The unwanted additions

[McCrary]

So my parents came down this weekend and my Dad saw my tank. He has always been into fish tanks and wanted to get some stuff for my tank. Unfortunately he has never owned a saltwater tank (only freshwater) and decided to buy me some fish and coral. He brought back a yellow tang, paired clownfish and a frogspawn. I have a 6" PBT in my 110 and I knew that the yellow would not get along. The clowns went in just fine and the frogspawn went in, but I am going to try and return it because it is simply to aggressive for my tank. Hopefully I will be able to return both the yellow and the frog.

 

[Tangman1218]

Who told you a PBT and Yellow would not get along? As far as I have ever seen, they get along fantastic! Since your first edition was the PBT, I'd so go for it and add the Yellow.

Tang

 

[cerreta]

Gotta love the folks, they mean well. They just don't understand the obessive aspect of reefkeeping that the addicted folks have.
CHeers

 

[Roll221]

If your PBT is the dominate fish in the tank, he will kill the Yellow Tang if he is not as large or larger then the PBT. Best thing to do is to catch the PBT and put both Tangs in a new environment for a few weeks then introduce them back into the main tank at the same time.

Ed

 

[McCrary]

Tangman1218- You must work at a LFS, lol.

My parents did mean well, but they just don't understand that I have my whole tank planned and a yellow tang and brown frog didn't enter into that plan at any point.

Majestic was cool about the whole thing and I was able to return the stuff, although they only gave me store credit. I did put the yellow in the tank for a while and the PBT striped white and blue then attacked with a vengeance. He bit a little piece of fin off of the yellow and went after him with the caudal spine. The yellow could only try to wedge himself in between rocks where the PBT couldn't get at him. I netted the yellow as quickly as possible and luckily there was minimal if any damage. The yellow looked no worse for wear and went into QT til he could be returned.

 

[Satori]

Glad you were able to catch it easily. It usually is easy when the fish is getting terrorized. Ed is right, you can keep those two fish together (I have both) but they really need to be added at the same time so there's no territory established.

 

[McCrary]

The biggest problem is that the tank is 4' long and only 18 wide with a minimum of hiding places for a fish the size of a tang. Your 180 has a lot more territory, not to mention that the PBT was already established and almost twice the size of the yellow. In a larger tank with equal size fish I would give it a shot, but I don't think having both together in a 110 would work well.

 

[Tangman1218]

Hey Turbo,

I misread your post and thought the yellow was 6" and the PBT was smaller. Sorry ReefBro. I have to learn to read better.

Tang

 

[McCrary]

Tangman1218- Don't sweat it, happens to the best of us.