Yellow Tang and Feather Dusters

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clown-lover

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May 26, 2007
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Fargo, ND
So tonight I'm watching the tank and I see my Yellow Tang start picking at one of my feather dusters. Has anyone else with this combination of species seen this happen in their own tanks? Or has anyone heard of this happening?

The reason why I ask is that this particular feather duster just shed its crown a few days ago and it has started to grow back but I am concerned now that it may have been caused by the tang.

He gets a large strip of Nori every day which he happily munches on and turns to shreads in the tank..

Water Parameters before todays water change
Temp 80.1 Degrees F
Ph - 8.2
Alk 10.2 dKH
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - < 5
Cal - 440
 

clown-lover

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May 26, 2007
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Fargo, ND
Yes, I've heard of it happenning but have been lucky to have my yellow not bother my feather.
So whats the solution, what salty did below? I checked the duster and there is not one stitch of algae on him.. I am actually getting kind of peved here because while LaVerne was a sort of rescue in that she was skinny and white looking she has been troublesome to say the least.. Her overly agressive behavior has been somewhat permissible until I found out that she's been picking at the other animals. While it might be nature or instinct its not something I think I'm going to let go forward. As of this point she has picked twice more and has gotten banished to my sump. I know they are a semi-agressive fish but if she is going to pick at the dusters, what is going to stop her from picking at corals later on?

ack that sounds familiar... i lost 2 FD's to my clowns which i've heard was very unusual as well. you could do what i did, cover the duster with 1/2 a 1L pop bottle with lots o' slits in it. BUT, that did get kinda annoying after a while...
How long did you do this? Have you noticed your clowns attacking your duster again?
 

Max

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Jan 26, 2004
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You can try a physical seperation like a clear critter keeper or a mesh strawberry basket if you can find one. Just leave it on for a week or two and the tang may forget that it likes the taste of worm mate. As, for your corals well they taste bad to start with so it wouldn't be much more than a bite lol.
hth and best of luck
Max
 

salty420

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Mar 8, 2007
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hmm... well i had 1 duster and the clowns never bothered it. as soon as i bought #2 they went nuts and started ripping both of the dusters apart. i covered them both right away. after hmmm... 1.5 months or so i uncovered duster #1. clowns left it alone... till sometime in the night when they killed it. so another 3 weeks or so went by and i decided to try to move duster #2 which had attached to the LR under the sand. well the attempt failed and i pulled off the tube minus the worm. it lived unprotected and untouched by the clowns for about a day, then it dropped it's crown. it started to regrow it's tube and crown and then the clowns must have attacked again cause it went MIA. wierd thing is now i have 2 baby dusters growing out of a LR. these babies are identical to duster #2. and crazy as it is the clowns don't bother them at all... PSYCHO fish
 

clown-lover

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May 26, 2007
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Thanks Max.. I'll have to see if I can fashion something as clear strawberry baskets don't exist up in the frozen north, only the green ones. I think I have a clear pop bottle I can use like salty said. I'll just drill some largish holes in it.

I have searched all over the net and haven't found one other article addressing this.. It can't be that common of a thing I'm guessing?
 

clown-lover

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hmm... well i had 1 duster and the clowns never bothered it. as soon as i bought #2 they went nuts and started ripping both of the dusters apart. i covered them both right away. after hmmm... 1.5 months or so i uncovered duster #1. clowns left it alone... till sometime in the night when they killed it. so another 3 weeks or so went by and i decided to try to move duster #2 which had attached to the LR under the sand. well the attempt failed and i pulled off the tube minus the worm. it lived unprotected and untouched by the clowns for about a day, then it dropped it's crown. it started to regrow it's tube and crown and then the clowns must have attacked again cause it went MIA. wierd thing is now i have 2 baby dusters growing out of a LR. these babies are identical to duster #2. and crazy as it is the clowns don't bother them at all... PSYCHO fish
Wow.. If that happens LaVerne will end up staying in the sump then.. She actually seems happy down there and is investigating the space.. I know I'll have to put her back as it doesn't have the swimming room the tank has but until I can get something fashioned she's gonna have to stay in confinement.
 

Catpicklesdog

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Feb 25, 2007
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My Tang is exactly the same. She's managed to kill 1 FD and keeps pecking at my new ones. She's also an extreme bully to some of my other fish (clown and blenny). I tried the bigger tank and unfortunately - although it calmed her down for a bit she seems to be getting worse again. I'm seriuosly considering getting rid of her as my other fish are starting to suffer.
 
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