Adding a Regal Tang

[chris489]

Hi guys,
I'm thinking of adding a Regal tang to my aquarium, I have a yellow tang and a sailfin tang already. Lfs advises that I should have added all the tangs at once rather than one by one so that the tangs could establish their territories at the same time.
What do you guys think?

The yellow tang was added first then the sailfin around 9 weeks later, the yellow tang pushed him around for a day and now they're the best of buddies.

 

[EZMAC114]

If you do choose to get the Regal tang I would definitely put him in an acclimation box before he gets released in you dt so that the fish can get use to each other and it still might not work.

 

[chris489]

Would it be better to wait until I get my next tank the add them all at once??

 

[EZMAC114]

Would it be better to wait until I get my next tank the add them all at once??

Yeah that would probably be better...what size tank?

 

[chris489]

Thinking of going for something around 350 litres.

 

[ca1ore]

The whole 'add them all at once' is an old wives tale IME .... and completely impractical. OK, there may be a handful of particularly aggressive fish that should be added last (or not at all) but that's about it. Hippo/Blue/Regal is not an easy fish though, at it needs lots of space otherwise it can get a bit idiosyncratic in it's behavior. Also very prone to ich so QT is mandatory. Using an acclimation/socialization box is a good idea, though not always effective. I have had a new addition completely ignored in h box, only to have the crap beaten out of it upon release.

 

[EZMAC114]

Thinking of going for something around 350 litres.

That's too small for those 3 tangs to be in

 

[EZMAC114]

What size tank do you have the Sailfin and Yellow tang in now?

 

[chris489]

My tank is 250 litres at the moment

 

[chris489]

The tangs are fairly small at the moment, looking to get a bigger tank in around 6 months time

 

[EZMAC114]

My tank is 250 litres at the moment

When you upgrade you should go with something much bigger than the 350L(93 gallons). I would go with something closer to 680L(180 gallons) if you can. A 93 gallon is a much better option that your 66 gallon tank that you have now but your Sailfin tang with definitely outgrow a 93 gallon tank.

 

[EZMAC114]

The tangs are fairly small at the moment, looking to get a bigger tank in around 6 months time

They'll probably be fine for now since they are small but I would do what you can to get a bigger tank than what you are planning. It would be better to wait a little longer and upgrade to a proper sized tank then to upgrade bigger and then later have to upgrade and go even bigger than that.