sailfin tang aggression

[jessie]

well i purchased a sailfin tang(zebrasoma desjardini) 7 days ago, and have found an easy way to tell if this one is going to be aggressive towards any fish i might put in with it. it has been peaceful with the fish that were already in the tank with it. its about 7 inches long, and loves for you to pet it. i bought it from iland aquatics. i usually use my magnet cleaner to hold its food at the side of the tank, but today when i decided to use it to scrap the tank, the sialfin became a much darker color and kept swatting the magnet on the inside with its tail. within 3 secounds of stopping the tang had returned to its original color, and was waiting at the top where i usually feed him. i have never had a mean tang before and they have always gotten along fine with my other tank inhabitants. so i guess my question is, if he hapens to swatt me with his tail while im feeding him, how bad is it gonna hurt? has anyo9ne ever had a tang swatt them before?

 

[AW2EOD]

It's not the "swatting" you have to worry about. Each species of tang has a razor sharp "scalpel" on each side of the base of their tails. That's why they're also called surgeon fish. They bigger the fish, the bigger the scalpel. 7" is a pretty good size...and you can probably see the knives on at the base of his tail. I've never been hit by one, but I wouldnt want to either. I saw a 10" Achilles Tang, at a fish store, one time...it's scalpels were 3/4" long...definately not to be messed with.

 

[jessie]

i know they have spines, thats why i figured it was gonna hurt if it swatted me. its spines are about 3/8 or so long, he doesnt seem to like it when i clean the glass with the magnet though. i just got through feeding it, and it rubs up against me when im trying to put the food in, never seems to want to swatt me so lets hope he keeps it that way!

 

[mogurnda]

Jessie, is that one of the post-larval growout guys they advertise on their website? I was wondering if they were wtill doing that.

 

[jessie]

im not sure, i would have to ask about it. hes a great fish, i was really suprised at the drastic color change he can make.

 

[slipknottin]

I had a yellow tang that would attack the other fish with his scalpel, they were all sliced up and would often get infected. Got rid of the tang....

 

[jessie]

this one doesnt bother any of the other fish, and hasnt bothered me yet, he just really doesnt like it when i use the magnet to clean the front glass. i hope it doesnt turn out to get really mean.

 

[BBN]

I had a yellow tang and added a blue hippo. I was very weary of trying to put these in the same tank because of their aggression toward one another. I monitered closely for months. They've coexisted now for 14 months and doing nicely and never even acknowledge one another.!