[jsgates]

I've had an Orange-Finned Tomini Tang in my 80 ga. reef for several months now. He is the largest fish in my tank. I researched this fish before purchasing and read that they are not an agressive fish. He is not overly agressive, but he gets territorial with my Foxface, which is slightly smaller than him, occasionally. Most of the time they swim side by side in the tank and get along fine, but then sometimes he will nip at the Foxface's side and chase him. The Foxface always returns expanding his fins out, but this does not scare the Tomini. It is kind of funny, as no fish is ever injured during these encounters, but the Foxface may end up changing to the color of a bruised bananna and hiding in the corner of the tank for about 10 mins. Then all is back to normal. The Tomini will also chase away my lawnmower blenny sometimes if he is grazing in the same area. The lawmower never bothers other fish, and always escapes the tang easily. On the the other side of things.............my Royal Gramma used to ocassionally harrass my small blue hippo tang, but after adding the Tomini, that stopped completely. Tomini is great and is a very nice looking fish. He keeps my Gramma in check so he doesn't bother other fish. He never hurts the other fish, but he gets real testy with the Foxface.........usually provoked by the Foxface. Is this normal behavior and is there anything I should be worried about if the fish are not injured? I currently have a small powder brown tang in QT. Blue Hippo and Tomini get along fine, so I'm hoping all goes well with the powder brown........I know 3 tangs is a little dangerous, but Hippo & Powder brown are both passive, so we are going to see what happens? Any suggestions regarding the Tomini & the Foxface? I'm thinking I made add a few more pieces of live rock to add some additional caves.

[Jason L]

or try and put a mirror up for a day or so see if that works has worked here before

[jsgates]

Update.............I now think there is a good possibility the Tomini Tang was responsible for the death of my lawnmower blenny. He is getting evicted, but catching him in the reef is almost impossible. He is in and out of the caves. I will get him eventally and back to the store with him. I'm sure the Foxface will be happy. He is just too aggressive. To bad too because he is an Orange Fin and they aren't as common.

[IceMan]

that's a shame, a gorgeouse and unusual fish...

[jsgates]

Another update. Talked to the LFS today when I went to get a replacement for my Lawnmower Blenny, and they will give a 1/3 of what I paid for the Tomini for in-store-credit. That is fine with me, he will find a good home in a larger tank. He is a beautiful fish.....I will have another when I build my BIG tank in several years. You can't blame the fish, but I destroyed my reef in the process of catching him. Had to remove all corals and rock. Good news is I have a much cleaner tank now and a different aquascape. And now there is a cave to put my Gorgonian in.....it's still hanging in there.