Fish Attacks

[mopecula]

In my tank I have a hippo tang, kole tang, yellow tang, orange shoulder tang, blue chromis, clown and a Mandarin. The problem is the kole tang has a big chunk taken from his side as if something bit him a few times and the orange shoulder tang is almost dead because he was attacked today and has multiple, what appears to be bite marks all over him. I do not believe that the yellow tang is the issue cause this has been happening before he was added but not to this extreme. I am thinking it is the clown fish that is attacking my tangs. I am asking if anyone has come across this before where a clown fish would attack others and maybe why he would do that. The funny part is my tangs are huge compared to the clown but i do understand that size does not matter. I had to remove the orange shoulder tang and put him in the refugium for now in the hopes that he will heal and become healthy again but he does not look good at all with all the damage on him. Whenever i put my hands in the tank that dam clown tries to bite me too. oh the tank is a 90 gallon.
Thanks for any help you may offer.

 

[Anonymous]

That's a lot of tangs for a 90 gallon.

My tomato clown bites me all the time. Are you sure you do not have a mantis shrimp?

 

[mopecula]

That's a lot of tangs for a 90 gallon.

My tomato clown bites me all the time. Are you sure you do not have a mantis shrimp?

Yes no mantis shrimp because i think he would have finished off the tang as he was lying there on the bottom of the tank. plus i made all of my rock. i think it maybe just aggresion do to all they fish in the 90. if the tang does not make it then i will be minus one if he does make it i will have to return one for store credit. the other thing is i thought tangs would slash instead of bite? i was noticing the fins on the shoulder tang were getting bit for sometime but only recently has it turned to more fierce biting but i have not been able to see what fish is doing it.

 

[Anonymous]

Tangs and clowns are territorial. It could be a combination of both.

I would say that bites are probably the clown.

 

[melas]

i had a maroon clown go ape $h!t one time. Killed everything in the tank including the anemone he was hosting. . . REALLY weird. Don't know what set him off since there had been no major changes to the tank or any new tankmates for months. good luck!

 

[mopecula]

Tangs and clowns are territorial. It could be a combination of both.

I would say that bites are probably the clown.

yes they are but believe it or not all the tangs swim together most of the time and there has been no great issues with them. i was watching the tank today for a small amount of time and it seems the tomato clown is chasing most of the fish, even the kole tang was attacked from him but he just swam away. i really think the issue here is the clown fish. heck he would always swim away from all the fish but now he seems to attack them. weird how things can change all of a sudden. thanks to all for your help. what i am going to do is remove the clown as soon as my orange shoulder tang is healed (that is if he make it) and just watch the other fish to see what happens.

 

[Anonymous]

Some times moving the rocks around helps. It changes the territory.

 

[mopecula]

Some times moving the rocks around helps. It changes the territory.

Yes i thought of that but the rock work has corals and stuff on them so it would be a bit difficult to just move things around. i have made up my mind and the clown is going tomorrow to the lfs.
thanks

 

[Anonymous]

Good luck

 

[Mihai]

I believe that it's not the clown, but rather too many tangs in a 90 gallon and one or several of them are trying to get rid of the others. My yellow tang is alone and yet he's the terror of the tank. The other thing that might have happen is that the clown has eggs somewhere and guarding them. That's when they get nuts with their teritory.

JMO.
M.

 

[mopecula]

its ok the tang does not look good, he is not eating and i believe he will not make it. but i am still going to remove the clown from the tank. this thing is a terra with the other fish not to mention he keeps blowing the sand everywhere in my tank with his tail. everyday my corals are covered in sand due to his actions.
thanks guys and gals for the help

 

[Ben1]

Unrelated but in your last full tank picture 8/05 it looks like all your SPS are bleached is it just the picture or did you recently lose them all?

 

[Ben1]

And with 10 lbs of figi rock in there a mantis is possible.

 

[mopecula]

And with 10 lbs of figi rock in there a mantis is possible.

yes ben i have had some serious problems with my tank lately lost all of the corals except for a few. not sure what happened everything was fine for a year and last month the tank has been wacky. ph dropped really low for some reason. just got everything back to normal but the corals took a big hit. tank has been up and running for almost 1.5 years and never have seen a mantis. at this point i am doing everything i can cause i have gotten to the point of quiting this hobby but since the tank has been doing much better and back on track i have decide to keep at it but i will not buy any more corals just going to let what survived grow and fill in.

 

[Ben1]

BTW, I did like your site, nicely laid out!

Sorry to hear about the corals they looked like nice ones.

 

[mopecula]

BTW, I did like your site, nicely laid out!

Sorry to hear about the corals they looked like nice ones.

not only were they nice but they were expensive as everyone knows. oh well what can you do but just keep on treking. thanks on the site comment