Trenton Henderson Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 In the last couple of days, my yellow eye kole tang started chasing my gold head sleeper goby. I introduced both of them simultaneously about a month ago. He isn't always chased around, but he has been frequently. The tang nipped at his rear fin and the dorsal fin. The tang has a nipped spot on his tail, and a couple of skin abrasions. Is this all of a sudden a territorial dispute that will go away, or should I be concerned? Thanks, Trenton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badxgillen Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 How big is the tank, is there a decent amount of rock to provide caves and visual barriers between the fish. It could very well be a territorial thing especially if the tang has staked out some rock work that it feels it has to compete for. With aggressive tangs I try and always keep their belly full, gives em less to fuss about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trenton Henderson Posted May 17, 2015 Author Share Posted May 17, 2015 It's a 55 gallon. It's not a big tang, so there isn't a problem with room. The goby had his own hole, and the tang never hides, he's everywhere. There is almost wall to wall rock. There is one place where there isn't rock, but the goby isn't over there. Will all of this end? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derbird Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 The bristle tooth tangs (Kole is one) tend to be little jerks to tank mates if they are the big fish on the reef. Mine would pick on any fish that did not fight back. My solution would unfortunately not work in a 55. I introduced a Salilfin tang that was larger and kept him in line when he got in that mood. Good luck keeping the peace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exodus Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 yup, know this scenario very well myself. I will never buy another Kole tang because of it, the one I had in my 125G kept 2 sleeper goby's hiding till they starved to death and would not let them do their work. If there wasnt so much live rock in the tank I would have removed the tank and kept the goby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Your tank is too small even though the tang is small. Tangs like to have a lot of room to swim and I suspect the aggression starting now is simply that it has gotten used to its new surroundings and is feeling stressed about the lack of swimming space. I would recommend rehoming it as you are likely going to run into more problems as it grows and if you try to add other fish to the tank. I just came back from Hawaii and saw a lot of Kole tangs and they liked having a lot of space to move around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matty Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Kole's are jerks, especially in smaller tanks. I had one in a 40 breeder that did the same to my starry blenny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arsonmfg Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 I've had two Kole tangs go completely insane, both in large tanks... However one of them only tried to kill yellow fish for some reason, yellow tang, Foxface Lo, Yellow Goby... Didn't give two poops about anything else in the tank but it would spend all day attacking anything with yellow with a vengeance. I finally ended up just removing the Kole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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