Yellow Tang + Kole Tang

[SurfTrack]

I have a 90 gallon tank, with a yellow tang. Yesterday I added very small yellow eye kole tang. He has mostly been in hiding but he comes out here and there and I saw him eat a little bit. Theres some aggression although between my yellow tang, ive only noticed it when the kole goes inside the yellow tangs hiding spot. Is this normal? Should I be worried?

 

[ZoWhat]

Give it time.... the Yellow might give up the "chase" in a few days as the Yellow instinctively accepts the Kole in their territory.

If no change in 7-10 days then think about pulling the Kole and selling it

 

[jlanger]

It's normal behavior.
Yellow Tangs and Kole Tangs are commonly found together in the wild so they do tolerate/accept each other.

I will keep a Kole Tang in every one of my systems (sized accordingly) as they are my favorite fish for keeping algae under control. I have added other tangs to the tank and the Kole Tang will be a bully that first day. Once the lights go out and come back on the next day, the Kole Tangs have no issues with the new tang; it's like they have no memory of the addition the previous day. But this scenario is flipped with your situation, so it might not be as quick.

They do make for a striking pair when they patrol together.
(My photo from eight months ago when both were quite small.)

 

[C. Eymann]

You should be fine, ctenochaetus tangs can be very shy, esp when first added to the aquarium, it can take months for them to stop being so skiddish, and even then, ctenochaetus tangs stick to the rockwork much more compared to zebrasoma tangs (yellows, purples, sailfins) which seem to be out in the open much more.

 

[ScottB]

Comes down to the personality of each yellow, but you should be OK. Keep an eye on them for a while and up your feeding a bit.

If you see continued harassment, you could try doing a remodel on the yellow's house a little to throw him off and distract from the new guy. That has worked for me with my purple & PBT.

 

[SurfTrack]

Thank you! Ill update if anything else happens.

 

[ihavecrabs]

You can always use the mirror trick on your YT. Fighting his/her reflection is better than terrorizing the newcomer who I am sure is stressed enough.

 

[SurfTrack]

You can always use the mirror trick on your YT. Fighting his/her reflection is better than terrorizing the newcomer who I am sure is stressed enough.

Luckily I havent seen aggression in hours, and it was only for a couple seconds.

The kole tang is eating and also definitely knows its place in the hierarchy.

 

[SurfTrack]

Update -
Good news, I havent seen any more aggression. And also now the kole tang is always out and eating? Its like a button was just pushed.

 

[ZoWhat]

Update -
Good news, I havent seen any more aggression. And also now the kole tang is always out and eating? Its like a button was just pushed.

The Yellow finally just instinctively said "oh the heck with it.... I'll allow him in my territory "



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