Odd tang behaviour...
 

Well as some of you know I have an atlantic blue tang, which has been in my tank for about two weeks now. He is eating nori, not touching mysis or flakes. Looks healthy, no signs of the ich I believe he had when I got him. He is abour 4" long. However since yesterday, he's been racing back and forth at the back of the tank, going left to right, left to right, but staying generally in the centre area of the tank. Occasionally he darts halfway to the front to swim around a rock but then returns to the back. He doesn't come to the front nor does he go above the rock shelf that reaches past halfway up the tank. Does anyone have any idea what might be going on?

Re: Odd tang behaviour...
 

Yup, he going insane being in a smaller ocean than he's used to. He may settle down, he may not. This is what the police refer to as pacing from being in too small a tank.

Really eh. Didn't expect this until he was much larger. I also figured he'd do it along the length of the tank, at the front of the tank. Well I'll give him a few more days and then we might have to arrange for him to move house.

Mine circled a large coral for 3 weeks starting a month or so after I got it. Drove me nuts watching it go round and round and....you get the idea. He has since settled in nicely and no longer paces. Just needed to adjust.

TeeVee what is the size of your tank?
Reef what is the size of the tank your tang is adjusting to .

Mine is a 5 ft. 155g. It is now very much at home and doesn't pace anymore. He's been with me for almost a year now, and doing very well.

except they are starving.. they practicly eat you hand if they see algae on it :mrgreen:

Steve

Naesco, why, I didn't expect you to show up on this thread at all! :razz:

I have a 150 gal, 48x24x30. It is the only large fish (out of four fish). I think in retrospect I should have realized that this guy was pretty much unsuitable for the tank, considering it's in the Acanthrus genus. I found that what little information was available on the species was conflicting (not much of an excuse). I do plan to remove him when he gets larger (6" or so), but for now, I just want to ensure that he does well in the available conditions. He's eating basically a sheet of garlic-soaked nori a day now. As of this evening he's calmed down a bit, less pacing, but he's hanging out at the back still, whereas up until when he started this odd behaviour, he was out and about all the time. He also has what looks like scratches on his face, likely from banging into rocks all day. I am about to do a water quality test, none of my other livestock looks stressed in any way.

So you're thinking I should feed more than three times a day?? :razz:

As you found out tangs of the Acanthurus species are swimmers. The scratches indicate that he does not have enough room to swim without scratching himself on the rocks.
Provide a `run` which is clear of rock and coral from one end of your tank to another. Ideally if you can allow an oval to be formed so that he will turn the corner and take the back route it is even better.
Reef when tangs `settle down` it is because they have no option. The tank does not meet the minimum requirements and the fish cannot do what tangs need to do which is swim.
If you observed identical fish, one in a suitable tank and another in a small tank you could see the difference > in the behaviour of the fish. The swimmer would have a big smile on his face.
:biggrin:

Unfortunately I don't feel there is a privately owned aquarium that does meet minimum requirements. So what we do is the best we can with what we have. My tangs grow, eat, interact well with their tankmates and show no signs of stress. That is my goal and I've attained it. I don't think my 150 is any less suitable than a 300 or a 1000g tank. Simply, these fish would be happier in the ocean and no tank will provide a substitute for that. As self-indulging humans we decide to justify keeping wild animals captive for our viewing pleasure in many ways. You need a large tank to justify your keeping tangs, whereas I can deal with the fact that I'm a self serving human intent on keeping a piece of the ocean that's all mine in my own house. If any of us honestly cared as much as we go on about, we wouldn't keep these poor creatures in captivity....Period.

In general, does providing a strong water flow channel through the length of the tank help by providing tangs a more "vigorous" swim?

I have found that since adding my stream, the tang seems happier. Not smiling really, but not scowling either :biggrin:

Yes IME it does two things. If the powerhead is within a foot of the surface it provides highly oxygenated water which many tangs love.
Like reef said, my observations are that they love to play in it. I do not know if they are exercising.

Providing a strong blast of current at one end of the tank helped me out big time when I had my two regals. Like most fish-tangs love to swim, to search for food(grazing) and also for exercise. Reducing swim space by placing most fish in a tank like Brad said is #!?*@# in my opinion, yet we all do it. :confused:
I would suggest like mentioned above, create a full run from side to side or better yet a full oval around the entire reef like naesco said. Then position powerheads or returns to make a decent flow in this area.
When I had both my regals before they outgrew the tank, this worked great for 2 years. I made a figure eight pattern with my rockwork, then re-adjusted the powerheads to blow in the same pattern. After only two weeks the tangs would start swimming around in opposite direction of the current. I noticed they would do this almost right after they finshed eating, as to burn more energy so they would have room for some more food :mrgreen:

I plan on getting another baby blue tang one day, as I have found it a larger home after it outgrows my reef in a year or two. But that means I would have to rearrange the rockwork and sell off corals, so maybe I will wait until my 8 footer is up and running-which will be some time yet :sad:

cheers, Rich

If you need to get rid of it quinn my tank will be going soon :razz:
I'm sure it would appreciate the extra 2 feet and extra 1" of height :lol:

Jon if you want him, then he's yours. I'll go tell him he might be moving and see if he reacts to that, I feel bad because he's started pacing the back again. :sad:

I had photos of my rockwork layout online but my host went down. I have a huge open area in the front of the tank, basically the front half and the top half are all open, with only 1/4 been rock. The rock that is there is basically four big chunks supporting a large shelf. There are a lot of open channels and from what I've seen of tangs, I know he could navigate them all very very easily. However I expect that in his state of duress, he's just rushing around and not paying attention to where he's going. For now I will see if I can move a powerhead and provide flow straight along the front of the tank (I might not have enough cord).

Sounds good quinn.
It will be a few weeks probably. maybe 1 to 2.

we will see what he does in the 6ft tank

My Powder Blue absolutely loves the two 1,100-gal powerheads (hag901's) plus the LittleG-3series. Exercise your fish.

-Stephen