sghera64
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I recently did an experiment in my 125 display tank. Initially, the tank contained 1 yellow tang and 1 Kole tang. Both had established themselves nicely, without aggression towards any other fish. The yellow tang had been in the tang for over 1 year before the Kole tang was added. From the start, they ignored each other. That's normal from what I understand.
About 6 months after that, I wanted to add another yellow tang. I know that given my current condition, adding a second yellow tang was almost certainly inviting a fight to the death.
I added the second yellow and they began to spar and fight after about an hour. This continued for about 24 hrs. The second tang looked pretty bad the second day with torn dorsal and tail fins. The original tang did not seem to have any wounds.
I immediately inserted some egg-crate to divide the tang roughly into half. This remained in place for about 6 weeks. The two tangs would make aggressive moves towards each other, but clearly could not reach each other. Eventually, the new tang found a nice hiding spot on the left side of the tank (see video) behind the clam and beneath the rock. The two fish often came to the egg-crate to eat at the algae that was there. Sometimes they would eat and ignore each other. Sometimes they would "mirror" each other. Sometimes they would accelerate back and forth pacing each other (aggression).
After 6 weeks, I created a gap between the egg-crate and the back wall. You can see in the video (attached) that fish easily passed back and forth. On three separate occasions, I found the original tang crossing over from the right side to the left side. But, when the new tang spotted him and started to swim towards him, the original tang shot back over to his side of the divider (right side). This was the case for about another 10 days. Then, I removed the divider completely.
With the divider removed, the two left each other alone for an hour. Then they started to chase each other. The original tang chased the new tang into his newly established home. The new tang then aggressively defended it. After about 3-6 days, the chasing and sparing completely stopped.
You can see in the second half of the video they are getting along just fine now.
I believe that given time, the new tang found his new home and considered his. With the divider removed, the original tang attempted to "reclaim" or test the new domain. Ultimately, they worked it out that each has their space that they will defend aggressively and the other has space that each might want to challenge. In summary, it appears that each tang has committed to one space and will "test' the other. Commitment yields high and winning aggression while "testing and investigating" produce weak force, defensiveness and retreat.
This experiment tells me that this technique might not be a guaranteed way of introducing a second yellow tang after a first has been established without one killing the other, but it may be a way to increase the probability of success.
About 6 months after that, I wanted to add another yellow tang. I know that given my current condition, adding a second yellow tang was almost certainly inviting a fight to the death.
I added the second yellow and they began to spar and fight after about an hour. This continued for about 24 hrs. The second tang looked pretty bad the second day with torn dorsal and tail fins. The original tang did not seem to have any wounds.
I immediately inserted some egg-crate to divide the tang roughly into half. This remained in place for about 6 weeks. The two tangs would make aggressive moves towards each other, but clearly could not reach each other. Eventually, the new tang found a nice hiding spot on the left side of the tank (see video) behind the clam and beneath the rock. The two fish often came to the egg-crate to eat at the algae that was there. Sometimes they would eat and ignore each other. Sometimes they would "mirror" each other. Sometimes they would accelerate back and forth pacing each other (aggression).
After 6 weeks, I created a gap between the egg-crate and the back wall. You can see in the video (attached) that fish easily passed back and forth. On three separate occasions, I found the original tang crossing over from the right side to the left side. But, when the new tang spotted him and started to swim towards him, the original tang shot back over to his side of the divider (right side). This was the case for about another 10 days. Then, I removed the divider completely.
With the divider removed, the two left each other alone for an hour. Then they started to chase each other. The original tang chased the new tang into his newly established home. The new tang then aggressively defended it. After about 3-6 days, the chasing and sparing completely stopped.
You can see in the second half of the video they are getting along just fine now.
I believe that given time, the new tang found his new home and considered his. With the divider removed, the original tang attempted to "reclaim" or test the new domain. Ultimately, they worked it out that each has their space that they will defend aggressively and the other has space that each might want to challenge. In summary, it appears that each tang has committed to one space and will "test' the other. Commitment yields high and winning aggression while "testing and investigating" produce weak force, defensiveness and retreat.
This experiment tells me that this technique might not be a guaranteed way of introducing a second yellow tang after a first has been established without one killing the other, but it may be a way to increase the probability of success.
