Yellow Tang and Copperband in 5' 100 gallons?

[Bao]

Hello Everyone,

I was thinking of ordering a custom made tank with the dimensions of 60" x 20" x 20" =100 gallons. The most important thing for me is to keep a yellow tang and a copperband butterfly together. Of course, bigger tank is always better but currently I don't to deal with anything bigger. So what do you guys think? will the 2 of them live peacefully in that tank? Other fishes will be 2 clowns, a damsel, a royal gramma and few anthias.

Thanks,
Bao

 

[JAKos]

I think it could be done if they yellow tang is added last, make sure the copper is eating tho before you buy it at the store.

 

[Fish man]

Hello Everyone,

I was thinking of ordering a custom made tank with the dimensions of 60" x 20" x 20" =100 gallons. The most important thing for me is to keep a yellow tang and a copperband butterfly together. Of course, bigger tank is always better but currently I don't to deal with anything bigger. So what do you guys think? will the 2 of them live peacefully in that tank? Other fishes will be 2 clowns, a damsel, a royal gramma and few anthias.

Thanks,
Bao

I had a yellow Tang and returned it because I always wanted a Copperband and read they can't be kept together. I read that Tangs will attack similar shaped fish. After I got the Copperband I found all kinds of threads on here saying they keep them together. I could kick myself because of the cost of Tangs now. Copperbands are very hardy but can be very difficult to get eating. If you get one get it before the Tang. If you don't normally quarantine you should with this fish just to get it eating well before you put it in your main tank. There's several threads about the difficulty of getting Tangs to start eating. Do the research. I started mine on live black worms. See if a lfs in your area has any kind of live worms, that will help. Once he's fully acclimated and eating well in your display tank you could get the Tang. Good luck with the price they're getting now. I live in a large city with 5 lfs and only one will bring them in and he's getting $200. for one.

 

[Reefer Reboot]

I have every fish you mentioned and more in a ~130 gallon DT. The Copperband was the last one in. The YT and CBB immediately swam together with no issues. (I do keep them well fed.) Some people have issues with getting the Copperbands to eat, so check out this thread,

QUESTION OF THE DAY - YES or NO: The Beautiful Copperband Butterfly Fish for Your Reef Tank?

The Copperband butterfly fish is one of the most beautiful fish that is readily available in our hobby and is in the "more affordable" range. People love the CBB fish for many reasons with one of those being that they can use that slender "snout" to get deep into crevices and eat aiptasia...

www.reef2reef.com

I've also heard that you can't keep them with Powder Brown tangs or Fox Faces because of the similarities in body shapes and colorations.

 

[guylaga]

I have had mixed results housing Yellow Tangs and Copper Bands in the same tank.

When I first set up my 125 in 2013 I had a YT and a CBB put in around the same time frame, the CBB was later in the tank however.

My YT would assert dominance over the CBB and chase him occasionally but overall they got along OK.

Along the way I lost my CBB which was a pity because he/she was quite large.

Starting this year I have tried to add in a new smaller CBB twice now. I got this current CBB acclimated via my sump and eating clams + PE Mysis before trying to add to the display.

Both times the my YT immediately started to posture him self and bullied the CBB so that he would not leave the upper corners of the tank. On my second try I had a few mirrors scattered around the outside of the tank which didn't help.

Right now the CBB is back in my sump, will try again with an acclimation box soon. If that doesn't work probably will look at moving the YT out of the tank for awhile and let the CBB get established first and then Re-add the YT.