foxface tried to eat my new yellow tang

[im_a_clownfish]

Hi All!

Aftre 3 weeks of successful quarantine, I finally introduced my little yellow tang into my 65g reef tank. The moment I did that, my foxface fish (thats been in the tank since xmas) went ape**** on it, trying to bite it, push it, and chase it around the tank. I had forgotten to kill the lights in the tank when I introduced the tang, so could that be the problem? Did I just shock the foxface? I have read nothing about foxfaces being aggressive except to other foxfaces. They are both yellow in color, but would that really be why one is attacking the other? My foxface has not done that to the other 7 inhabitants in the tank and he is usually a real pansy. You walk up to the tank and he hides, stick your hand in and he hides, new fish, he hides, etc....

I have put a net barrier up today splitting the tank in half. They can see each other but the fox hasn't tried to go after it or break through the netting.
Shoudl I leave the net in place for a week or 2 so they get used to each other Or was it just that I didnt have the lights off? I love both fish and wouldnt want to have to get rid of either one (but would of course) if they were not compatible.

The tank has lots (probaby 70-80 lbs of liverock, and corals, as well as lots of hiding places.

Any advice, etc? I love both fish and want to keep them both, if possible...

[Fishfirst]

tangs look a lot like foxfaces, and they certainly do not enjoy eachothers company in a smaller sized tank. They may get used to eachother, or they may just duke it out like world war 3. No telling which way it will go. FYI, a tang and foxface is a bit much (along with 6 other fish) in a 65 gallon... of coarse they could be pretty small right now, but in the future an upgrade is in order.

[im_a_clownfish]

I know I'm pretty borderline now but they are all pretty small fish (other than my naso and the foxface). I have a cleaner wrasse, scooter blenny, the yellow tang is a small little guy, a skunk clown, false clown, and a bicolor blenny still in quarantine. They are all babies and while I know they do grow, I picked these fish because I know they do stay fairly small (again other than the naso and the fox). In a couple years when the naso and fox get big I will be upgrading to a much bigger tank.

I have worked with and experienced the horrors of overstocked freshwater tanks before and so am careful not to do it - I also make sure to keep an eye out for the symptoms of an overstocked tank. So far my salt tank seems to be doing great. I have lots of liverock for hiding places and biological filtration, as well as plenty of circulation and a good canister filter, as well as many filters on the powerheads.

Any words, suggestions, or advice?

[fishfingers]

My turn to share my advice.

For starters, IMO you are overstocked. With your current fish as well as the ones your quarantining that is way to many fish for a 65 gal. I would be looking to upgrade a lot sooner than 2 or 3 years, you'll find even at a small size that the naso will become stressed. Their personailities really do change when they are given the room they are meant to have. I also don't know what you classify as "fairly small" but yellow tangs can grow up to 8-10", which IMO is getting on the biggish side of things (at least for the average fish tank it's pretty big).

On the issue on the naso and foxface, it can really go either way. A lot of it depends on the personality of the fish, sometimes they will be friendly other itmes they will bullying everything that sets foot in the tank. I'm not sure on what foxface's do, but maybe reaaranging the rocks. This is so his teritory will be removed because of the new landscape. This may help with his temper (and he wont have anywhere to defend) but I'm not sure if this is the case with foxfaces.

Also hows the cleaner wrasse been going? I tried too of them, both feeding and doing well but as soon as I missed a feeding they went downhill. It was a shame they are a lovely fish, I won't risk getting one again though. There's now the moral issue that I'm aware about too. How long have you had him?

[im_a_clownfish]

Thanks for the advice!

I've had the wrasse for about 3-4 months now and hes doing great. He loves frozen mysis shrimp. It is great tho as I hear these are very hard to keep. I've also kept my scooter blenny for about 6 months now too and I have heard they usually starve to death after a few months. He loves the mysis as well. Mysis for everyone!

It's actually the yellow tang that the foxface was picking on. The foxface is actually in love with the naso and they even live and sleep together. The naso and foxface are always very well behaved and peaceful.

Do you think the tank is overstocked in terms of living space for the fish, or in terms of the bio load? All my levels (nitrate/nitrite/ammonoia are zero and I keep the tank pretty clean as well. It seems to be handling the bio load okay. Do you feel it's just overstocked in terms of space for the fish? The naso is very peaceful and seems pretty happy in the tank -hes always swimming around even at night and gets along great with the other fish. Theres no fighting gong on in the tank like I've seen in the overstocked freshwater tanks...

If the foxface were to go, do you feel that it would make a big difference, or do you still think it would be overstocked with the other smaller fish too?

What are some symptoms of overstocking (because everyone is getting along great) and I have a lot of rock so that every fish has their own home/place to hide. I love my little guys and dont really want to get rid of any of them unless absolutley critical.

[fishfingers]

While the are all small I'd be more worried about the space for the fish. If you had an excellent skimmer and lots of liverock it *could* be done, but I think you will find the bioload will start to get too much soon as the fish grow older. If you only had smallish fish 6 fish would be fine but the addition of the bigger fish will push it over the limit.

Ahh I see it's the yellow tang that's getting picked on. I didn't read the first thread properly. That does make more sense cos they do look alike (as fishfirst said). Ditching the foxface would be a start to helpign with your overstocking, but there will still be the tank size issue for the tangs. What turnover rate do you have? Tangs in general like high flow as they are straight line swimmers, if they had a strong current to swim against they wont need to swim back and forth so much.

I would write more but I got to go to school.

[im_a_clownfish]

Yes, I think I will get rid of the foxface, mainly because hes picking on the tang, and of course to ease the bio load and space in the tank.

I have quite a bit of circulation in the tank. I have a 600GPH pump hooked up to my fluval filter, which creates lots of flow near the bottom of the tank, and then 3 other power heads spaced at different levels around the tank. The top one creates a lot of surface turbulence to keep lots of O2 in the water, and to keep a lot of flow at the top of the tank.

[Fishfirst]

The main concern is the fish growing up and getting large... tangs (especially naso's) are fast growers... he'll need a lot of space in a very short time relatively.

[fishfingers]

Alright thats a start. I'm still going to press that you get rid of the tangs, trust us it will be a lot better in the long run. If you want another one when you get a bigger tank fine, but for the time being your tank does not compensate for 1 tang, let alone two. It you still feel the need to keep a tang (although I strongly dont reccomend this option), keep the yellow one. These guys (unlike most other tangs) are not straight line swimmers so they can be kept in less space with lower flow. But I wouldnt reccomend a tank for a yellow tang smaller than 125 gallon tank either.

[im_a_clownfish]

Many thanks for all the advice!

I really appreciate it!

-James

[TheReefAddict]

hahahahaha!!!! I know what you are going through with the fish! When I introduced my foxface in the tank my yellow tang went ape**************** too! Being that the tang is agressive toward the foxface is a diiferent case though...Due to the fact that the fox has poisonous spines the tang is learning his lesson the hard way and attacks much less.