Yellow Tang and Cleaner Shrimp

[Infinity]

Well, I just took out a Yellow damsel that I caught red handed biting one of the cleaner shrimp's antenna off. I was out raged. But all of the shrimp's antennas are small and I rarely see him. He hides in a cave, in which the yellow tang usually hides in sometimes too. One thing that worries me is that the I saw the yellow tang chasing the shrimp around. As I saw the shrimp jump away very fast. The Yellow tang was just added 2 days ago and for a day it would run from one side of the tank to the other, now it's fine, but I'm getting worried about my cleaner shrimp. Both are expensive and I don't want to lose either. What should I do? Is the tang not compatible with the shrimp. The tang is pretty much well fed, it seems to have acquired a diet of brown algae and broccoli. help?

PS: GREAT SITE!!!

 

[Infinity]

PS: My tank is a 50 gallon. With about 10 lbs of live rock, I know it's not enough. The Ph is 8.2 Ammonia/Nitrites/Nitrates are all 0
It's been running for 2 months, I have a bit of brown algae, which I've heard is normal...I guess.
Erm, I basically have an emperor 400 and a magnum 350 pro doing the filtering, a prizm skimmer and a powerhead for circulation.

 

[xxmoorishmanxx]

they should be compatabile, most likly the tang is just nervouse havung just been introduced, and the cleaner shrimp may be trying to do its job and clean the tang. this might freak out the tang since he was introduced recently or if the shrimp is big and the tang is small. ive noticed to on my shrimp that if it hasn't molted in a while its antenna get small, but as soon as it molts hes back to his full glory. if you keep good calc and iodine levels he should molt and regrow every thing well.
JC

 

[Hara]

I will sound like the mean guy here...and I dont mean to...so please take this the way it is intended. A two month old tank, in saltwater years, is by no means "stable" yet....I would consider your tank too small for any tang. Your damsel, I am assuming, was a cycling fish, they are mean as heck.....you need to decide on what you want to keep from here on out, and plan around it. I would hope you would get more rock and lose the damsel, as a start

 

[fishfreek]

What are the dimentions of the tank?

Height X Lenght X Width

 

[Infinity]

I will go measure the tank in a minute. But there are no more damsels left in the tank. I had 3 damsels for cycling. After the cycling ended, I decided to keep them since they weren't being aggressive and the tank was rather huge for them. Right now I only have 4 fish: 2 Clown fish, 1 tang and one royal gramma. And ofcourse the shrimp. My mom tells me she saw the shrimp last nite, under a cave. But I have yet to confirm that. I will measure the tank in a bit.

 

[Infinity]

14x19x13. It's a Bow front.

 

[steve-s]

14" tank is rather small for a tang of any size. I would strongly urge you to return it. The minimum recommended size tank for a tang is 48" as they require much more swimming/grazing area and are known for "darting" when startled.

The tang was most likely chasing after the cleaner for some TLC. They tend to get rather frustrated when they want a good cleaning wether they need it or not. Cleaner shrimp will most often ignore fish that do not have anything to offer in the way of parasites or other tidbits and can often stop doing their "duty" altogether once they get a steady amount of food from you.

Cheers
Steve

 

[echo7]

i agree with morish man, and steve, but it could be that the tang wants to be cleaned and the cleaner shrimp isn't that eager. or that the tang doesn't want to get cleaned and the shrimp wants to clean it. also the tank is a bit small.

 

[d9hp]

Hmm, you say you tank is 50 gallons, but the dimensions only hold 14 gallons of water, therefore, that tang needs to be yanked out pronto!

 

[Infinity]

I'm sorry, I must be smoking some serious stuff, I have no clue where I posted those numbers from, they seemed wrong to me, but I didn't feel like looking for the measuring tape again.

Height is 22"
Length is 37"
Depth is 13"

 

[Infinity]

Ok, new issue. Shrimp is out of his cave, antennas are big like they used to be, but they are curled up. Also for the last 10 mins or so, the shrimp has decided to fly all over the place, now he's swimming from one side of the tank to the other. Never happened before. Tang is still chasing the shrimp, but polietly. Tang seems to have a little cut above his right eye somehow. Like a little bruise. He's the biggest fish. about 1.5 inches. and the only other semi aggressive fish is a small, less than an inch Tomato clown and a small royal gramma.

 

[steve-s]

Your dimensions now calculate to a 45 gal tank. Still way too small to keep a tang healthy, please return it. The cut could easily have come from darting into some LR or even fighting with the clown.

I wouldn't worry much about the shrimp unless your levels are off. How are the NH3, NO2, NO3 and when was the last water change?

Cheers
Steve

 

[Infinity]

45? The guy at the store said 50. Anywho, all levels are 0
The algae disappeared too. Nitrates are also 0. They were a little high a few days ago. Now it's dropped to 0.
I guess I will return the tang.
Is it possible to still keep the tang if I plan to upgrade to a 125 gallon in 1 year?
My plan was to keep the tang for a year in my current tank and then move him up to a 125 gallon in about a year.
Oh yeah and my last water change was about 2 weeks ago. It was a small change of about 15%
I did another 15% change 4 weeks ago.

 

[two11devan]

I agree with returning the tang...not sure about keeping him for a year till you upgrade...I guess that will depend on how big he is right now and if he will be able to survive that long with his other tank mates. I know what its like to have to return a tang because of a small tank. I got duped into buying one and i really liked it...I had it for about 2 weeks and decided to do the right thing and return it. I was really bummed b/c he was a very cool fish :| Good luck with everything!

 

[Infinity]

The tang is 1.5 inches long.

 

[steve-s]

I would actually still suggest returning the tang. If you are able to get the 125 gal up and running in a year, you will definately be able to aquire one then.

Why risk it?

Cheers
Steve