Love and Hate buying new fish..

by **littlej2455** » Sun May 10, 2009 8:37 pm

Ok, so does that happen to anybody else?

I just got home from college and my tank is doing great. It has been running for just a little over a year now, and nothing could be going better. So I just went to the fish store, and bought a purple tang, one that I have had my eye on for some time. And I knew that this was going to cause problems in my tank because i have a 7 inch blue tang, who is aggressive and would not like a new addition to "his tank". Well for about 2 hours after adding the new fish to the tank, he blue tang pushed him around, I guess to try and weaken him. It is really hard to watch this, but I knew it would stop. Is anybody else have a dominate fish in their tank? how do you try and control them? I tried to put some food in after I added the new fish and that seemed to distract the blue tang for a while. Any other suggestions? Thanks!

by **jennyg49** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 1:33 am

I hate when fish fight!!! These days i'm very careful of what I put together for that reason.... sorry i don't have any advice, but i feel your pain. did he survive?

by **fihsboy** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 1:42 am

seperate them. Im surprised the purple tang isnt tearing up the blue. crazy. LFS bought a black tang.....it was awesome. Well he put it in his tank with 4 other purple tangs...they started using there scalpel left and right. The black tang didnt make it. They just dont get along. I would try to sell your blue tang.

by **jnelson1983** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 6:19 pm

Another option would be to get a divider in the tank where the 2 fish can see each other, but can't get to each other. Over time, they will get used to each other (shouldn't take long), and you'll be ok. I've also heard issues with tangs/angels that are the same shape where they're highly agressive towards others that have the same shape, and the only way around it is to put them in at the exact same time.

I have 3 lionfish in my tank, and i end up keeping my hands in the tank with a net in each hand to keep the new one away from the ones that already in there. After a couple hours, the 2 older lionfish stopped caring. But the last one i bought, i didn't keep em apart...and the 2 older lions ripped the new one to shreds...quickly.

by **jennyg49** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 2:28 am

Is it ok two have two angels in a tank? I have a med size coral beauty that seems pretty docile, and i'd love to add a flame angel. I've seen mixed info as to if this is ok (one sight said only one angel per tank, period). Maybe if the flame was smaller??

by **jnelson1983** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 4:44 am

Jennyg49, the best answer you can get is: Maybe. I've seen several tanks with multiple Angels in it, and the Angel fish have been completely fine. But on a side note, they were added at the same time, and the 4 angels in that tank were VERY young. I've seen ONE tank with more than one angel fish in it where they weren't added at the same time and the two of em are perfectly content...it's a 200 gallon tank.

I've seen MULTIPLE cases where an angel fish was added late after the initial one, and the one that had grown to see the tank as "my tank" attacked the new one nonstop.

If the angel fish you have now seem very docile (not agressive towards the other fish, or each other) and you have a nice size tank, it might be worth a shot. ***BUT***, be ready for potential problems. The angel fish I have is tempermental towards certain types of fish. I tried adding a banded catshark to my tank, and the angel relentlessly beat on it for a full day....the shark was dead when i woke up.

Sorry for the answer, but all you can do is cross your fingers and hope for the best. The bigger your tank, and the lower the amount of time your current angel has been in your tank, the better your odds.

The good news though: Saltwater has TONS of very colorful and beautiful fish species.

Love and Hate buying new fish..

6 posts