Odd fish behavior

[Gardiner]

I just purchased a Powder Blue Tang. I decided to turn my 90g refugium into a temporary QT as I know Powder Blues are notorious for getting ich. My fuge is also home to a 3" pufferfish. A few minutes after introduction to the tank the puffer came over to inspect the tang. The puffer rolled onto his side, and the tang flicked him with his tail. I have seen this happen twice so far.

Is this normal dominance/submissive fish behavior? I have never seen anything like it. They are very different species.

 

[pillowfish]

How large is the PBT? I am not exactly sure what the behavior you are seeing is, but, PBT's are generally a pretty aggressive fish and make their presence well known and quite a few puffers are much slower and docile in nature. This may just be them "setting the rules" straight, but again only my opinion....give a bit and see what happens. Newly acquired fish usually take a bit to settle in. Good Luck, PBT's are a gorgeous fish!

 

[Gardiner]

The PBT is about 3". I wanted it the day it came in, but decided to do some research on it. I went back the next day and it had ich(Thank god I waited). When I stopped by yesterday it looked very healthy, so I bought it and put it in QT. He is already eating like a pig which is a good sign. I am just not sure why he is dirty dancing with my puffer.

I am starting to realize that fish are more social, and smart than I ever would of thought.

 

[Greg Hiller]

I cannot tell you anything about the puffer/PBT behavior, but IME PBT's get and seemingly kick ick about every other day. I don't sweat it too much, I just feed the fish lots of good food and wait. Almost any stress will cause the ick to surface for a day or so.

 

[addictedreefer]

Also, a refugium is certainly not a QT. Presumably it's connected to your display, therefore if the PBT does have Ich it will easily spread to the display. In addition, hyposalinity and copper treatments that would be effective in a true QT can't be used in your fuge. At this point you might as well just add the PBT as the damage has been done.