Re: x-mass tree worms and purple tang
Hello again gents. I have a Porites coral with xmas tree worms all over it and was wondering if I get a purple tang will it try to eat the xmas tree worms?
<Your Porites with Xmas Tree worms is likely safe from a Purple Tang, but still not likely to live long term. These are known for dying in captivity. Their secret has eluded the hobby. We are not even sure what the worms eat.>
Also do the purple tangs bother open brain corals and hammer, anchor etc.?
<No, Tangs in general do not bother corals.>
Thanks!
<You are welcome. -Steven Pro>

Purple Tang Bully
Thank you for the advice on placing my flame wrasse.  He was starting to pale out and smash his head in the QT tank so after a week, no signs of disease I gave him a dip and placed him in my 55 gallon.
<Ah, good>
His color is very good now, but my purple tang has become aggressive.  He used to live peacefully with my
maroon clown, but now he is mad and is nipping clown and wrasse.  For the first few days the wrasse would barely come out and when he did the purple would chase him back in to hiding.  He seems to hold his own a little more
now, it has been five days.  But there is a little nip out of the flame's top fin and both little bottom front fins on the clown are about half the size they were.  I never see the aggression towards the clown, maybe it happens at night, but it is obvious the purple doesn't like the wrasse.  I thought the clown was being nipped by a big white-spotted scarlet reef crab, so I removed the crab, but the nips I see are new.  Other inhabitants are 6 tiny hermits, about 1/2 inch, 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 brittle star, and 2 feather dusters, all of which are not bothered by the purple tang.  My question is whether this aggression will continue, it has been five days and it seems a little better but there is physical damage, though minor, to the fins of the other 2 fish.  The tang of course looks better than ever.  Also the clown doesn't seem to care that the tang has nipped its fins, it still swims right next to the tang following it around like it always has.  I have 5 little green Chromis, and 3 neon gobies in QT right now with about a week left, I was hoping that adding these might reduce the tang's aggressiveness, will it?
<I would try removing the Purple Tang (to the quarantine tank) for about five days or so... this move, isolation will often quiet down a natural bully>
I wasn't planning on adding any more fish to the tank after that.  But I do have another question about a blenny I saw in a display tank at an LFS.  They called it a yellow or gold Sailfin blenny from Tonga.  They said it was pretty rare and there was a long waiting list for it.  They didn't know the scientific name for it and I looked through all the blenny stuff on your web site and haven't seen this particular one.  It is one of the cutest fish I have ever seen, looking very cartoonish, very big eyes and flat forehead.  It has a fatter and shorter body style than most of the blennies and looks the most similar to what they call a black Sailfin blenny on ffexpress, except it was a very bright true yellow.  Do you have any idea what genus this blenny is in so I could research it more, and you know what it is, is it a good fish for an aquarium or not, also would it mix with the other fish I have, if I was to ever get one with the long waiting  list.
<This fish might well get along with what you have if the system is large enough. Please see here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/sabertoothblens.htm
What you have seen is likely Meiacanthus ovalauensis>
Thank you so much for the wonderful advice in the past, it has saved my fish. Kylee
<Glad to have helped you help your livestock. Bob Fenner>

"Reef-Safe" Purple Tang? 6/15/03
I have a 55 gallon tank. It has a Colt Coral, Torch Coral, Large Pearl Bubble, Open Brain and a Green Daisy Polyp. I have one fish in there. He is a purple tang. He has been in the tank a few weeks and has only recently picked at the Open Brain and just the Open Brain. He picks at it just like he does the live
rock. Is this OK?
<not uncommon unfortunately... and not OK. It will kill the coral(s) in time. Zebrasoma tangs are often picky on corals. The American hobbyists tend to tolerate it... but several prominent European books/authors do not regard tangs as reef-safe at all. I agree that they are serious nibblers at times.>
Will it hurt the Open Brain?
<will kill it for certain in time. They must be separated>
What should I watch for? I don't want to move this fish back with my Foxface Rabbit, Coral Beauty, and Blue Headed Wrasse in my other tank if I don't have to. Is the Open Brain like a rock to the tang or has he developed a taste for meat.
<the latter>
I feed him Two Little Fishes Seaweed, Formula one, Sweetwater Plankton, Flake food and Mysis Shrimp. Happy Father's Day!..............Chet
<to you in kind, best regards. Anthony>

Rule of thumb on tangs?
Mr. Fenner:
I went out on a limb purchased a Purple Tang from the display tank of my dealer where it has been kept with another yellow tang for nearly one year now. I have been admiring this tang in the tank since I began researching the hobby and the store owner agreed to sell it to me today.
Unfortunately, to my dismay, when I brought the tang home and placed the bag in the tank, my yellow tang immediately began swiping the bag with its tail and acting very aggressive towards the fish in the bag. Both fish are of
nearly equal size.
I currently have the purple in a quarantine tank but am afraid that when I add it to the display tank, my yellow will be aggressive towards it. Do you think I should see if I can return the tang to the dealer? Does this behavior sometimes subside? I would certainly hate to endanger either one of these beautiful fish by placing them in a situation where they will pester each other to death. I truly appreciate your advice and the time you have spent responding to my questions. I look forward to hearing your wisdom on this situation. Thank you, Jason
<<Hmmm, don't know about the wisdom bit, but here's my take on the possibility. Try the Purple one more time... after leaving the lights on your system for twenty four hours straight (won't hurt anything) and moving a good deal of the "decor", live rock about... this will disorient the Yellow which may still "joust" then and occasionally (i.e. ongoing), but unless you see real damage, don't be too concerned. Similar sizes, shapes, resource utilization in tangs (and other fishes) result in these agonistic displays...
Bob Fenner>>

Purple & Yellow Tang
Would a purple tang get along with my yellow tang in a  75 gallon tank, or am I asking for trouble? Thanks.
<<I'd give you good odds they would learn to get along... their might be some "jousting" from time to time (especially initially), but your order of introduction is right... and they should do fine. Bob Fenner>>

Clown Attack(ed by Zebrasoma, News at 11:00!)
I mentioned in a prior email that the maroon clown that went in last week took up residence in the plate coral. During my hours of observing the tank today, I noticed that the purple tang is picking on the clown a lot. The tang (which seems to be becoming the dominant fish in the system--even dominating the larger yellow tangs) will hover over the plate coral and then nip at the clown. The clown will retreat farther into the plate coral to avoid these attacks. It doesn't appear serious at the moment, however, it also doesn't seem common that a Zebrasoma will be that aggressive toward another fish not of its same genus--and especially to another fish that is minding its own business and not really moving around the system that much, like the clown. From what I can tell, the clown is the only fish in the system that he picks on (other than a few innocuous tail-offs with the yellows). Also, I haven't observed this behavior until today--so it seems to have started recently. Is this aggressive behavior between the tang and the clown normal? At this point, should I just keep a watchful eye to make sure it doesn't get out of hand between these two?
<Any evidence of physical damage? Probably not... and yes to all marine fishes being "aggressive" to a degree... Likely no worries here.>
Hope you had a nice weekend. Chat soon.
<Ah yes... finished the pectiniids (a family of Stony Corals), and am doing my bit, editing Scott Michael's upcoming re-do of "Sharks and Rays"... and a friend helped with a PP mock-up that I'll be presenting next month at the WMC... a fab pet-fish wknd for sure. Bob Fenner>

Sohal then Purple Tang Introduction
Mr. Bob Fenner (hero, sage and wise man),
<Just a pet-fish type of guy, please>
After much reading (your book, Dakin's, Delbeek & Sprung's FAQ's and articles at WWM and FFexpress and others), I still did something (I think) might have been "dumb" in the stocking order of my tank re: Sohal tang.
<We can/could start a club... with a very large potential membership>
Seduced by its beauty, I put a 6" Sohal tang in my system on Friday. 
<Yikes... kind of big... territorial for a 110...>
The 110 tank currently has: 2 small ocellaris clowns (<1.5"), a purple Firefish, a Banggai cardinal, 2 Lysmata cleaner shrimp and a sally lightfoot crab (2" wide from toe to toe). I was wanting to add a Purple Tang and, from what I read, I better do it soon! 
<Yes>
I will have to wait 'til Tuesday because, even though a LFS has lots of brownish ones from the P.I.,
<Hmm, this species range doesn't extend this far east... the Philippines have Zebrasoma veliferum and Z. scopas only...:http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?ID=12023
Only found from the Red Sea over to the Maldives...>
the Red Sea ones (bright purplish blue) are in the LFS quarantine until then. Did I blow it? Is that too long to wait?
<Likely no problem... some "jousting" to be expected....>
Are they going to fight like cats and dogs. From what I read, they do OK after some sparring, if added at the same time. What are my chances after waiting a 4 days? 
<Still good>
I will turn lights off for 24 hours and maybe take out a chunk of lace rock and replace it with a big piece of Live Rock at the same time (I think I'll have to replace at lease 2 pieces of the lace rock and get more LR in the system eventually). I know I was to add this fish last in the system order but can I still add smaller, non-tang, non-alpha fish like gobies and pygmy angels and such in the future or an I in trouble there too?
<As long as they're subdominant, smart, fast, that there's plenty of hiding spaces...>
He doesn't bother the current small, sedentary fish although his size and
activity level scare the H out of them and they keep their distance.
Technical Details:
Hardware
Running for 6 months, I have a 110 Ga, with Aqua Medic T1.000 skimmer, 40 W Lifegard UV, Ocean Clear 340 Micron filter, Amiracle Maxi Reef Trickle Filter. In the tank, I have 3 large (~16" dia), very holey pieces of lace lock (no live rock), 60 lbs of aragonite (oolite) and 40 lbs of live sand on top.
Water Perimeters
Temp 82 Deg F., SG 1.0225, pH 8.2, KH 10, Ammonia 0, Nitrite, <0.3mg/l, Nitrate, 12.5 mg/l, Ca++ 380mg/, Iodine <0.01ppm (dose 2 ml every day of Kent concentrated iodine (for cleaner shrimp. Not much algae other than Diatom.
Feeding:
Greens: Clip with Ocean Nutrition Seaweed Selects Macroalgae sheets
Meats: 1/4 tablet of Pro Pops Marine Supreme frozen food-morning and evening.
P.S. The cleaner shrimp love climbing around and giving the Sohal a "cleaning". Fun to watch.
<Yes, and valuable activity>
Always amazed that a smart guy like you is available to guys who do dumb things,
<Umm, am actually one and the same... Must "look better" on the net than reality... Really. Your live rock addition, lace rock moving sounds good, your set-up and parameters as well. I would go ahead with your current stocking plan... Should the Sohal prove to be trouble later you can always trade it in. Such large and larger specimens are almost always in demand for large tanks/service accounts. Bob Fenner>
John ILG

Cleaner Shrimp and a Purple Tang
Bob,
Thanks for all the good advice you've given us in the past.
We had a purple tang and a fire shrimp in our 90-gallon reef. We purchased a number of mushrooms from Flying Fish Express that came in a very poor condition. We had asked for a lavender Bullseye mushroom but was sent what we believe is a lavender-tipped mushroom. The lavender-tipped mushroom was in such bad condition that it quickly began dying after a number of days.
<Yikes... maybe got overheated... if lives may turn more lavender...>
About 3 or 4 days after receiving the FFExpress order, the fire shrimp was
dead. We've thought of several reasons for this death and wanted to get
your opinion.
1. Our initial thought was that the lavender-tipped mushroom had stung the
fire shrimp and wounded it beyond recovery.
<What? These were NOT shipped in the same bag I trust? In the tank it may have been poisoned, and yes, stung...>
2. The purple tang never allowed the fire shrimp to clean him and so we
thought that he may have finally killed the fire shrimp after all of the
upset of the mushroom addition.
<Not likely>
Water parameters are great. One other question...
Our purple tang seems to be rather aggressive. Can you recommend some other fish that we could add to the tank in light of this tang's personality?
<Look on the www.WetWebMedia.com site for the Fishwatcher's Guide to... the Red Sea: http://wetwebmedia.com/redseafwgv1.htm
for input here... the fishes listed or ones like them from elsewhere...>
As always, thanks for your help. Regards, Michael and Lynn Rivera
<Be chatting my friends. Bob Fenner>

City of Angels
Hey Bob,
<Rick... Anthony Calfo here in Bob's stead while he's preoccupied with braiding the hair under his arms...although I must say that his choice of beads is quite striking>
I have a purple and a yellow tang in my 75 gall. They've been together for about 3 months. 
<who the heck told you that would be a good mix?>
The yellow is a little bigger and the two of them are ALWAYS squaring off. 
<ahhh, yes... I should have read further along>
The purple usually backs down and rarely takes a nick in his fins. So it's not like they are tearing one another apart, but my question is: Is this constant battling going to take it's toll on them?
<absolutely... extended aggression, heightened state of stress, yadda yadda yadda... translates to higher incidence of disease and the like. Any chance of them settling in o a pecking order is long gone by the three month point>
Should I remove one (yellow)? 
<yes, please remove one>
Maybe the reason that I'm thinking of moving one is more selfish. I'm growing to not like tangs that much at all! All they do is fight and eat!! 
<whoa, buddy... don't shoot the tangs. Smack the guy that told you they would work together. The tangs are only doing what comes naturally for them...defending their feeding/breeding territory. Otherwise, it's like resenting birds for flight...hehe>
Maybe if I just had one it could relax a bit. 
<agreed>
Angels are so much more fun to watch.
<I don't know... I've never seen one. Although I loved that movie with Meg Ryan and Nicholas Cage>
Thanks AGAIN my friend. Keep up the good work. Rick
<Thank you, sir for putting up with my humor (or lack thereof) while sharing advice. Best regards, my friend. Anthony>  

Pearlscale Butterfly & Purple Tang Compatibility
What are the changes of a Pearlscale butterfly and a purple tang getting along. The purple tang has been in the tank for about 6 months. They are both approximately the same size..
<Assuming the tank is large enough to house these fish, They should do fine. They are significantly different colors and eat different foods.>
Thanks! ~Bill
<You are welcome. -Steven Pro>