{"id":34107,"date":"2022-12-16T15:56:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-16T14:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/petcare.econlux.de\/pretty-clever-a-blue-tang-moves-house-gets-socialized\/"},"modified":"2025-03-24T19:32:20","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T18:32:20","slug":"pretty-clever-a-blue-tang-moves-house-gets-socialized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/petcare.econlux.de\/en\/pretty-clever-a-blue-tang-moves-house-gets-socialized\/","title":{"rendered":"Pretty clever: a blue tang moves house & gets socialized"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Moving into a new aquarium is an adventure for both parties involved – fish and observer. And when it is even the arrival of a previously dominant blue tang to a defensive fish community, it becomes particularly exciting. <\/p>\n\n

This article is part of a series of articles on “Experiences with saltwater aquariums”. In this loose collection, our author Andreas Berns — an aquarium consultant with many years of experience with aquariums of all types and sizes — reports anecdotally and entertainingly on special aquarium inhabitants, interesting integration projects and curious experiences. He also gives valuable tips on keeping the species described. The following stories have been published so far:Beware of poison: Lionfish in the reef aquarium<\/a>Pretty clever: a blue tang moves house & gets socialized<\/a>Tridacnidae: A myth in the sea<\/a>Tough little gemstone in the marine aquarium: the horse actinia Actinia equina<\/a><\/p>\n\n

The prehistory<\/h2>\n\n

15 cm long, well-fed, powerful and absolute king in his kingdom – that was the first impression \u2018King\u2019 (my friend gives all his fish a name) — the blue tang — made on me. He was obviously quite rough with the other inhabitants of the aquarium, which was now far too small for him. This was evidenced by the respectful distance that all the other fish kept from him – regardless of whether it was feeding time or whether he was simply making his rounds through the aquarium. <\/p>\n\n

\u2018King\u2019 was looking for a new home, or to be more precise, his owner at the time wanted to get rid of him at all costs as he was too big for the aquarium, too aggressive for the other fish and absolutely deadly for all the new fish that had tried to share the aquarium with him in the last 6 months. He should therefore be moved to a new home as soon as possible. <\/p>\n\n

Blue tang in nature and aquarium<\/h2>\n\n

First of all, a little information about the fish species: Blue tangs (Paracanthurus hepatus<\/em>) have a very large distribution area in the wild. Specimens can be found from East Africa to Japan. Paracanthurus hepatus are (with a few restrictions) generally suitable fish for marine aquariums. <\/p>\n\n

They can be kept quite easily both in fish-only aquariums and in reef aquariums stocked mainly with soft corals. It is not advisable to keep them in an aquarium with stony corals or special attention must be paid to the filtration, as the water load is very high due to the enormous metabolic rate of the doctors. This will either damage the corals in the long term or the doctors will have to be put on a \u2018permanent diet\u2019, which in turn would not be good for the fish. <\/p>\n\n

In the wild, blue tangs often live in pairs or small shoals, always using a suitable jagged coral (usually Pocillopora eydouxi<\/em>) as a refuge from predators. However, the term \u2018territory-bound\u2019 is to be defined quite generously: The territory, which is fiercely defended against conspecifics and other similarly coloured fish of the same size, in which the blue tangs hunt for plankton far above the seabed, often has a radius of 5 to 10 metres. <\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

Always restless<\/h3>\n
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