Adding Purple Tang w/ Existing Yellow Tang

[BigHildy53]

I have a 6' 180g DT with the following tangs:
Yellow (about 4 inches long)
Kole
Tomini
Blue x2

Other fish include two wrasse, diamond goby, yellow goby, magnificent foxface and five smallish clownfish.

Would you add a purple tang?

 

[BigHildy53]

Forgot, also have a sailfin tang.

 

[Bj’s Reef]

I'm going to follow this discussion . They would look great together, However I'm not sure it will work.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Two zebrasomas in the same tank is always hit or miss.....but three???

Also, six tangs in a 180 seems a bit crowded.

@4FordFamily knows a thing or two about tangs.

 

[MounteeFrag]

Did not work for me and I have a 240 gallon tank

 

[Peter K]

I personally would hold off. Your chances of everyone getting along are definitely 50/50. I have 5 tangs in my 180 - 2 zebrasomas (yellow and scopas) but they went into the tank at the very start and all my tangs get along great. However, yesterday a friend of mine tried to add a powder blue to his tank that had a yellow tang and a sailfin (all 3 of which were around the same size) and the two existing tangs absolutely tore the powder blue to shreds in under 8 hours. He was able to get the powder blue out but the existing tangs were not pleased. Each fish has a different personality so no one for sure can say if it will work or not but keep in mind the aggression from your tangs to the new purple may not just be limited to the two zebrasomas.

 

[4FordFamily]

Adding another zebrasoma tang to a large, established zebrasoma tang is risky. Adding two is actually less risky as it’ll make it harder to single one out.

That many tangs in a 180 is doable with good nutrient export, fewer other fish, and some luck.

Not for everyone though. Mixing tangs is always a risk

 

[BigHildy53]

Now I wish I put a purple in with the yellow. But at the time I was too scared to spend the money for a purple. When I upgrade to a 300+ I'll do it...no timeline...need to hit the lottery...

 

[HB AL]

It can work just be prepared for a little fight. I added a purple tang to my reef tank around 5 months ago that had my yellow tang in it for about 1.5 years. It pretty much went as I expected, the yellow tang beat the purple tang up pretty good, it lasted around 1 week, during that time the purple tang could not leave a small corner of the tank. When I fed the fish I would squirt some where it was to make sure it got plenty of food. After about a week the yellow tang backed off some and allowed the purple to come out and eat. Fast forward and the purple tang is now part of the pack. If you add the purple tang I would expect there to be some pretty big brawls at first but if your tank parameters are really good and you get lucky and get a strong fish it can work out with no casualties.

 

[Maritimer]

Would a tank divider, maybe for a week or three, help in a situation like this? (And is your aquascape set up to allow the insertion of one?!)

~Bruce

 

[Faisal27]

Would a tank divider, maybe for a week or three, help in a situation like this? (And is your aquascape set up to allow the insertion of one?!)

~Bruce

I have a tang heavy tank .. blonde Naso/ vlamingi tang / purple/ yellow / sailfin / black longnose / Atlantic blue / Kole and a mimic among other non tang fish .. when I added my yellow tang the black tang and purple tang wouldn’t leave it alone ..after around 4 days they let her come out and eat without attacking .. now they eat from the Nori clip side by side .. just make sure whatever tang is getting bullied eats daily by target feeding and obviously a big enough tank .. once territory is established and hierarchy you should be fine

 

[Nicolo]

Good to,hear FA I am thinking about adding a yellow tang to my 280g tank I also have purple tang,mimic tang,unicorn tang,sail fin tang,scope tang,blue tang,lipstick tang and other non tang fish so could be ok then I have been a bit concerned about adding yellow tang as a lot of people say it will not work purple will go yellow

 

[ca1ore]

I know this is an older thread, but success is enhanced by:

1. plenty of swimming space
2. ensuring the 'mob' is well fed
3. using a social acclimation box for the new fish
4. using a mirror to distract the 'mob'

 

[farhaan786xx]

Hi guys, I had a yellow tang in my tank for about 2 weeks I then added a purple tang. They are both in the tank for about 6 days, been fighting with each other everyday since. I noticed the purple tang got some white spots 2 days ago. They are both eating well without issues, just the purple is stuck to the bottom corner.

is there anything else I could do to help this?

 

[BigHildy53]

Most likely they will continue to fight since they are both Zebrasoma. You can try totally rearranging your rock work. But you should really remove one of them.

 

[farhaan786xx]

I

Most likely they will continue to fight since they are both Zebrasoma. You can try totally rearranging your rock work. But you should really remove one of them.

I did change the scape before adding the purple tang

 

[BigHildy53]

Then you should remove one of them.

 

[zoomonster]

With any fish like angels or tangs its hit or miss on peace or war. I have a 200g (lots of rock and other fish) and IMO 3 is about the limit. Right now down to a purple and a powder blue. At most maybe I would add another hippo or a yellow.

 

[OrionN]

180 is a little small for all those tang IMO. However, It is doable. I would use a mirror, fairly large one right across the front. I also keep the Purple in QT until he eats well and is getting fat. Eating well fron a Nori clip.
When I added a Powder Brown to a tank with a Powder Blue, I did just that. Trained the brown to eat from nori clip. He was driven into the rock structure by the other tangs. I just put a nori clip right next to him and he have no problem with eating. After about 2-3 weeks, he was just like one of the boys. No further problem.