Any luck mixing a Yellow and purple tang?

[Grubby]

I am torn between a purple and a yellow tang. The guy at the fish store suggest I try both, said it was possible. But its not his money and I don't want to lose mine.

 

[RealReef7]

we need some tank info but yes it is possible, i have both myself in my reef.

 

[Reefnub]

I have both in a 125gal I originally had a yellow and then I added a purple and they fought for a day, my yellow stressed out with ick and died. Then I got another yellow tang and my purple and yellow fought for a few days and now they're best friends. lol

 

[bagz727]

add them together at the same time!

 

[agreeive?fish]

its 50/50 depending on the attitude of each individal fish but if you are gonna do it try to add them at the same time and have a back up plan in place . i have personaly seen it work in my reef friends tank but it was a dismal failure in my tank(still have both in seperate tanks)

 

[mtaswt]

I have both in my tank. I agree on adding them at the same time though. Mine are best of friends as well! Go for it and good luck!

 

[poolkeeper1]

Sucess all depends on how big your tank is! The bigger the tank the better the chances they will not feel like the other is a threat, Simple.
Bill

 

[AfricaOffroad]

I have both in my system.
Yellow was well established then I put the Purple in.
Was worried because the Purple was big (maybe 4 inches), bigger than the Yellow.
The Purple came from another reefer's tank where it totally dominated.
That's why he was selling it. After I paid him, he starts telling me it even ate a chromis he introduced. I was like - WHAT THE HELL HAVE I DONE HERE !!!

Dropped it in the tank and the Sohal quickly sorted it out. Soon the Purple and the Yellow became big buddies, maybe plotting to overthrow the Sohal - LOL!

Its a 300G system, so enough room for the aggression to be dispersed.
But I must admit I was worried over the outcome.

If I had to do it again, I'd put similar size fish in at the same time.

 

[Toddrtrex]

What sized tank?

I personally wouldn't try it. The last purple tang I had would draw blood on my Clarkii -- don't want to imagine what it would do to a yellow tang.

 

[MrTuskfish]

IME, a YT can't tell a a PT from another YT. Tangs of this genus seldom do well as "pairs"; strangely, they do well in groups of 3 or more---if you have the room. I think one of each would be improbable; but 2 yellows and a purple might work.
Whatever you do, grab the PT. Red Sea fish are almost impossible to get now and the price could go through the roof.

 

[inthesea]

If you are torn between YT and PT, go for the PT.

 

[Moort82]

Like the others i've seen it work but have also seen really problems with the PT being by far the most aggressive. I also think that only two will cause problems as they are both zebrasomas and it is better to have these singly or in groups. Or you could try a different mix if you can only have two. As i think purples are nasty i'd go for something more interesting like a mimic tang.

 

[sfboarders]

I have both in my tank. Large YT was in first and I bought a small PT later. No aggression at all. They do there own things.

 

[sTefaniA]

I had a purple and a yellow too, went fine at first. But one day my yellow lost an eye and it hid for weeks. The purple became dominant. The yellow recovered and came out of the rocks and fought with my purple. I had to remove the yellow because from that moment he didn't tolerate any new fish and it kept beating the purple. I still have the purple, he is a nice fish.

 

[Chipie]

I have both. Had a large YT and added a small PT. A little bickering at first but now they are friends

 

[Eric the half-bee]

I have 2 yellows and 2 purples in my menagerie.

 

[abezr]

the purple tang if the same size as yellow is much stronger than the yellow... so it actually depends if your purple tang's attitude is like "im the boss day 1, once im boss we can be ok" or "im boss now, i dont like you and i wont like you tomorrow too!" then pretty much you will get ick and have a dead yellow tang.. BUT i would say its a 75% chance it will work if purple comes AFTER yellow, if it would be other way around 10% chance unless purple i smaller than yellow but once it grows it will become aggressive.

 

[jrp1588]

I had both for a while until a power outage took out my yellow. They got along great. I was really worried, but I found a local selling a 4" long purple tang for $50. I simply had to try it. haha. At first the yellow tang was the boss, but as soon as he got established, the purple took over. They'll occasionally have their little spats like tangs do, but it's rare, and there is never any damage.

 

[MTH]

I have a large Purple and two med Yellows in the same tank. One of the Yellows is a trouble maker but the Purple shows them who's boss. He pretty much keeps everything in line within the tank. They've been together for 1.5 years. I think any tank where you have multiple fish you will have the occasional squabble. No way around that. Once in a while my Yellows will have a cut on their side but it heals within a few days.

 

[Motaz]

I have a 1000g DT with 3 PT and 3 YT first I had the YT in the system and then added the 3 PT, at first it was a war... I mean war they would fight and fight non stop... After couple of days they calmed down... They still chase once a while... Nothing to worry about... IME they sort them self out... Non dead and all are healthy...