Gem tang with purple tang

[Dave1993]

looking into getting a gem tang or black tang i already have a 2inch purple that is very very shy tank will be 4ft will they be problems later on if they are both small now

 

[Nigel35]

Give it plenty of hiding spots, and add them at the same time and it most likely will be fine. how many gallons, Liters is the tank?

 

[Dave1993]

100 i already have the purple its 2" currently in a 55 gallon cube it wont come out the cave apart from to get food gem i have not got yet but i know it is 3"

 

[Nigel35]

I think a 100 gallon will be a little small for a purple and a gem

 

[rocklobster]

Dude.. don’t even risk it with a gem tang. I’d remove the purple tang, trade him in for another purple tang, and add all the new fish at the same time. Or just get rid of the purple tang all together. You don’t want to make a $1,000 “oopsie.”

 

[KrisReef]

Don’t wait until the People is 2.5”

 

[AJsReef]

If you’re going to do it, I’d add the second tang now preferably a very similar size. Assuming you have adequate “hiding” spaces you should be okay since they aren’t mature at 2”. The longer you wait the more likely you will have issues IMO. Zebrasoma can be pretty aggressive when grown, mine routinely bossed around an Achilles and Blue Tang of greater size.

 

[ca1ore]

2” is quite small for a purple. If the gem or black were substantially bigger the chance of success would increase. I attempted to add a 5” gem to a large tank with an established similarly sized purple. Used acclimation box, mirrors and soothing music/videos ..... almost got the gem killed. Had to trap the purple. Put it into my frag tank, traumatized it regularly, and reintroduced. Not ‘friends’, but wary tolerance.