|
|
FAQs about Purple Tang Behavior
Related Articles: Purple Tangs,
Zebrasoma Tangs,
Yellow Tangs Related FAQs:
Purple Tangs 1, Purple Tangs 2,
Purple Tangs 3, Identification,
Compatibility, Selection,
Systems, Feeding,
Disease, Reproduction,
Yellow Tangs, Striped Sailfin Tangs,
Zebrasoma Tangs, Zebrasoma
Identification, Zebrasoma Behavior,
Zebrasoma Compatibility, Zebrasoma
Selection, Zebrasoma Systems,
Zebrasoma Feeding, Zebrasoma
Disease, Zebrasoma Reproduction,
Surgeons
In General, Tang ID,
Selection, Tang
Behavior,
Compatibility, Systems,
Feeding, Disease, | 
|
Purple tang has gone crazy (Not a DVD offer...) – 02/19/09
Hey guys.
<And vimmen!>
i am a huge fan of you website and over
the last 2 years this is the first time i have had to write into you as
there is so much knowledge on your database.
Ok so to my question
I currently have the following system.
6' long by 2' high and 19"
deep.
About 20kgs live rock +20 kgs of clay like base rock
<Clay
like? Interesting... what is this... did you make it... buy it?>
And
a fairly deep (4 inches) very fine sand bed.
It runs standard trickle
filtration in that tank running at 2 X 3200 l/h
And is lit by a few
fluors. 2 X 25w whites and a 4ft actinic (standard with hood although
some bulbs are missing)
Until about 3 days ago it currently housed
the following.
A pair of large zebra morays
A purple tang
A
pair of gold head sleeper gobies
And a long nose butterfly
I had
been having trouble with the butterfly as all i could get him to eat was
daphnia, bloodworms and Spirulina brine shrimp. As mysis shrimp were too
big for him
<See WWM re Forcipiger feeding...>
The purple tang and
the butterfly had had a few minor run ins but had fairly much sorted
each other out. No major damage was ever done as the butterfly would
just angle his spines towards the tang and she wouldn’t go near him.
<Good observation, typical beh.>
I got back home the other day and i
couldn’t see either fish. So i turned on the lights, still nothing. But
upon closer inspection the butterfly had gone to fishy heaven and the
tang was wedged hard into a rock and a hard place. She looked stuck so i
moved the rock and she darted around and eventually collapsed on her
side.
<Mmm, something going sideways here....>
Fearing ammonia
poisoning from the corpse i removed the dead fish and added some Prime
to detoxify the situation and she seamed to perk up. But was still
hiding or wedging herself any where she can. It appears if some
superficial damage has been done by this.
The night before last i did
a 30% water change fearing that high nitrate readings were stressing the
fish... no sign of improvement
<The water change itself could have
been trouble>
Still 3 days later she only emerges when disturbed,
otherwise she just hovers in a cave breathing heavily.
What should i
do?
<Avail yourself of chemical filtrants... Place a few pads of
Polyfilter and a couple of units of Chemi-pure or equivalent in your
filter/flow path... Note the color change/s in the Polyfilter...
something is going on here...>
I have available a QT but it has a
fairy wrasse in it for the last week. Who seems healthy enough and he is
from my girlfriends work so i know he has been in good shape for a while
so i don’t feel bad about adding him early
<I would not>
Should i
separate the tang into the QT (about 120L)? Why is she still
stressed.....
<I would leave all in... mix up a good sized batch of
change water and store for now... just in case>
Please help i don’t
want to lose my tang.
A very worried
Mat
<Please read here as
well Mat: http://wetwebmedia.com/mardisindex.htm
Under the orange-red
bar... On toxic water conditions. Bob Fenner>
Hello everyone.. I have a short question about my Purple Tang. Beh. ~
01/12/09
Every once in a while he suddenly develops white
splotches "like a total loss of pigment" temporarily for an hour or so
in random areas.
<Stress... or communicating>
He seems very happy
and healthy eats very well with no tank-mate problems. Water conditions
are excellent aquarium is only 65gallons
<Too small, as you seem to
realize>
temporarily moving to 120 in the near future, just trying to
find a spot my wife won't notice it. Anyways is there any concerns?
<Mmm, yes... shortening life if nothing else... more susceptible to
other diseases...>
Thanks in advance love your site and Bob's book it
my first and last line of defense.
Mike
<Glad to help. Bob Fenner>
Purple Tang, beh./markings 8/23/08
Dear Gang.
<John>
I am an avid reader of your site and recommend it to everyone
I know in the hobby.
<I as well>
My question is this. I have a
Purple Tang. It's truly Purple not Bluish purple. It has bright yellow
fins. I feel assured It has no striping what so ever. It is healthy. I
feed it Nori and Rods with Selcon . I feed it Nori Daily. It is fat and
healthy. Is it unusual for a Purple to have no striping?
<Mmm, nope.
Have seen many as such in the wild and in captivity>
Thanks
John.
P.S. I have been all over the website looking for this answer.
<May
well be new! Cheers! Bob Fenner>
Daily Q&A. Xanthurum Tang beh., comp. 4/5/07
Hello WWM
Crew.
<Wilson>
I've read your FAQS along with your featured
articles and found them always to be informative.
Basically --
My problem is that I recently placed my purple tang into my tank
(90gallon FO), and by the 3rd day he is having some problems. When
I fresh-dipped him, he pretty much fell to his side and was very
unresponsive for 2 minutes (do I have a weaker individual?).
<Mmm, maybe... did you aerate this water ahead, during this dip/bath
procedure? Could be simple hypoxia...>
Strangely enough, the
first 2 days he seemed to be fine, exploring the rock-work and
feeding on Nori/mysis/brine/shrimp/bloodworm.
He doesn't feed
(all his other tankmates are fine.) or graze on the 3rd day. When
remaining "still" .. he seems to bob very slightly left-right and
up-down as well (difficulty to remain exactly upright.) Now the
fish seems to want to just hide, and his breathing rate doesn't seem
to be too fast/slow. There is no detectable fin damage or colour
fading, and no signs of HLLE (a popular subject on purple tangs when
searching. The stomach area seems to bulge a bit with pinching in
the areas surrounding it (attached picture doesn't show it too well)
<Mmm...>
The purple tang has shown some sign of slight
aggression towards the other tankmates (a Foxface and a smaller
clown tang),
<Yes... these closely related fishes utilize
similar niche/resources... there should be some competition,
territorial expression twixt...>
but that's only if the other
fish approach it. The Foxface responds by erecting his spines (are
they fighting ?)
<Yes>
What do you recommend me to do
? Figured I'd solve the problem before it gets any worse (lost one
of my favourite fish because I didn't' act fast enough).
--Thanks in advance, Wilson
<Well... this Zebrasoma was likely
traumatized in the collection/holding/shipping and re-handling
process... takes a good couple of days getting to us from the Red
Sea... and do sometimes take a while to "settle in"... And the
presence of the other Acanthuroids is likely having a further
negative effect of its development, expression. If you have another
suitable space, system, I would move this fish to it... If not,
re-arranging the rock work substantially, offering algal food at
either end of the tank... may diffuse agonistic behavior here. Bob
Fenner> |
|
Psychotic Purple Tang 2/25/07
Hi,
<Hello
Brian! Mich here.>
I have a new red sea purple tang (Zebrasoma
xanthurum)(purchased from liveaquaria.com) in my 75-gallon tank.
<Usually recommend a minimum tank size of 100 gallons for this fish.>
Its tank mates are 1 lionfish (approx. 5"), 1 coral beauty (approx
2.5"), 1 copper band butterfly fish (approx. 3"), 1 tomato clown
(approx. 2.5"), 1 snowflake eel (approx 9"), and assorted hermits crabs,
snails, starfish, and sea cucumbers. The tank has about 100 pounds of
Fiji and Florida live rock and a 30-gallon CPR Aquafuge Pro refugium
under the tank with miracle mud and algae in it. The lighting is a
satellite unit with 4 65-watt bulbs (2 actinic and two 10000k). My
chemistry is stable and good (no nitrates, pH around 8.1, no phosphates,
no ammonia, no nitrites, temp around 81, and specific gravity about
1.023).
<I think a I would raise the specific gravity in your system
to 1.025, would benefit the Zebrasoma xanthurum.>
The tang eats well
(both off the live rock and the food I place in the tank), but its
behavior is bizarre. It will swim up against the same wall of my tank
for extended periods of time (as much as ten minutes straight
sometimes). It looks like it is trying to swim through the side of my
tank in a crazy obsessive way. All the other fish swim peacefully
around the tank. Is there something wrong with the tang?
<Most
likely aggressive behavior in response to the other purple tang he is
seeing in your system... i.e. his own reflection in the glass. Try
covering the area where he is displaying the behavior with dark paper or
allow to grow over with algae. Hopefully the behavior will diminish.
Thanks!!!
-- Brian
<Welcome -Mich> Purple Tang &
Black Percs 10/26/06
Good evening!
<Going on
mid-day in this particular space/time orientation>
I keep an SPS
reef with 75G fuge/30G prop/100G sump. The display is a 125G six footer
that is "lightly" stocked with:
1XPurple tang
1XSix line
Mated pair of cultured black Percs
Mated pair of cultured Frid
Pseudos
and a little orange spot Goby
Aside from that its
just Acropora, Montipora, the cleaning service, and a clam. My question
is in regards to the purple tang and the black Percs. I recently
acquired my mated pairs from Inland, both are doing very well. The
Percs ran laps the first three days and have finally settled down in the
left hand corner of the tank. My Purple Tang swims long laps around the
tank but every time he comes to the Percs corner he stops and chills for
about 20 - 30 seconds right up in their faces. There is never any
outward aggression, you would think he was easing up to a cleaner
shrimp, but never the less it bugs me that maybe some passive aggression
is going on. The female perc is the only other fish in the tank that
could begin to compete size wise with the tang, she is about 1/2 his
size. The tang just swims over real slow and then very slowly floats
among the clowns. Sometimes it appears that he may be "herding" them
away from the corner, but the thing that throws me is how slow everyone
is moving while all this is happening.
Any advice?
<I urge patience here. The tang is "posturing" for dominance... but
there's space for all listed>
I have a 75G refugium on this display
with a metric ton of tang heaven green and red from IPSF and wouldn't
feel the least bit badly about tossing the tang in there if you think
this is aggression. I just do reefs, I don't know much about this fishy
business. The only other thing to consider is that my skunk cleaners
have two stations on opposite sides of the tank and the Percs area is
very near one of these stations.
<Likely the six foot separation
will suffice... they'll go to their respective corners in time>
Thanks for your time and attention, I really appreciate it,
Jeff
<Welcome. Bob Fenner> Purple tang
I have read
through your faq's on purple tangs and I found one that relates to my
problem, but I have a few other questions. I recently moved my purple
tang from qt to my 55 gallon. His other tankmates were a blue damsel,
lemon damsel, yellowtail blue damsel and a gold striped maroon clown. My
question is that today I noticed my clown on the bottom of the tank with
all of his fins chewed badly. From what I have read, it was probably the
tang. My question is that I have the clown in the qt tank now so that
his fins can heal but will I ever be able to reintroduce him into the
tank or will he just get beat up again?
<In this size, shape, kind
system, very likely it will never get along with this Tang>
Also,
would adding an anemone help him when I add him back in? The 55 is soon
to be a 135 gallon in a few months, so would I have a better chance of
just keeping the clown in qt until the move?
Thanks for all of you
help, Deanna
<I would wait on all till you have the larger
system... then place the tang in a floating colander of size (plastic,
for draining pasta normally) and keep it there, separated from the Clown
for a week or so... and read re anemones...:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/index.htm Much to
understand, go wrong... Bob Fenner> Purple Tang
<Hi Mike>
I was wondering if you have ever come across a Purple Tang
that swims very aggressively especially when the lights dim. I just
recently added a Foxface to my tank (could that be the issue ). The tang
will swim very aggressively from the top of the tank and dive toward a
clam then he swims backwards the entire length of the tank. the fish
eats well and the water parameters are fine. He has no other symptoms
that can be seen only this erratic behavior.<Sounds like the tang is
just establishing that he is the head cheese. James (Salty
Dog).>Thanks...Mike Purple Tang Night Coloring
My new Purple Tang adopts a different color at night.... pale, almost
whitish with a even lighter splotch in the middle of his stomach, I
thought this was normal but my Sailfin seems unaffected, is this normal?
<<This is normal. Makes sense too. The nighttime coloration aids in
hiding the fish from predators. Bob Fenner> Is My Purple
Tang too Purple?
Hello Mr. Fenner,
<<Hello, JasonC here - Bob
is away diving/taking pictures.>>
How are you? Thank you for your
past advices, they were extremely helpful.
I have questions regarding
the color of my purple tang.
<<ok>>
First, let me preface that I
have a 90 gallon reef aquarium for the past 3 years. I recently added a
4" yellow tang and 3" purple tang together 3 months ago. Other
inhabitants include: 1x -4" male flame wrasse, and 2x -2" female flame
wrasse. All the fishes are healthy, and behaving harmoniously,
absolutely no sparring or jousting. They are eating extremely well, and
are fed 3 times daily with your homemade recipe (finely chopped shrimp,
squid, clams, scallops, and oysters€¦plus soaked with Selcon) that was
illustrated in your book. All the food is eaten within one minute. I
also feed fresh Caulerpa (from my refugium) for the tangs on a daily
basis. My water parameters are near perfect: ammonia = 0ppm, nitrite =
0ppm, nitrate = 0 - 2ppm, temperature = constant @ 78 degree, pH = 8.2 -
8.4, salinity = 1.025ppm, carbon hardness = 10.5 dKH, and calcium =
420-440ppm.
<<sounds good.>>
The purple tang has a very dark
purple hue (almost black) to him/her regardless the time of day. It does
not have a vibrant bluish purple
coloration and I could barely see
the black spots and lines that mark his/her body. All other inhabitants
(fish and corals) have brilliant colorations. I am just wondering if it
is a nutritional or environmental disorder specific to the purple tang?
<<I highly doubt it.>>
Can the color variation be regional (the Red
Sea vs. the Indiana Ocean)? <<more of a possibility, methinks>>
Can
it be some type of diet deficiency (although the purple tang has a wide
variety foods available, especially with my 30 gallon hybrid
ecosystem/liverock refugium)?
<<I would doubt it in this case.>>
Gender differences, if so, how could one differentiate?
<<I don't
think you can sex these fish without a knife, but I could be wrong -
wouldn't be the first time.>>
Is it a matter of maturity, the color
will be more vivid through age? Or is it just a natural variation?
<<both of these are also very distinct possibilities.>>
Should I add
liquid vitamins into the tank to enhance the color?
<<you could just
put them in the food you've been making, will work as well.>>
Thank
you for taking the time to read/reply to my questions. Your website
provides extremely informative and insightful information to
help/educate hobbyists like us. Keep up the great work!
<<Bob I'm
sure will appreciate your kind words.>> <I am sure we all do. Bob F>
Best, Dan
<<Cheers, J -- >> Fwd: [SDMAS] Purple Tang loosing
pigmentation
Hi All;
Does anyone know what would cause a
purple Tang to loose pigmentation.
<Mainly nutritional deficiency...
but water quality, physical damage, disease may play a role>
My fish
has lost color on only one side and it looks like white blotches.
He
looks healthy and has been eating. I am concerned because the blotches
are getting bigger. The only thing I have done differently has been
adding Lugol's one drop a day 5 days a week ( this is what the
directions say for a tank my size). Needless to say I have stopped
adding Lugol's.
Any Ideas? Maurice B.
<I would stop the
Lugol's... look into potassium iodide instead. And do utilize a liquid
vitamin prep. on sheets of algae in the daily diet. Bob Fenner,
WetWebMedia>
|
|
