Naso Tangs

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kevin310

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Mar 15, 2007
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I would like to know if a nasco tang and a foxface rabbitfish are compatible? I purchased a nasco tang on Sunday and all the fish are fine except the rabbitfish. He is very aggressive towards the naso tang. He even protects the marine algae strips on put on my clip. Do not know what to do?
Thanks.
 

5xevy

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Jan 3, 2007
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Upstate, NY
Hi there. I have a couple of questions. How large is the Foxface in comparison to the Naso? How long have you had each of them? How large is your tank?

This is what I do and it may help in your situation- I bought another veggie clip and put it on the opposite side of the tank. The older fish were familiar with the first clip whereas the newer fish started to claim the second clip as "theirs." Eventually all the fish shared both of them. I kept the second clip up but you don't have to once they all finally start to share.

If this doesn't work I would suggest temporarily removing the Foxface to a QT, or somewhere else, to let your Naso adjust without the presence of the Foxface. I'm not talking a long time, just maybe a week or two. Nasos are one of the more calmer fish of the Tangs. Foxfaces, although thought to be docile most of the time, can be aggressive and territorial as you're finding out.

Lastly if the above doesn't work, then I would move around the live rock. I say "lastly" because I personally don't like doing that and it can be a pain in the...

Lastly lastly :)D), if the aggression continues I would return one or the other. I doubt it will remain long-term and I'm sure returning one of them will not be necessary. Since the Foxface was there first I'm sure he's just trying to let the Naso know who's "boss" and showing him he has an established territory.

How bad is the aggression? Is the Foxface hurting the Naso? Please keep us updated!
 

Subliminal

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Feb 21, 2007
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From everything I've seen in my years of fish keeping (marine and freshwater), it usually takes some time for fish to adjust. 2 days isn't that long, in the grand scheme of things. My coral beauty started picking on my tang as soon as he got adjusted to the tank, but 2 or 3 days later they established some sort of pecking order.
 

kevin310

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Mar 15, 2007
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Thanks. My tank is 90g I have 80lbs of liverock. The foxface is 4-5 inches been in the tank 3 months. The naso is 3-4inches. The aggression is not bad, it just seems he wants to show who is boss. I also have a coral beauty, cinn clown, a wrasse, goby and jawish, purple tang, cleaner shrimp, fire shrimp and some snails. I just thought the foxface was non aggressive towards other fish. They seem to doing better today. I will try another clip.
Thanks for everone's help this website has been a great source of info!!
 

kevin310

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Mar 15, 2007
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I added the extra veggie clip to the other side of the tank and it worked great!!!
Any suggestions as to how much marine algae strips these tangs should be fed? They (purple tang. foxface, naso and coral beauty) seem to eat it all the time. I have very little algae in my tank. I am also giving them some flake and mysis shrimp.
Thanks for all the help. I will try to get some picturs up in the next couple of days.
 

5xevy

Member #62,749
Jan 3, 2007
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Upstate, NY
I added the extra veggie clip to the other side of the tank and it worked great!!!
Any suggestions as to how much marine algae strips these tangs should be fed? They (purple tang. foxface, naso and coral beauty) seem to eat it all the time. I have very little algae in my tank. I am also giving them some flake and mysis shrimp.
Thanks for all the help. I will try to get some picturs up in the next couple of days.
I'm glad to see this seemed to have helped!

The strips are really up to you. I know some people who feed them these every other day. Tangs are grazers, and although they'll eat pretty much anything they're considered herbivores (as is the Foxface). If I notice their clips are empty I'll promptly fill them back up with more strips.
 
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