Yellow Tail Blue Tang

[chalmies19832002]

I bought a yellow tailed blue tang about a week ago and he has come out a few times but still doesnt stay out long. What is the deal and is he sick. I know that they hide out until comfortable but I thought by now he would be. Any help would be great! thanks

[mandarin11]

Need to know a bit more before we can help:

tank size
fish size
water params ('good' doesn't count, give us numbers)
tank age
other tankmates

Give us this info and we'll see if we can help

[chalmies19832002]

specific numbers cant give you but specific gravity is 1.023 55 gallon with koralia 1200 gph and koralia 850 gph just checked water at LFS yesterday and said was perfect. Two false percs, one fu man chu lionfish (AWESOME BY THE WAY), flame hawkfish, snails and crabs, been up and running around 3 mounths. 55 lbs live rock. and some corals

[mandarin11]

Alright, next time you get your water params checked, ask for numbers. Often times a LFS's definition of 'good' is differentfrom a reefers. (I kid you not, some LFS from my home town said that nitrates at 80 was fine)

Another thing, you have a lot of flow in that tank. I don't know how big your fish is, but look at him closely if he ever comes out. Is he getting blown across the tank? Don't get me wrong,flow is good, but you have like what, a koralia 4 and another koralia 3, in there on top of your return? Just make sure everyone can swim alright.

And third, the lion fish. Yes, he's a dwarf, yes, they normally don't move much, and yes, he will most likely eat your fish at some point. Clownfish are pretty much asking to be eaten due to the way they swim. (One spot, just wiggling.) I'd consider your compatibility in that situation very carefully.

Once again I don't know how big your tang is, but it would be nice to know. I'd also throw a cleaner shrimp in there. a) It's awesome natural parasite control b) it might bring your shy tang out more to get cleaned c) face it, they're cool little dudes

[wildreef]

Originally Posted by chalmies19832002

I bought a yellow tailed blue tang about a week ago and he has come out a few times but still doesnt stay out long. What is the deal and is he sick. I know that they hide out until comfortable but I thought by now he would be. Any help would be great! thanks

well the only one i can think of that you may have ( which i have owned sevral )
YOU have a Hippo tang it sound like. have a picture you could share with us ?
As a side note any fish will tend to hide when first introduced into new surroundings.
think about it > ever stayed in a strange place other than your own/bed ?

[mandarin11]

well the only one i can think of that you may have ( which i have owned sevral )
YOU have a Hippo tang it sound like. have a picture you could share with us ?
As a side note any fish will tend to hide when first introduced into new surroundings.
think about it > ever stayed in a strange place other than your own/bed ?

I agree. I just want to rule a few other things out.

Chalmies-don't freak when you read my posts. In all reality you probably got a really shy fish that is taking longer to come out like wildreef said. He will probably come out on his own, but as stated above I just want to make sure that shyness is all we're dealing with here.

[chalmies19832002]

the lionfish is a fu man chu which is as big as he gets and he cant eat anything in the tank. He is a really cool fish, but the other fish way bigger than him I am just concerned i havent seen the tang eat yet?

[chalmies19832002]

The tang has eaten now but I still dont see him very much. Should I be concerned.

[wildreef]

Originally Posted by chalmies19832002

The tang has eaten now but I still dont see him very much. Should I be concerned.

If it's a healthy specimen from the beginning ( wasint half starved when ya bought it ) you should be fine.
As far as being shy , I would suppose you've seen an improvement in it's moving around the tank ?

and if so' its a very good sign that the fish will do fine.
( i dont know what other fish or what are the size relation the hippo has comapred to the other fish in the tank )


Stress kills more fish than you could imagine.
Ive seen and had perfectly good looking,seemingly healthy fish die.
and then turned around and had sickly looking beast's given to me and then surrvived.

Most people might not agree' i think each fish ( no matter its size/age )
has it's own personality.( of course type of fish too )
One fishe's desire to reduce it's own stress and aclimate to any given tank is clearly it's own choice.
Some species though are harder to feed / aclimate in its surroundings though.

A hippo tang seems to have a passive / shyness to it while say' a sohol tang is a more agressive type .
I my self have a hippo now no bigger than a half dollar in size ( had it bought 3 months ).
But now it shows signs of agressive behavior towards the brown barred goby
( which is clearly longer/bigger than the hippo ).

I just added a sailfin to the tank ( talk about skiddish and seemingly afraid of its own shaddow )
But now in the last couple of days , its now attempting to eat and share space with the little hippo tang at the same clip i feed sea weed from.

But they do have their little "flaring" bout's at each other . LOL
Its funny to watch the little "hippo" try to impress and flare/puff up as big as he can get in relation to the saifin.
But sailfin throws them sails up and shows the hippo "who he is in the tank"

Now this is in a 220 gal. tank and the more space "a" given fish has to share with another means less fighting.

[Tangster]

Hippos / Paracanthurus hepatus are kind of skiddish anyways and tweak out real easily , I have had them to take a few weeks to start peeking out . If there is another fish in there bullying it ? it make take longer its pecking at rocks and algae for food thats their job in the wild where he was a few days before you found him , It can take weeks for it to accumulate to captivity and then it may never settle in not all do. But don't keep tossing in food for it you could foul the tank and they eat vegetable matter most like OSI Spirulina flake' the best all around food I ever found for them to eat.