Yellow Tang picking on Hippo

Just added a new Hippo Tang to my tank and my yellow tang is picking on her. They are both around 3 inches and the yellow tang has been in there for about 2 years. All day long I see the yellow tang chasing the hippo and tring to use his tail to hurt the hippo. I dont see any damage on the hippo yet... Its only been a 24 hours so far. How long will the fighting last? Thanks

 

I suppose as long as it takes the yellow tang to feel it's "established dominance" or quit doing the "this is mine, this is mine and so is that" thing. Assuming you have an appropriately sized tank, it should pass, hopefully without harm. You could try rearranging, even just a little will probably give your hippo a better shot. Idk though. On the down side, you digging around in there may cause more stress... hippos seem more prone to "illness" to me. Maybe someone else will chime in. Good luck!

 

What size tank is it? Tangs are suseptible to Ich because they have very small scales. I would try to remove one or the other if they don't stop soon.

 

yellow tangs are a pain IMO. Turn off the lights, cover the tank and see if that will help. You can also rearrange some of the rock. The other option, is to tape a mirror to one side of the tank. I know this sounds funny but I had an aggressive yellow tang that would go after everything. Someone told me to tape a mirror to the tank so that the tang can see his reflection. It would cause the tang to try to attack his own reflection. It worked for a little while

 

Thanks for all the help so far guys. The tank is a 125g. The hippo did get a good night sleep last night... she found a nice spot between the rocks. But as soon as the light turns on... Mr yellow is after her all day. I just hope they will get along eventually. Like anb said... hope Mr Yellow is just letting Hippo know who is the boss.

 

Ya that happens. Tangs in genetal are stressed alot because they need tons of room to swim to be happy. Unfortunately, your tank is too small., as is almost all tanks for tangs. This is one fish that should just remain in the sea. Howevet it is in your tank so it is what it is, and lets do the best we can. Sooooo keep them well fed and i mean WELL fe
d . Or get ridd of one. Continual stress is soooo hard to watch.

 

tangs are a wonderful fish, very easy to keep just not together 125g will house a yellow tang imo but, the hippo is in real danger the yellow tang has a very large blade to do his bidding with and he knows how to use it, its amazing to me that in the ocean the yellow's run together and live as a unit without killing each other the hippo imo has little chance to make it with the yellow if he's been in there over 2 years he's set in his ways


look at this footage and you will see that some tangs can live together this is a good guide line to go by if you want more then one type of tang in your tank
http://www.oceanfootage.com/video_clips/MHE13_041