Multiple Yellow Tangs in 144

[Turbo's Aquatics]

I have a tank I maintain at a dentist's office. It's gone through some rough times, it was beautifully stocked until the dentist decided to add fish and not tell me...ich and/or velvet wiped out the whole tank. That was a 6" Blue Tang, 4" Yellow Tang, and big angel, some clowns, and a few other misc fish. It was a tragedy, they were 15+ year old fish. After a lengthy fallow period, I restocked it with fish from my tank and a friends' tank but it's been a few years they want more fish.

I found a local hobbyist selling his RSR170 full setup and am taking the opportunity to ditch my current 120 sumpless setup at home...it was never really a good setup, and there's a bar clamp on the tank since day 1 when I had a stand issue and the seam started failing, that was 10+ years ago.

The net end goal is to put all the fish into one tank - the dentist's office.

My tank has just these:

Yellow Tang (4" diameter body)​

4" Flameback Angel.​

The Doc's tank has:

Yellow Tang (2-3" body)​

PJ Cardinal​

Pink Skunk Clown​

Diamond Watchman Goby​

The new tank I'm grabbing has:

Royal Gramma​

designer clownfish pair (blizzard and black misbar)​

Longnose Hawkfish​

Tailspot Blenny​

Melanarus Wrasse​

small Scopas Tang (2" maybe)​

My plan is to move my 2 fish to a 40B at my workshop, grab the new tank, rip clean it, and set it up at home (that's this weekend)

The doc's tank has too much LR, it's hard to keep, and aesthetically it looks crowded with rock. So I was planning on revamping it. So I will rip clean this tank (take all rock out and scrub/dunk, blast the sand clean, power clean the sump, re-set it back up). New rock scape means all territories are erased so I figure this is the time, if there was one, to combine fish families.

The question is, of course, the Yellows. I've heard @vetteguy53081 is knowledgeable on this subject so maybe he'll chime in. I was planning on incorporating either an egg crate barrier, or I would laser cut a divider sheet (with holes for smaller fish to get through, but not the tangs). Then I would put one Yellow on either side.

I can't say either Yellow is aggressive. Mine eats out of my hand, the one in the doc's tank is a bit skittish. The Scopas will have to go with oe of the tangs, I'm guessing pair him with the smaller yellow?

Then, how long do I keep them apart?

Or is this just a bad idea? I have a week or so to figure this out.

TIA

Bud

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have a tank I maintain at a dentist's office. It's gone through some rough times, it was beautifully stocked until the dentist decided to add fish and not tell me...ich and/or velvet wiped out the whole tank. That was a 6" Blue Tang, 4" Yellow Tang, and big angel, some clowns, and a few other misc fish. It was a tragedy, they were 15+ year old fish. After a lengthy fallow period, I restocked it with fish from my tank and a friends' tank but it's been a few years they want more fish.

I found a local hobbyist selling his RSR170 full setup and am taking the opportunity to ditch my current 120 sumpless setup at home...it was never really a good setup, and there's a bar clamp on the tank since day 1 when I had a stand issue and the seam started failing, that was 10+ years ago.

The net end goal is to put all the fish into one tank - the dentist's office.

My tank has just these:

Yellow Tang (4" diameter body)​

4" Flameback Angel.​

The Doc's tank has:

Yellow Tang (2-3" body)​

PJ Cardinal​

Pink Skunk Clown​

Diamond Watchman Goby​

The new tank I'm grabbing has:

Royal Gramma​

designer clownfish pair (blizzard and black misbar)​

Longnose Hawkfish​

Tailspot Blenny​

Melanarus Wrasse​

small Scopas Tang (2" maybe)​

My plan is to move my 2 fish to a 40B at my workshop, grab the new tank, rip clean it, and set it up at home (that's this weekend)

The doc's tank has too much LR, it's hard to keep, and aesthetically it looks crowded with rock. So I was planning on revamping it. So I will rip clean this tank (take all rock out and scrub/dunk, blast the sand clean, power clean the sump, re-set it back up). New rock scape means all territories are erased so I figure this is the time, if there was one, to combine fish families.

The question is, of course, the Yellows. I've heard @vetteguy53081 is knowledgeable on this subject so maybe he'll chime in. I was planning on incorporating either an egg crate barrier, or I would laser cut a divider sheet (with holes for smaller fish to get through, but not the tangs). Then I would put one Yellow on either side.

I can't say either Yellow is aggressive. Mine eats out of my hand, the one in the doc's tank is a bit skittish. The Scopas will have to go with oe of the tangs, I'm guessing pair him with the smaller yellow?

Then, how long do I keep them apart?

Or is this just a bad idea? I have a week or so to figure this out.

TIA

Bud

Yes separate them for 10-14 days and let them get sick of each other prior to release together. The challenge you may face is having them as a pair as they are best in odd numbers. . .. 1-3-5 and so forth. I did add number 6 and got away with it having 6 yellows but it is a risk/gamble. The scopus may influence peace with two or simply wont. Best is to see how they interact and have a net ready in case. Use that live rock to prevent cave areas for hiding and what you dont use- take home and utilize the seeded advantage of live rock.

 

[KrisReef]

Cool plans. Sad about the Drs mistake of adding sick fish. GL!

 

[exnisstech]

I did something very similar with 2 yellows. Both fish were close in size at around 4 inches. I ran them through qt together in a 29 gallon with an egg crate divider. They were together for a little over 30 days. In the mean time I caught the purple in my DT and placed it in timeout in another tank. I added both yellows to the DT at once and they were fine. My hippo chased them a little and my convict who does not realize it is missing a scalpal tried to smack them around. The yellows have shown very little aggression to each other or other fish. The purple was fine when reintroduced. This is in a 6ft 180g tank. But of course we all know what works for one may not work for another

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Two yellows and a Scopas make a trio and I'll bet you'll have more issue with the Scopas than the yt's.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

Two yellows and a Scopas make a trio and I'll bet you'll have more issue with the Scopas than the yt's.

This. I had to rehome a Scopas after introducing a purple and 2 yellows. The Scopas was a absolute terror to the other tangs and everyone else

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

The challenge you may face is having them as a pair as they are best in odd numbers. . .. 1-3-5 and so forth.

I had heard this as well but I wasn't sure if that was just a made up thing.

Two yellows and a Scopas make a trio and I'll bet you'll have more issue with the Scopas than the yt's.

I was wondering if the trio factor might apply with the scopas in the mix. So that's good news, then also bad news with the aggresiveness. Ugh. Lord knows I don't want to lose a good quality Yellow Tang. The one in my tank is a big one so maybe I put the scopas on the side with him and let the big yellow dominate?

Best is to see how they interact and have a net ready in case.

Hard to monitor as the tank is in an office and I'm not there more than once/week typically. However it is just down the road from my workshop so it's easy for me to stop in and watch them for a bit each day

Use that live rock to prevent cave areas for hiding

prevent?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I had heard this as well but I wasn't sure if that was just a made up thing.


I was wondering if the trio factor might apply with the scopas in the mix. So that's good news, then also bad news with the aggresiveness. Ugh. Lord knows I don't want to lose a good quality Yellow Tang. The one in my tank is a big one so maybe I put the scopas on the side with him and let the big yellow dominate?


Hard to monitor as the tank is in an office and I'm not there more than once/week typically. However it is just down the road from my workshop so it's easy for me to stop in and watch them for a bit each day


prevent?

OOps, to create caves, Not prevent and scopas at that size should not pose an issue especially with two yellows in the picture.

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

OOps, to create caves, Not prevent and scopas at that size should not pose an issue especially with two yellows in the picture.

That's good to know on the Scopas. So do you agree with 2x Yellow + Scopas makes 3 would actually work in place of having 3x Yellow? Potentially at least

 

[vetteguy53081]

That's good to know on the Scopas. So do you agree with 2x Yellow + Scopas makes 3 would actually work in place of having 3x Yellow? Potentially at least

I dont agree with two but ive seen two work out. Tangs will always squabble but as long as they are not slashing each other and causing damage- it pans out. I have 6 yellows and they overall play nice and theyre in with 15 other tangs.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

In a well feed tank, that 2-in scopas will be a 4-in scopas in a year. The yellows will have already slowed growing a lot.

I'm sure that exist but scopas that do well with other zebrasoma seem to be few and far between. I good homie keeps 3 in one tank, bit he's magic.

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

Hmm maybe 2 dividers