Jimroth's Big Ol' Tank: Fish Fun
I continued my stocking plan by adding a particularly nice Copperband Butterfly I found at a store I frequent. It isn't one of the really big Australians, but it wasn't $180, either, so that makes up for it. It's a medium big one, shipped out of Bali.
I wish I had heeded what I read about powder blue tangs on RC, because while mine studiously ignores all the other fish in the tank, it HATES the copperband, because it was added after the tang. This is pretty common from what I have read. The tang, in fact, made its invisible stripes of rage appear, and decided to spent all its time KICKING THE BUTTERFLY'S BUTT. It's not a small copperband; it's the same size as the tang, and yet the tang is swimming circles around it, nipping it, trying to slash it with its, um, tang thingies. The 'fly hides in the rocks and the tang actually backs into the rocks to poke the other fish with its tail. And I'm thinking oh how stupid, who can I foist this fish on to save its life? So I turn out the lights, and the abuse stops, and today I feed extra heavy, which seems to calm everybody down. And the butterfly is eating pretty enthusiastically, mysis and bloodworms, which is a good thing, if you think about it, since it's been stressed by having its butt kicked. Still the tang is attacking, but the butterfly has found a corner and he's not leaving it.
So all of a sudden, after 24 hours or so, and a lot more mysis, the tang loses interest. Nope, he doesn't care anymore about the copperband. And the other fish is clearly traumatized, every time the tang comes by, the butterfly goes into his defensive posture, head down, spines up. But he's moving around the tank a little more, eating all the fanworms. Crisis averted, for now at least.
It's amazing to me, like a science show in my own home. Nature red in tooth and claw, as they say.
I continued my stocking plan by adding a particularly nice Copperband Butterfly I found at a store I frequent. It isn't one of the really big Australians, but it wasn't $180, either, so that makes up for it. It's a medium big one, shipped out of Bali.
I wish I had heeded what I read about powder blue tangs on RC, because while mine studiously ignores all the other fish in the tank, it HATES the copperband, because it was added after the tang. This is pretty common from what I have read. The tang, in fact, made its invisible stripes of rage appear, and decided to spent all its time KICKING THE BUTTERFLY'S BUTT. It's not a small copperband; it's the same size as the tang, and yet the tang is swimming circles around it, nipping it, trying to slash it with its, um, tang thingies. The 'fly hides in the rocks and the tang actually backs into the rocks to poke the other fish with its tail. And I'm thinking oh how stupid, who can I foist this fish on to save its life? So I turn out the lights, and the abuse stops, and today I feed extra heavy, which seems to calm everybody down. And the butterfly is eating pretty enthusiastically, mysis and bloodworms, which is a good thing, if you think about it, since it's been stressed by having its butt kicked. Still the tang is attacking, but the butterfly has found a corner and he's not leaving it.
So all of a sudden, after 24 hours or so, and a lot more mysis, the tang loses interest. Nope, he doesn't care anymore about the copperband. And the other fish is clearly traumatized, every time the tang comes by, the butterfly goes into his defensive posture, head down, spines up. But he's moving around the tank a little more, eating all the fanworms. Crisis averted, for now at least.
It's amazing to me, like a science show in my own home. Nature red in tooth and claw, as they say.
