikedelgado]

loose the tang . he needs more swimming room. Blennies are cool

[texasfootball21]

The tang police are about to jump you. Mikedelgado is exactly right, the tang needs more swimming room. I'm not sure if this is causing the problem, but it is defiantly not good.
Tangs need more room to swim then a hexagonal 40 gallon can provide. You will be fine for a while if he is very small, but he will outgrow it very fast and need a new home.

What are you feeding the tank and how often?

Are there any other fish?

I'm sure someone with more experience with brown powder tangs will hop in.

Good luck, sorry I couldn't be more help.



P.S. I'd be careful adding that many fish that fast. You're better off adding the fish over a longer amount of time, and giving them and the tank more time to adjust. A sudden change in the bioload for such a small tank could mean big problems.

[pagan.n.damaged]

First off, the only reason they are in the Hex is to quarantine them to make sure that they don't have ick. As the original post stated. Thats not going to be their forever home by any means. As far as size the Tang is maybe 2.5 inches. Besides the blenny the only other fish in there are a pair of mated black and white clowns who are both about an inch and half, and an eight line who's maybe about an inch and half.

My water parameters are fine, I check them every few days and we're running a skimmer and a separate filter on the tank.

As far as feeding, its flake and frozen every day and there is Nori for the tang although he isn't very interested in it.

[texasfootball21]

I apologize for jumping on you about the size of the tank.


So is the tang eating at all? I am no expert on tangs but if its not eating it can't be a good sign.

[pagan.n.damaged]

He eats the flake and the frozen but he still doesn't like the Nori. I am happy with how well he's adjusting because he came from the ocean to the store and then went home with me that same day.

I understand the concern with the size of the tank and I thought over long and hard before even putting him in the 40 hex.

[Kristy]

First off, your PBT is just establishing himself as the dominant fish in your 40 hex world.

Knowing how PBTs are famous for developing ich under stress, I'd say it's best to find a way to separate the two ASAP or you run the risk of your quarantine doing more harm than good. Since the PBT is already showing he's boss, your lawnmower would probably fair best if he gets the head start of at least a few days, but that's a judgement call that has LOTS of factors...

Did you get the two at the same time? How long until you were planning to release one into the main tank? How is their health looking so far? How long have they been in QT?

Best of luck with these two. Have heard of some isolated incidents of lawnmower blennies and tangs not getting along so great, just ask hobogato about his blue hippo's love bites! He'd probably recommend you just get rid of the lawnmower and keep the tang...

[pagan.n.damaged]

They have been in QT for a week and so far so good. I was concerned on day two cause he was rubbing himself on the glass so I've been keeping an extra good eye on him. I'm hoping to move the blenny in about 2 days into his own QT Tank.

I got them about 5 days apart, the tang first and then the blenny. I wanted to keep the blenny in QT about 3 weeks just to make sure but I'm thinking he'll just do better in his own QT tank.

The blenny will be one of the first to go into the new tank so he can find his own space.

[Ross]

I would go ahead and add some of them to the main display tank while you leave the tang in the qt for a few more days to keep a close eye on him.