Yellow Eyed Kole Tang (Ctenochaetus) with an attitude hates Flipper glass cleaner

[oceanfrontinNE]

This fish has become psychotic with my Flipper cleaner over the last week or so. Doesn’t matter which side it’s on. This isn’t the first time it’s barbed it. Any suggestions on how to get him/her over it?

PS I don’t do what’s shown in the video ever because I know it could potentially injure him.

 

[drawman]

This fish has become psychotic with my Flipper cleaner over the last week or so. Doesn’t matter which side it’s on. This isn’t the first time it’s barbed it. Any suggestions on how to get him/her over it?

PS I don’t do what’s shown in the video ever because I know it could potentially injure him. View attachment 93378

I will say it looks like the abdominal swelling isn't as bad?

 

[oceanfrontinNE]

I will say it looks like the abdominal swelling isn't as bad?

I think the swelling has completely gone away.

 

[drawman]

I think the swelling has completely gone away.

That's so weird but awesome to hear!

 

[mattzang]

i've always heard the bristletooth tangs really like small surface algaes like on the glass, so kinda makes sense in a competition way lol. algae magnet essentially messes up his dinner source for a couple days

 

[pcon]

YEKT that's a new one. These hobby names are getting out of hand, and there are like 3 or 4 different Ctenochaetus that have yellow eyes and are sometimes called Kole tangs.

psycho tangs going to do psycho tang things, and what mattzang said, lots of reports that Ctenochaetus preferentially feed on film algaes like commonly form on glass. could see the scraper as a competitor, could be following for food, could also just be seeing it as a large intruder. As for stopping it you could feed to distract or try switching up scrapers, but I wouldn’t really think the effort is worth it. I would think the risk is very low. Not sure how it could get harmed as long as the scraping is controlled, only really see issues if the scraper skipping off the glass or so rapid and violent as to hit the fish.

 

[oceanfrontinNE]

YEKT that's a new one. These hobby names are getting out of hand, and there are like 3 or 4 different Ctenochaetus that have yellow eyes and are sometimes called Kole tangs.

It’s just an acronym. I am not well-versed in the classification system of fish, so rather than attempting to find out, being overwhelmed, and giving up on posting my question because I don’t know exactly what kind of fish I have I guess I took the easy way out. If you happen to know, please do tell. Otherwise I’m not sure of the purpose of this comment.

psycho tangs going to do psycho tang things, and what mattzang said, lots of reports that Ctenochaetus preferentially feed on film algaes like commonly form on glass. could see the scraper as a competitor, could be following for food, could also just be seeing it as a large intruder. As for stopping it you could feed to distract or try switching up scrapers, but I wouldn’t really think the effort is worth it.

i've always heard the bristletooth tangs really like small surface algaes like on the glass, so kinda makes sense in a competition way lol. algae magnet essentially messes up his dinner source for a couple days

The scraper being a competition for algae is interesting. He/she does like to smooch the glass quite a bit, but will eat seaweed as well.

I would think the risk is very low. Not sure how it could get harmed as long as the scraping is controlled, only really see issues if the scraper skipping off the glass or so rapid and violent as to hit the fish.

I was referring to it injuring itself by repeated attempts at slicing the scraper. He/she did it earlier in the week and had an artificial abrasion near the base of it’s tail for a couple days. It has since healed.

 

[saf1]

You may have said this but do you leave the cleaner in the tank? If so can you remove it? You probably do so maybe ignore me. Another option maybe is to put nori on a clip on the opposite side of cleaning to see if that will keep it occupied.

Otherwise maybe clean after hours / lights off? Not sure.

 

[pcon]

It’s just an acronym. I am not well-versed in the classification system of fish, so rather than attempting to find out, being overwhelmed, and giving up on posting my question because I don’t know exactly what kind of fish I have I guess I took the easy way out. If you happen to know, please do tell. Otherwise I’m not sure of the purpose of this comment.

I was trying to be somewhat light hearted, and point out the ambiguity that can arise from the use of common names. I can't see enough detail in your video to tell between the two most likely species.

But because you ask the purpose, there are important reasons why aquarists should know what animals are under their care and community members should take the effort to be specific about the animals they are communicating on. It is not a big deal but I do not think it should be flippantly dismissed as lacking value.

For the aquarist it is important to know what the animals are that are under our care. When we know what something is we are able to find out what others have learned about them. Understanding what we are trying to keep alive seems like an important foundation to reef keeping.

Using seemingly uncommon acronyms for ambiguous common names makes this post unlikely to come up in searches and so have less value in the long term. So in a small but non-trivial way using proper IDs and binomial nomenclature is an easy way to give back to the future of the hobby, make forums slightly more searchable, give some chance of making these discussions and observations indexable.

 

[oceanfrontinNE]

I was trying to be somewhat light hearted, and point out the ambiguity that can arise from the use of common names. I can't see enough detail in your video to tell between the two most likely species.

But because you ask the purpose, there are important reasons why aquarists should know what animals are under their care and community members should take the effort to be specific about the animals they are communicating on. It is not a big deal but I do not think it should be flippantly dismissed as lacking value.

For the aquarist it is important to know what the animals are that are under our care. When we know what something is we are able to find out what others have learned about them. Understanding what we are trying to keep alive seems like an important foundation to reef keeping.

Using seemingly uncommon acronyms for ambiguous common names makes this post unlikely to come up in searches and so have less value in the long term. So in a small but non-trivial way using proper IDs and binomial nomenclature is an easy way to give back to the future of the hobby, make forums slightly more searchable, give some chance of making these discussions and observations indexable.

I don’t disagree. It’s just not what this particular post was about.

I’ll update the post to include as much info in the title about the fish that I currently have.

 

[suresm]

I’ll update the post to include as much info in the title about the fish that I currently have.

Potentially useless suggestions:
Could it possibly be light reflecting off of the metal part?
Maybe slap another magnet on it to change its shape--or zip tie something around the blade arch?
Tie chaeto to it, make it look like an unsuspecting, roving bush.

 

[DexterB]

This reminds me if what they call "object fixation" with dogs. Like when a dog focuses obsessively on a toy or an object in the home.

So @suresm may have some insightful suggestions there. Try ways to try to distract him.

It's going to be a challenge for sure, because you want to be able to clean your glass. 🫤

 

[oceanfrontinNE]

I think he’s being an a**hole to more than just the algae scraper. My engineer goby:

See him in the background? What a .

 

[Humblefish]

Wow, that's one helluva cut.

 

[saf1]

Have

I think he’s being an a**hole to more than just the algae scraper. My engineer goby:
View attachment 93592
See him in the background? What a .

Have you tried a mirror yet? Maybe that will keep it occupied. Sadly our Lavender tank went from golden bombs of light and love to a murderous ******* in under 24 hours so we rehomed it. Bummer as it had such an awesome color and everyone loved it.

 

[AcanthurusRex]

My WTB was banished after the last attack, months ago now. The YEKT is off my list. I miss him in the tank, he worked much harder than any other tang I have kept.

 

[DexterB]

Regarding mirror suggestion..

Wonder if you could super glue a mirror to a cheap magnetic tank glass cleaner. Move it to different parts of the tank to distract him.

 

[DexterB]

Sad to see but I would get your fish trap ready after seeing the engineer goby.

It is hard to trap a Bristletooth because food doesn't work as a lure.I know because I had to catch & rehome a Whitetail. Mine was peaceful for years then boom, turned aggressive when it reached a certain age. You can place trap against end of tank. Then take mirror on outside of tank end. Sooner or later tang will want to go in trap to 'attack' reflection.

 

[oceanfrontinNE]

Have


Have you tried a mirror yet? Maybe that will keep it occupied. Sadly our Lavender tank went from golden bombs of light and love to a murderous ******* in under 24 hours so we rehomed it. Bummer as it had such an awesome color and everyone loved it.

Not yet. I have one that I’m going to put up after work.

 

[oceanfrontinNE]

Regarding mirror suggestion..

Wonder if you could super glue a mirror to a cheap magnetic tank glass cleaner. Move it to different parts of the tank to distract him.

I have a small circular mirror with a magnet on it that came with my fish trap. I’m gonna do exactly what you suggested with it. Thanks for the tip!