Powder Blue Tang Addition - Help!

[davidsgateway]

All,

I have a 110 gallon tank and just this weekend added a Powder Blue Tang to the tank - a good size fish, about 50/60mm in length.

Current fish are:

Regal Tang
Volitans Lionfish (very docile)
Maroon Clown
Unicorn Tang (Naso Tang)
Wrasse

When I first added the fish everything was fine, although the black markings on the regal tang turned from a black to a skin colour. All fish were swimming around fine, when I came back into the room the regal tang stripes had gone back to black again and he was attacking the new powder blue tang.

After 30 mins of this the powder blue was very stressed. I therefore took advice from my LFS who recommended to turn off the lights which I did.

Now, the fish hides behind the rocks and refuses to come out, although its very willing and tries to.

So how do I:

1) Get the fish to come out
2) Prevent the regal tang from attacking it again??

Help, I love this new fish!

Thanks, Dave

[tibbs2]

Fish will hide when they are new. Give it some time. Powder blues are some of the tougher tangs to keep. To keep the hippo from picking on the powder you can try rearrange the rocks, or put the regal in your sump or quarantine tank for a few days.

Some tang species are known to fight each other and this also may be the case.

Btw, didn't you just make a similar post under a diff ID?

[davidsgateway]

Hey Tibbs ! thats an excellent reply, thanks! There is a similar message like this one but its from a different user.

I am concerned that the powder blue tang will not eat if he stuck behind the rocks and therefore starve!

On another note, now I see .. a hippo tang and a regal tang are the same fish ?

[Wolverine]

With a regal, naso, and PBT all in a tank that small you're headed for trouble. If (a big if) the PBT survives this early on, and doesn't succumb to Ich with all the stress, it's likely that he's going to get pretty aggressive and start brutalizing the other tangs. PBT and naso tangs each need to be in tanks larger than a 110g, even more so if they're together.

Dave

[Emz]

you have the same problem as me!...although my PB seems not to be hiding as much.

[BlackStripe]

I hope your hippo calms down. My clowns used to get real fiesty with my hippo then all of a sudden my hippo grew some balls. My hippo started fighting with my female clown, my clown learned her lesson after she was cut. I felt sorry for my hippo because my clowns were relentless and kept biting her. Now all my fish get a long fine and I haven't witnessed any outbursts. The clowns are behaved and the hippo is happy.

[cduran02]

Strange, never though clowns to be agressive. I have a perc clown, striped damsel and a foxface. All are in the hospital tank right now because of ich that was introduced to the tank by a PBT (who didnt survive the ich). But now the perc clown has been bullying the damsel. Doesnt actually bite it, just pushes it around whenever the damsel is in a spot the perc wants to be in. Its pretty funny to see (as long as he doesnt start to bite).

[davidsgateway]

All,

Thank you so much for all the advice thus far.

I am pleased to report after a few days of hiding away, the powder blue started to come out in the tank when the fish had gone to sleep (for want of a better term!). That went on for a couple of days and now he is out in the daytime with all the other fish!

The regal tang which was constantly bothering the powder blue tang has tried to continue his barrage of attacks but luckily the powder blue tang now has gained some courage and is fighting back, hence the regal tang is now starting to back off.

I think there is still a way to go with this and I wonder if as per a previous post the powder blue will become more aggressive, although as yet everything seems to be fine.

Everyone keep your fingers crossed!

[cduran02]

Thats exactly how my PBT behaved when it was introduced into the aquarium. But the offending fish was my striped damsel which was 1/2 his size. After a few days the PBT learned how to deal with the damsel.