# Blue Tang attacking it's own kind?



## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

I was at a local fish store and I saw marine fish called blue tang

Picture here









There were 4 in the tank and I saw one tang kept ramming and biting the other tang. The one tang was floating upsidedown and barely moving. I saw his gills moving still and trying to swim a little. The other tang just kept swarming him and attacking. His fins were all bitten and frayed. I let the store owner know, and he didnt seem to care all that much. He did remove him and put him in another tank, but he just layed on the bottem.

What was the reason for this behavior. I don't know all that much about marine fish, but I'm sure someone here does. Thanks.


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## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

Is this what happened? Like I said, it looked pretty nasty what that tang was doing.


_Tangs can be quite aggressive, mainly to their own kind or to similar shaped fish. As they are territorial, it is important to try to add any Tangs to your aquarium on the same day if possible. This way they have an equal chance of establishing territories. If you have to add a Tang to a tank that has established Tangs in it already, then it is a good idea to rearrange the rocks in order to disorientate the established fish. It is also safer to add more then one Tang at a time to divert the attention of any would be aggressors. These fish often don't do well if kept in pairs as one will regularly dominate the other one they are best kept singularly or in groups. When one Tang is introduced to another it will usually take about three days for them to sort out their dominance hierarchy before they will get along. The more size, shape and colour difference the quicker this will tend to be. There is always a risk when adding a Tang to an aquarium with other Tangs as they may prove incompatible and might even kill each other._


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## MaelStrom (Jun 24, 2007)

As beautiful/graceful as tangs are, they can be nasty fellows depending upon the situation. I think your quoatation summed it up well.


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

a classic rookie fish store mistake.  Same genus tangs are always a no go.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

The other common name for this group is Surgeonfish. The reason for that is that they all have little razor-sharp "scalpels" on the caudal peduncle, that is, base of tail, which is often erectable/retractable. They use these slashing blades to rip each other apart in territorial squabbles, and they are handy against anything else as well.

In short, this is perfectly normal behavior.


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