yellow tang and auriga butterfly fighting??

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chelebell81

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Dec 4, 2004
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I have had a medium sized tang (about 4") in my tank with a chromis, clownfish, and mandarin goby. At first, he would occassionally pick on my chromis *he's just the bully of the bunch*. I bought a butterfly fish (about 6") from liveaquaria.com and saw he was compatible with everything in my tank. I was worried about that being right since they look so much like tangs, so I called the company and the man assured me they got along. He said only tangs don't get along with other tangs unless they're introduced at the same time. So I spent about $50 on this butterfly fish and when I introduced him into the tank, the tang instantly made himself look larger, put down it's forehead (like a bull) and nips at my butterfly fish. The butterfly is much larger than the tang. Is this normal? And is there any possibility that the tang will lay off the butterfly after a while or I'm looking at a dead fish and a wasted $50?
 

OrionGirl

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Aug 14, 2001
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Sorry, but the LFS told you wrong--yellow tangs are well known for being aggressive to any fish that is a similar color or body shape as themselves, not just other tangs. You can try re-arranging the tank, or removing the tang for a week or two and then re-introducing it, but there is no gaurantee that either of these tactics will work.
 

chelebell81

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Dec 4, 2004
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well now the tang stopped nipping, but he keeps backing up into the butterfly fish to shoo him away. It's worse when the aquarium lights are out. What's the backing up about?
 

OrionGirl

No freelancing!
Aug 14, 2001
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Sheila
If you look closely, you should be able to see a white 'slash' on the caudal peduncle (that's the skinny part between the tail and the body), one on each side. These are little bone knives that give these fish their name--surgeon fishes, for the scalpels they carry and use for defense. This is an aggressive action, and can seriously injure the butterfly. I'd remove one or the other fish now, or you risk injuries and ailments related to stress.
 
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