# yellow tang hates red tailed wrasse



## baylee767 (Nov 5, 2010)

Today I added a red tailed wrasse for my 55g tank which has 3 fish occupants, a clownfish, a yellow tang, and now the wrasse. (I know tang gets too big but I live in Hawaii and we'll be releasing him/her once he/she grows to a certain length (current length about 5 inches)) Don't know if this helps, but all the fish are bought at a store that only sells wwild caught fish.

The wrasse supposedly is terrible at adjusting. Mine ate within an hour of being added to my tank (It was caught on the 13th according to the store) And started hanging out with the fish and moving around the tank instantly, never even bothering to explore. She's doing GREAT at adjusting.

But, my yellow tang doesn't seem to like her. It's flashing it's tail and nipping at her. Ever since my clownfish (female) lost her pair-mate (mysteriously disappeared) The tang and clownfish have been hanging out together. Maybe the tang is jealous and wants the clownfish to him/her self again? Or maybe the tang is trying to get the wrasse to clean it? What is the problem?


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

What type of substrate is in this tank? This sounds like a territorial issue. The wrasse will need a sand substrate for burrowing. If its unable to burrow due to a coarse substrate, such as crushed coral, its then going to invade and try to claim territory that would otherwise belong to the tang. At 5 inches, a 55 gallon tank is barely big enough for a yellow tang to feel comfortable with enough territory.

The other question I have is how much live rock is in this tank? Can you post a photo of the tank?


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## onefish2fish (Jul 22, 2008)

bettababy said:


> What type of substrate is in this tank? This sounds like a territorial issue. The wrasse will need a sand substrate for burrowing. If its unable to burrow due to a coarse substrate, such as crushed coral, its then going to invade and try to claim territory that would otherwise belong to the tang. At 5 inches, a 55 gallon tank is barely big enough for a yellow tang to feel comfortable with enough territory.
> 
> The other question I have is how much live rock is in this tank? Can you post a photo of the tank?


+1
and please dont release anything into the wild, regardless of living in hawaii. you may be releasing diseases or other non-native things to the area. 
im not the "tang police" but i would prefer to see him get sold or donated to someone with a 125+ gallon tank, or returned to a fish store for credit.


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

I have to agree with onefish2fish about not releasing that tang into the wild. I spent last night tracking down a friend of mine who is a professor at the University of Honolulu and he made the same request. 
IF you were only keeping fish that were native to Hawaiian waters and were sure they were wild caught, that would be different, however, clown fish are NOT native to Hawaiian waters. By releasing the tang (which has been kept with a non native species) into the wild you could very easily introduce diseases and parasites from other parts of the world, which has the potential to cause a great deal of harm to all animals in the waters near and around Hawaii. The fish native to Hawaiian waters would have no protection from disease/parasites coming from somewhere else and just 1 fish could contribute to wiping out entire species of animals or to introduce something invasive and potentially deadly to the local area.


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## baylee767 (Nov 5, 2010)

Ok then, we'll release the tang later... on craigslist or at the LFS.

For now, the tank has about 4.5 inches of sand and a lot of live rock. As of now I can't find my camera, but about half the tank is LR. There is a huge population of tiny tube worms and sand worms and copapods (we still feed her of course) Luckily the tang has tuned it down with the aggression, hopefully in the remaining time it as with us probably another month or two) It tolerates the wrasse. I'm hoping it was just adjusting to her fo.


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