Yellow Tang Q

[je1683]

This past Sat. I purchased 3 yellow tangs for my 125 FO. They seemed to pal around for a little while, but then one started hitting the others with his rear fin. Now four days later only one of the tangs is swimming around and I occasionaly see the other two swimming through the maze of rockwork, occasionally comming out but for no longer than a minute at the longest. Is this something to worry about? Should the bully be taken out and replaced? I also thought about adding two more to make it more of a group. Suggestions?

[garvondavis14]

I would think you'd need a bigger tank than 125 for that many yt's

[thor32766]

yeah most definetly dont add anymore.

[je1683]

Point taken, how about the way their acting? Just getting used to things? I had thought that they might be used to the tank by now?

[VSpeck]

the one that is out is bullying the others i would pull the one thats out and replace it or pull two of them and only keep one. im deffinately not the tang police but i would keep tangs with diffrent body shapes like a yellow and a kole or something. yellow and naso would be good. just my opinion

[Manderin]

i would keep different tang species, definetally

[je1683]

How about a yellow and a powder blue?

[hgbarwick]

I would take out 2 of the yellow tangs and add a mimic tang.

[Gary Majchrzak]

3 YT's in a 125 is enough Tangs- don't add any more Tangs.
Let them work it out. They are establishing a pecking order. You (obviously) already have a dominent fish. It's hitting the other fish with it's spine (tang) located on it's caudal peduncle. Keep your YT's well fed and watch all of the fish for any signs of disease if you didn't QT them.

[je1683]

Will they eventually swim together? I'm considering taking two out and trading for something else.

[VSpeck]

in my opinion i dont see them swimming together i would pull 2 out before its too late. its gonna be hard to get a powderblue to adjust to a 125gal but its possable just dont go out and buy any pb tang wait for one thats eating and looks healthy. they can pe a pain in the butt too when with other tangs.

[je1683]

We ended up pulling two of the yellow tangs and trading for a clown triggerfish. At the momen the triggerfish is around 1.5-2 inches at the most and we will be building a much larger tank into our new house next year. Since taking the two larger yellows out, the smaller is swimming all about!