Tang Warfare

[57vert]

I've seen some really nice tanks on RC that have two or three different varieties of tangs in them. What is the secret to happy cohabitation? And I mean with the fish. After 23 years of marriage I haven't figured happy human cohabitation either, but that's for a different board.

My tank is 2 months old and 75 gal. I had a large (about 4") yellow tang. He was in the tank about 4 weeks. I then added about 2 weeks a medium hippo tang (about 3"). The yellow totally pestered the hippo. The hippo got ich, stopped eating, got weak, and died yesterday. Even while on his death bed the yellow was trying to "barb" the hippo.

I know I made some mistakes, I got tough skin, hit me with my mistakes.

 

[LRLS]

You should add the tangs at the same time it takes planning ahead, so if you add another tang take out your yellow tang place it in a holding tank and add the other tangs along with it and don't add 2 tangs of the same shape either good luck. you should add fish to your tank when the lights are off the fish are less aggressive then.

 

[mypurpletang]

turn the lights off when u add them in for a few hours or the rest of the day most of the time they wont realize the new fish until the next day and the new fish will be settled then

 

[renogaw]

your biggest mistake was putting in a tang without quarantining it to begin with. now all your fish have been exposed to the parasite, all will have to be hypoed (especially since tangs don't do well with copper) and your DT will have to remain fishless for upwards of 6 weeks to let all the existing parasites die off.

the second biggest mistake was putting in a yellow tang first. then putting in a small tang. The yellow should be the last tang in the tank.

the third biggest mistake was putting a yellow tang and hippo tang into a 75 gallong tank. they will get too big for it (you've already seen how big a 4 month old YT gets).

 

[kynan]

If someone can't quarantine, that's their own situation. Not everyone can. If you have ich once, you can recover with minimizing the stress posed to newcomers. I got it in my established 210g tank, I was not going to wreck it trying to get everything out. You don't have to hypo. It helps to avoid fish prone to ich like PBT's and hippos. Use garlic and feed well. Secon helps too.

If it makes you feel any better, I had a 2" hippo in my secondary 75... I re-aquascaped, he must of lodged into some large piece in my tank, and it's been a couple of days since he's been missing. I think he's entombed under a rock that he lodged into.

 

[T5PO]

This always worked for me

This always worked for me

Tape or sit a mirror to the tank, and the tang will focus on what it think is another yellow tank. The hippo or any other fish you add in the future will be fine. When the new fish settle in remove the mirror. The night trick also has worked for me, add the fish at the end of your light cycle in the morning it should be fine.

 

[MADtanks]

yea i also add all my fish at the end of the light cycle and the fish did fine, i added a tang into a tank that already had a trigger fish! and it was fine i also fed with the supplement of garlic fish coloration was always great and they were always chunky