how long to keep a powder blue tang in jail?

[astroboy]

I've had a powder blue tang for a few years, always a pretty reasonable fish. A few weeks ago I took a chance and got a powder brown tang. Both fish are 4-5" long including fins, in a long established 90 gallon with a lot of nooks and crannies.

 

The powder blue almost immediately started to harass the power brown. I would guess it was more like marking territory as opposed to a mano a mano fight since as soon as the powder brown swam into a corner or other nook the blue left it alone. I put the blue into a net cage, the sort of thing where you keep pregnant guppies, about 6x4 inches, on the hope that the brown would stake out the tank as its own territory and the blue would mellow out. It's been in there two weeks. 

 

Aside from the tangs I have two small (docile) clowns, a blue chromis which keeps entirely to itself, and a lemon peel tang I bought a month ago, so overcrowding doesn't seem to be an issue....

 

Does anyone have any idea of when it might be worthwhile to release the blue and see how things go?

Edited January 11, 2024 by astroboy
clarification

[Johnny Ho]

Then the powder brown tang will establish in the tank and may become the bully.

 

If you have a QT tank, you can put both of them in there for a while.  Then introduce both at the same time back to the main tank.

[yagerboy]

My guess is you will lose one, Don’t.mean to be the tang police but those are both pretty good size for a 90 imo

[astroboy]

26 minutes ago, yagerboy said:

My guess is you will lose one, Don’t.mean to be the tang police but those are both pretty good size for a 90 imo

Yeah.... since the blue was so mellow I gave into temptation. And, 90 gallons is not too big for those fish, I agree. I figure in a year or two I'll have to sell them, or, get a new wife and a bigger tank. Or vice versa. Same result either way. 

 

[astroboy]

2 hours ago, yagerboy said:

My guess is you will lose one, Don’t.mean to be the tang police but those are both pretty good size for a 90 imo

I had a closer look, both tangs' bodies are a hair over three inches. Big difference than 5" with fins! So I guess they're OK for a year or two yet in the 90 and so is my marriage. Well, if worse comes to worse I bought a nice fish trap on amazon and I can sell one of them, or return it to the store I bought it from which is run by a WAMAS member I've known for years. But I'd like to keep them both. The powder blue would school with a hippo and yellow tang I had, which makes me slightly optimistic it will peacefully co-exist with the brown, maybe.. The hippo and yellow slowly wasted away, I think now it was because my RODI setup combined with bad test kits was producing much worse water than I had though. I also lost a couple nice long-lived corals I'd had at the same time.  I had MH lighting (new good quality bulbs) but with  ballasts I think now were was going bad in strange ways (in retrospect, nothing evident to the naked eye). The light looked OK but I wonder now if it wasn't putting out more yellow or UV or something not easily seen by the naked eye that put stress on both the fish and corals. Anyway, new RODI filter, more new test kits than you can shake a stick at, new DC powerhead pumps, new skimmer, and new LEDs that are reviewed  highly. Everything looks much better, I'm hoping I'm at the point where I'll know just what to do to keep this tank at optimum. As long as the fish will make an attempt to chill slightly. I hope they do, they're really pets to me.

Edited January 11, 2024 by astroboy

[hlem]

I would not risk it in a 90. Powder blue and Powder brown are the same, one will most likely kill the other, and they’re really prone to getting ich which will effect everything else in the tank. 

[astroboy]

3 hours ago, Johnny Ho said:

Then the powder brown tang will establish in the tank and may become the bully.

 

If you have a QT tank, you can put both of them in there for a while.  Then introduce both at the same time back to the main tank.

I'll keep that in mind, although I'm hoping I can release the blue and it wasn't give the brown (the landlord) much trouble.

 

Are there drugs you can give fish to mellow them out, take the edge off reality for a while? Seriously. I'll probably throw a blanket over the whole tank and keep it dark for a few days but I wonder if anyone has has a 'better living though chemistry' experience.

[yagerboy]

Good luck!  Am hoping for the best

[Origami]

It's not so much the size of the tank that concerns me, but the fact that they're both Acanthurus species and, therefore, aggression between the two will be more pronounced than between other tang species. If you can physically subdivide the tank for a couple of weeks to give the new inhabitant time to see the Powder Blue and to exchange chemistry (scent) with the other inhabitants, you may reduce the aggression. (I recall Copps doing something similar when introducing a new conspecific marine angel into one of his old (much smaller) tanks.) Otherwise, you may have to arrange or add some rockwork to break sight-lines and provide cover for the newcomer who's more likely to be bullied, even to the point of death.

[astroboy]

9 hours ago, Origami said:

It's not so much the size of the tank that concerns me, but the fact that they're both Acanthurus species and, therefore, aggression between the two will be more pronounced than between other tang species. If you can physically subdivide the tank for a couple of weeks to give the new inhabitant time to see the Powder Blue and to exchange chemistry (scent) with the other inhabitants, you may reduce the aggression. (I recall Copps doing something similar when introducing a new conspecific marine angel into one of his old (much smaller) tanks.) Otherwise, you may have to arrange or add some rockwork to break sight-lines and provide cover for the newcomer who's more likely to be bullied, even to the point of death.

Thanks Tom. I've had the original fish in a net cage in the tank for a couple of weeks now; I was hoping scent might be a factor....FWIW, neither fish is trying to attack each other thru the netting, or even paying any attention to each other.  Years ago I had a powder blue and powder brown in a 75 and they got along fine, so as I said, I gave into temptation. If things go bad one of them will be up for sale.....

Edited January 12, 2024 by astroboy

[Gatortailale]

I’ve heard of putting a mirror on outside of tank to distract established tang.  I have 5 tangs in a 215 and last fall put a 12x12 mirror on outside when I wanted to introduce few new fish, but not tangs. However, did seem to distract tangs as would see some looking in mirror swimming against glass.

[astroboy]

I'll give that a try. I let the blue out of the net cage a few days ago and it bickers with the brown but not extremely badly. I had hoped the brown would have decided after two weeks it owned the tank but it's staying out of sight in a corner. The blue comes by every once in a while to give him a dirty look. But the less stress on the brown the better, of course. 

[reeferindc]

Might want to try rearranging the rockwork . The first tang is familiar with the tank and reintroducing him wont change anything. He still knows the tank. Rearranging the rockwork will make both fish think they are in a new environment .

Edited January 17, 2024 by reeferindc

[Gatortailale]

It also helps to feed nori from 2 spots/ feeding stations opposite ends, then everyone gets fed and nobody gets to dominate 1 spot 

[RW09903]

On 1/13/2024 at 11:16 AM, Gatortailale said:

I’ve heard of putting a mirror on outside of tank to distract established tang.  I have 5 tangs in a 215 and last fall put a 12x12 mirror on outside when I wanted to introduce few new fish, but not tangs. However, did seem to distract tangs as would see some looking in mirror swimming against glass.

 

This has been my practice over the past 8-10 months. My poweder blue and purple tang are bullies, even to larger fish.

 

I place a mirror on a side aquarium panel a day or two prior to introducing any new fish. After adding the new fish, I keep the mirror in place for a week or two and allow everything to establish. 

 

 

Edited January 19, 2024 by RW09903

[astroboy]

I've had a mirror up for a couple of days. In fact, put one at the other end of the tank two days ago. The second one seems to have encouraged or prodded the brown to come out of its nook. Seems to be working quite well so far.

 

Edited January 20, 2024 by astroboy