How quickly do tangs establish territory in a new tank?

WarEaglesReef

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I'm upgrading from 75 to 180 gallons to give my blue hippo, and yellow tang some more room as they've officially outgrown their itty bitty silver dollar sizes (my goodness they grow fast) and need some room to stretch their fins. The new tank is all cycled and ready, but I ordered a new little 1.5" gem tang from TSM aquatics that's currently undergoing quarantine and won't be ready until mid-late March. I'm wondering if it would be best to keep the two tangs I currently have in their 75g for another month and put them all in the big tank at the same time when the baby gem arrives so none of them have seen this new territory when they all meet, or if the two I have now would be ok in the new tank for ~20 days without establishing a territory to such a degree that they would behave in an overly aggressive manner towards the new arrival.

They're pretty model citizens (knock on wood)...the occasional very lite scuffle with each other when they both want to hide in the same spot. Both very nice/well behaved on the spectrum of tang attitudes, and the yellow accepted the blue no questions asked when I added him to the tank several months after her last year at a size much smaller than her (although he's outgrown her now). They are getting a little more feisty with each other now that they're bigger and need more space but never any overtly aggressive bullying or harmful behavior towards each other or their tank mates. Just trying to weigh the pros/cons of letting them potentially get a little more agitated/aggressive with each other in the smaller tank to wait to introduce all the tangs to the new tank at the same time, or if it would be better to let them have more room now in hopes they'll keep more of their friendly demeanor by having some more room to breathe without being in there so long that they'll have potentially staked claim on the territory. I know they have the best chances of success if introduced all at once, but I also know that the two I have now are slowly losing their super friendly demeanors in favor of mild crankiness as they've outgrown their space. Lol.

I know it's highly individual based on the fish involved and there's no definitive answer. But I haven't really found any solid info of on average how quickly tangs settle in to a new tank and become defensive of their space. Curious to hear what my fellow reefers would do in this situation.

TLDR: Can/will tangs establish territory in a new tank in less than a month?
 

VJM 21

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Yes, they will absolutely establish territory in a month. The yellow tang will be the problem when you add another Zebrasoma to the mix. If they’re happy and can stay in your old tank, keep them there until your gem has 2 or 3 weeks to settle in.
 

Uncle99

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Tangs, Yes, all together, at once best. BDBD90A2-07A4-421B-BBD8-192DEFD3C718.jpeg
 
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WarEaglesReef

WarEaglesReef

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Yes, they will absolutely establish territory in a month. The yellow tang will be the problem when you add another Zebrasoma to the mix. If they’re happy and can stay in your old tank, keep them there until your gem has 2 or 3 weeks to settle in.
I figured something like this would probably be the best answer. I'll be moving my clownfish out of the 75 as soon as they're no longer guarding eggs, and my starry blenny whenever I can manage to catch him, so the tangs will have some more space in their current tank soon to wait a little bit longer. Thanks for the advice! :)
 

VJM 21

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No problem. Congrats on the upgrade and on the gem!
 

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