Help! Powder Blue Tang fight with Copperband

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

TheChad

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Dec 20, 2005
Messages
568
Location
Warrensburg, IL
Hey All,

I have a powder blue tang that has been in my tank about 8 months now, I just put in a copper banded butterfly tonight and from the second I put him in the tank the powder blue has been on attack.

I don't know why the powder blue even cares, but I am worried he is going to stress out and kill the copperband.

Is there anything I can do?

Thease are my 2 favorite fish and I was hoping to be able to keep them both, but obviously with them fighting one of them is going to loose..

Thanks for the help,

-TheChad
 
Well...powder blues do tend to be a fairly aggressive fish...how big is he, by the way? Looks like full sized they're recommended to be in around 120 gallon tank - smaller than that could definitely explain some territorial behavior...

I would suggest getting the copper band out of there: those fish are tough enough to keep alive in captivity WITHOUT the stress of a tang beating it up.
 
You could try rearranging the rockwork, but if that doesn't work I would definitely return one of them.
 
The powder blue will get worse with aggression as it gets bigger. A friend of mine had 1 in her 180 and had to get sell it....and she would only sell it to someone with a 220 or bigger tank. If this is in the 90g in your sig, that tank is way too small and things will keep getting worse.
 
Ive read that tangs can be agressive, but I've never actually seen one be. Both of the are about 3"

-TheChad
 
Well, I put the tang in my 20 gal fuge, which has nothing but sand and a couple rocks in it.

I figure I'll leave him there for 3-4 days ths put him back in the main tank, hopefully he'll cool off by then, otherwise I'll probably end up selling him back to the lfs. Which I hate to do, but if he's going to do this to every new fish then he's got to go..

-TheChad
 
He is very small and very aggressive I know it is a hard decision to make but you not only have to do what is right for the fish but also the health of your tank.
 
Well, I left the tang in the sump for 3 days, then as soon as I put him back in the main tank, he went straight after the copperband.

I put him back in the sump/fuge. But I guess he's going to go back to the LFS (I'll get a fraction of what I paid for him), but what choice do I have?

I dont know if it's just because they are about the same size, or what but its sad as the powder blue a nd the copperband are my two favorite fish..

I also hate to get rid of the powder blue that has done good in my tank for 6+ months, when I don't know if the copperband will live, as I know copper bands are near impossible to keep alive!! But of the two, I do like the copper band alittle more and I'm afraid if I keep the powder blue, it won't matter what new fish I get he will attack them.

-TheChad
 
Back
Top Bottom