20 dollar yellow tang harassing 800.00 newly acquired black tang

tbettis

New member
Just added a black tang to my set-up with the yellow having to be already in tank for a few months. Yellow is very aggressive toward black. Tank is 160 gallon reef. Do I just need to wait it out a few days because I've had yellow tang for 2 years but will turn him into lfs if needbe before he stresses black out. Any suggestions
 
Is their a way for you to take the yellow out and put him somewhere else for a week, this way the black can get comfortable
 
I have to assume that the black means a lot more to you then the yellow does. I would take the yellow out ASAP and put him in a different tank or take him back to the LFS right away. Until you have caught the yellow, keep the lights off in the tank, this should help the aggression.
 
Try tapping a sm to medium mirror to the tank to distract the aggressor. This sometimes works very well allowing the new fish time to acclimate.
 
If you have a sump, catch the YT and put him down there. Same water, no need to acclimate to a new system. Leave him in time out for a week, then put hiim back.
 
I got lucky with my black tang and a far more aggressive lavender, but they were of differing Genus. I agree with the others... yank the yellow.
 
Remove the yellow, after about a week, pull the black, rearrange the rock, then add them both back at the same time...

Of course, if the yellow isn't important to you, take him back to the LFS...

Don't let him harrass the black to the point that he stresses too much and becomes ill...

Whichever route you take, take it soon...

Best of luck...
 
In these types of situations isolation boxes work fantastic... allows fish to see each other without any physical interaction. Many times will nullify any aggression that would've occurred without one. With that said sometimes they'll still go after the new addition and you have to pull them, or throw the established fish in the isolation box.
 
I would have done more research and thinking before you got into this situation. I had a yellow and purple tang in my DT, I also had a much smaller black tang in a different tank. I yanked both the yellow and purple out to be certain no other tangs would bother my 600 dollar fish. I would pull the yellow.
 
This was the Black Longnose Tang from DD Wednesday huh? $850, stressed from shipping and right into DT with a YT beating on him... Oh boy. QT the poor Black and give him a break.
 
Assuming he don't have a qt set up (otherwise he would have qt it). Starting a fresh qt and putting the black tang in is a sure way to kill it.

The black shouldn't be added with an already established zebrasomma, this is the expected result, either off load the yellow or sump it for a few weeks as suggested above.
 
Assuming he don't have a qt set up (otherwise he would have qt it). Starting a fresh qt and putting the black tang in is a sure way to kill it.

The black shouldn't be added with an already established zebrasomma, this is the expected result, either off load the yellow or sump it for a few weeks as suggested above.

I agree with moving the YT; I often put known enemies in a QT for a couple of weeks when i introduce new fish.

I've never liked bacteria-in-a-bottle products. But there are several very good hobbyists who are doing very well starting a QT with Dr Tim's or Bio-Spira. We tried Dr. Tims and had a working bio-filter well before ammonia became a problem. Our highest ammonia reading was <10 ppm and lasted only a few hours. The 2 BFF did well in the QT and are doing great in the DT now. We started with no media except Aqua-Clear foam & noodles right out of the box.
 
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