Adding yellow tang and sailfin tang to existing purple tang.

[Petergreatbritain]

Hi guys
Ive been keeping marine aquariums now for pushing 30 years without a break and suffered my first big setback 21 months ago which was marine velvet.
I have slowly restocked and added a purple tang with HLLE which was a tiny individual and yes it was a stupid thing to do .
The purple tang is now fully healed and is a fantastic specimen.
The tank mates are 6 springeri damsels and 2 cardinals.
The system is a very stable sps dominated reef.
A good friend is downgrading his reef and wants me to take his remaining fish which after my marine velvet episode I am very happy to do considering how healthy they are.
3 of these are tangs 1 yellow tang 1 sailfin and 1 Kole tang, the kole tang is not coming to me as it is the bully of the trio.
Over the last 3 weeks I have spent a ridiculous amount of time researching this scenario and watching you tube videos.
These are all of the zebrasomas family and I know it is not ideal but can be done and there are lots of aquariums out there with multiples of this family.
my display is 700 litres and the yellow tang and the sailfin get on perfectly well in there current home with no bickering.
Both of these are larger than my purple tang which I am told is a better situation to add to an existing purple.
From what I read is that there will often be a squabble for up to 48hrs but once territories are set these usually calm down?..
There are a lot of copy and paste answers on the forums both for and against do any of you have any advice or real life experience
Thanks in advance Pete

 

[jpas]

You really only need to worry about the yellow tang. When I added a yellow tang to my tank which housed a very aggressive purple tang, I taped a mirror to the front glass for around a week.

it was enough of a distraction to keep him away from the yellow tang

Now I have a yellow, purple, sail fin, hippo, sohal and naso all living happily together. They are all now 6” or larger.

 

[Petergreatbritain]

You really only need to worry about the yellow tang. When I added a yellow tang to my tank which housed a very aggressive purple tang, I taped a mirror to the front glass for around a week.

it was enough of a distraction to keep him away from the yellow tang

Now I have a yellow, purple, sail fin, hippo, sohal and naso all living happily together. They are all now 6” or larger.

Many thanks for your reply.
What size aquarium do you have and did your sailing go in after the purple?

 

[Wolf89]

You will most likely be fine with no intervention. If you are extra worried or the fish are being too nasty use a mirror and you'll be golden. Good luck!

 

[Dbichler]

I just added a powder brown to desjardini and a kole. The kole tang was a really bully for the first hour almost eating all of the powder browns fins off. Turned off lights for a day and they were happy afterwards. So I would suggest adding during lights out or be ready to turn them off.

 

[ca1ore]

There is no way to know for sure since fish are individuals with varying temperaments. That is, in part, why you see varying experiences. Purple is the most aggressive of the zebrasoma species generally, so that it is the smallest of the three certainly works in your favor. I have all three in my tank, yellow followed by purple followed by sailfin. I had them in a 265 initially (close enough to 700 liters) and it was fine. There will be some initial aggression, just keep an eye out for any body wounds or substantial cowering. A bit of fin damage isn‘t generally a problem.

you could try using a social acclimation box or a mirror taped to one end of the tank. Fortunately fish are pretty stupid.

 

[Cory]

Ime i wouldnt do it without some form of control. Tank divider, and separate tank.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

I personally would add them. Watch them for a bit and if the bullying is out of control put the bully in the sump or qt for 4 or 5 days so the other fish can get comfortable. Then add it back to the tank. This has always stopped aggression for me.

 

[Petergreatbritain]

I personally would add them. Watch them for a bit and if the bullying is out of control put the bully in the sump or qt for 4 or 5 days so the other fish can get comfortable. Then add it back to the tank. This has always stopped aggression for me.

Thanks for taking the time to reply everyone.
obviously I can use a mirror but because it’s a sps reef once it’s in there is no getting it out.
Basically it would be a case of stripping down the whole system.
With the yellow and sailfin been so much bigger I cannot really see the purple cause much trouble but we could have the opposite with aggression towards the purple.
my main worry would be white spot brought on by stress?.
However I still keep seeing lots of systems with multiple zebrasomas.
Look forward to hearing more experiences or advice
kind regards pete

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Thanks for taking the time to reply everyone.
obviously I can use a mirror but because it’s a sps reef once it’s in there is no getting it out.
Basically it would be a case of stripping down the whole system.
With the yellow and sailfin been so much bigger I cannot really see the purple cause much trouble but we could have the opposite with aggression towards the purple.
my main worry would be white spot brought on by stress?.
However I still keep seeing lots of systems with multiple zebrasomas.
Look forward to hearing more experiences or advice
kind regards pete

Tangs (especially agressive bully's) are usually very easy to catch with a fish trap. You can easily make one with common household items

 

[Petergreatbritain]

Tangs (especially agressive bully's) are usually very easy to catch with a fish trap. You can easily make one with common household items

Thanks
i do have a fish trap but not one large enough to trap a tang.
However my Lfs has a large one that you can hire.
Tbh I have never really had much luck with fish traps.
My brain is fried thinking about this scenario