Yellow Tang Differences

[Z06-Hec]

So i bought 2 Yellow tang about a little over a month ago.
Both Look great, both eat great all day long grazing and picking and everything.
They eat Formula one and Formula two pellets, NLS Pellets (Color Enhancing), Nori sheets every other day, Frozen Mysis, frozen Mega Marine pack, practically anything I put in there they chase immediately.
My question is, why is one more yellow than the other? One has a real solid yellow tone while the other has this much lighter yellow tone, like a light yellow. I don't want to say faded but compared to the other one he's a little faded.
They are very very active, they eat A LOT, and have absolutely ZERO signs of any illness or weakness...
Could this be a sex thing? or dominance thing?

 

[4FordFamily]

I've had some that were more lemon yellow vs banana yellow. Some differences are probably normal.

 

[redfishbluefish]

This is a total guess, but could it be stress from having two Zebrasomas in a tank? I know some fish fade when stressed. How big is the tank? Do you see aggression between the two? Is the brighter colored one clearly the dominant one?

 

[Z06-Hec]

@3FordFamily Huh? "I've had done that..."
@redfishbluefish Its a 150gal 6 foot long.
I have 2 adult angelfish, Majestic and Blue Face
1 Baby hippo tang about 2.5 inches
1 large purple tang 6+ inches
2 Yellow tang about 4-5 inches
When i bought the yellows the LFS advised me to get 3 not 2 because of fighting.. better to have an odd number and i told him about my Purple... he said so get 2.
When they were introduced the yellow tangs got beat up so bad by the purple and in 3-4 days it was done.... not they defend themselves and even chase the purple back here and there... but other than a LITTLE chasing, its all good...
Seriously when they were first brought in, the Purple was stabbing them both all day and you could see puncture wounds all over them.
Now like i said, perfectly clean fish, eat a lot, nice and fat, all fins always up and complete... showing off all day long...

 

[4FordFamily]

Fixed it

 

[Humblefish]

Hawaiian YTs are typically more brilliantly colored than those collected from other areas. A YT will also fade at night and color back up during the day. They also fade when stressed or diseased (i.e. ich).

 

[eatbreakfast]

Hawaiian YTs are typically more brilliantly colored than those collected from other areas. A YT will also fade at night and color back up during the day. They also fade when stressed or diseased (i.e. ich).

I have never seen any evidence that Hawaiian yellow tangs are more brilliantly colored than Zebrasoma flavescens collected at any other locations.

The statement about darkening at night is accurate, as are social situations and diet.

Having 3 Zebrasomas in the same tank can affect the least dominant in the social hierarchy. Even though there may not be much visible aggression currently, the aggression from the purple tang on the initial introduction still affects the yellow tangs not "challenging" the purple for dominance. Then, between the 2 yellow tangs one asserted it's dominance over the other. The less dominant one will show less intense coloring, oer time will grow at a slower rate and also be more prone to diseases.

 

[Z06-Hec]

Cool i thought it may have been a dominance thing. All 3 stick up for themselves when needed and they all go for food aggressively and eat A lot. So i am not worried there.

 

[4FordFamily]

I kept a purple, Desjardini Sailfin, and yellow together for five years and Evefyone thrived. The yellow did grow slower but I think that's a species thing. The Sailfin was definitdly the fastest growing and boss until I moved him.

 

[Shep]

Some color variation is normal, not all fish are going to look identical (just look at skin tone in humans)

 

[Z06-Hec]

Just got a nice picture of it....

 

[SantaMonicaHelp]

Just got a nice picture of it....

That is a nice pic! Thanks for sharing ;)

~CI

 

[Z06-Hec]

i changed my foscam to an HD one and the picture is nice and crisp.
But yeah you can see the different yellows... both nice fat fish swim everywhere and eat everything.