Are Yellow Tangs Killers?

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

My wife just took him to my local LFS. Hopefully that is the end of the bloodshed. Here’s what I have left:
Peacock Puffer
Niger Trigger
Two Bangai Cardinals
Blonde Naso & Powder Brown Tang
Starfish
Diamond Goby
Coral Beauty
That Yellow was brutal. They sure don’t look like it.

Considering the fish that died and the one you removed, that sounds like it was an extremely crowded 125. I'm guessing the over crowding would contribute to aggression. As @eatbreakfast said, YT's aren't usually super aggressive (except with conspecifics).

 

[Mr. Limpid]

Glad you took the yellow out, there were to many tangs in that size tank. Everyone says that the yellow are peaceful but I have seen and heard to many horror stories about them. I would put them up there with sohal and clown tangs.

 

[eatbreakfast]

I've had yellows in countless tanks and for the most part they are well-behaved for a tang.

Based on the length of time the tank has been re-setup, the amount of fish in the tank, and the fish that died, the speed they died, and the described behavior, there is likely a parasite in the tank. I would not be surprised to see another casualty in a week or two.

 

[BigAsh]

Mine is. After watching some videos on keeping multiple Tangs and adding new ones, I decided to move a Yellow Tang from QT to the display. The display already had a White Tail Bristletooth and Purple Tang. The minute as the Yellow went in, the White Tail went after it aggressively. Impossible to get either of them out without a tear down. The Yellow deployed his scaple in defense and the White Tail essentially scalled himself trying to kill the Yellow. The White Tail was found dead in a cave a couple days later. Not a good trade off as it took me quite a while to find that White Tail and he was perfect and $190. The Yellow and Purple seem to be tolerating each other for the most part so far.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Mine is. After watching some videos on keeping multiple Tangs and adding new ones, I decided to move a Yellow Tang from QT to the display. The display already had a White Tail Bristletooth and Purple Tang. The minute as the Yellow went in, the White Tail went after it aggressively. Impossible to get either of them out without a tear down. The Yellow deployed his scaple in defense and the White Tail essentially scalled himself trying to kill the Yellow. The White Tail was found dead in a cave a couple days later. Not a good trade off as it took me quite a while to find that White Tail and he was perfect and $190. The Yellow and Purple seem to be tolerating each other for the most part so far.

But this isn't the yellow tang being murderous, rather it was the white tail...