low importance - how do tangs know?

My male anthias is constantly battling his reflection in the glass. You'd think he would figure it out but that "other" guy is in his territory and he is not happy.

 

Reminded me of this because it was on earlier lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuoNt1o8mMU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

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sorry for hijacking but isnt it funny how a post that says low importance gets more hits so quickly compared to something saying urgent lol

 

I was just thinking the exact same thing. Haha. But its a very interesting topic. I can see how this thread got alot of attention.

 

Wow I didnt expect so many great responses. Thought I was just thinking crazy thoughts lol.
I didnt leave the mirror up for too long, I wasnt sure making everyone angry was good for them. They did fight with each other less afterwards but that may have been coincidence.
Was interesting that they were more concerned with their own reflection the the other tang or other tangs reflection while it was up tho.
Thanks for the replies everyone!

 

Can I comment a bit more on this? I was just in the neighborhood and started reading here, and it really hit home, cause I've got a young hippo in my tank. I placed 1x1 ft mirror panels across my whole back side of the tank so I could see behind my rocks. I didn't even think about territorialism, but the weird thing is that after I put the mirrors in, she seems to spend more time in the back now (it kinda upset me, I liked her out front) but now I have better vantage views of the tank. She's not beating the glass or fighting anything, but do you guys suppose my hippo feels, like most young fish have the urge, to school together? When it gets older is it going to start fighting that "buddy" it hung around with when younger........

 

Thats an awesome idea to see more of your tank! I probably wont be trying it on mine now tho lol.
I would imagine that if your hippo grows up seeing it there, it would be unlikely to all of a sudden behave differently at a certain age? Maybe it thinks theyre like a pair? I wonder if you could replace the mirror with another hippo for it to actually pair with. (probably dont try that to find out lol)

 

LOL!

That's so true, though- we have no idea.

FTR, adult Tangs swim in very large schools in the wild, so my question is, how can we assume that their aggression in our tanks is a "natural instinct" when neither captive life nor their behavior are even natural? I would consider it more of a common response to the stress of being out of their natural habitat.