Tang niping at brain coral!!

[clr_newbie]

I have a blue tang that nips at my brain coral. The brain corals only opens up when I put a plastic bowl with many holes over him. I have caught the Tang in the act and then subsequently watched the brain close up. This plastic bowl in my tank is a real eyesore and think my only solution is to give the brain or tang back to the LFS. Questions:

Has anyone seen this behavior between a Tang and a brain?

If so, could it be just this individual tangs temperment and maybe a different tang will behave differently?

which one would you give back? (my initial inclination is the tang goes back to the lfs)

 

[Hara]

Yes, I have lost 2 brain corals to this..The first one was green in color and I thought possibly the tang was looking at it as if it were an algae...but the next one was red and the same thing happened. I do not know why, but the tangs leave the other corals alone but insist on picking at the brain. They will also pick at clam mantles.

 

[Phyl]

Does he do this if you have nori hanging in the tank? My tangs only peck around the brain when they've got nothing better to peck at. Try upping their feedings and see if that alleviates the brain damage.

 

[clr_newbie]

The times I have caught him were when there was no nori in the tank. I will try upping the nori feedings and see if that helps.

 

[DragonForce]

I have a red open brain and my 6line wrasse and some of my shrimp like to pick at the center when it "poops" (for lack of better words) out waste.

 

[melosu58]

I`m glad ya`ll brought this up. I have three tangs and a green brain. Never seen them pick on it before but I now know what to look for. I would never have thought of tangs doing that.

 

[Brenden]

My green brain has not been opening like it use to lately. Time to do some more police work.