Added two new family members to my 180 Reef tank today: The gold pyramid butterflyfish, and the Paracanthurus Hipatus blue tang. I need to add the full name for the tang because there is a lot of confusion over the word “blue tang” in the trade.
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| Shot o my mix reef with the new fish. Lower left is the desjardini. pyramid butterfly in the middle. and the blue tang next to the clarkii clownfish. |
My initial fear for adding these two fish were: 1) the pair of flame angel can be aggressive to any new comers regardless of species and size. 2) the desjardini tang being aggressive towards another tang.
The result- I actually also also introduced four blue line cardinal fish at this time, and no one messed with them at all, they joined my existing school right away. When introducing the butterfly, only one of the two flame angelfish came up and sized him up a bit but then left it alone afterward. All other fish completely ignores it. The blue tang went into hiding for 10 minutes and scared himself upon introduction- in my experience, very usual behavior for this shy fish. After 10 minutes it came out and swam around and explore the boundaries. No one bothered the tang at all, not even the desjardini. The blue tang must look so different from the desjardini tang that it they felt no threat to each other at all.