Yellow Tang

civics14

Member
Just added a yellow tang over the weekend, so its been about 5 days now. They guy is acting weird, only swims up and down the back glass. The moment I approach the tank to feed him, he hides behind a rock. So, I'm not sure if he's eating or not.

Is this normal?

My clowns are doing great... I need to find a way to get this stupid yellow tail damsel out, dang sucker is mean!
 
I'm not an expert by any means. But when I bought my blue hippo tang he just swam against the glass for a few days and didn't eat right says. But after a few days he started swimming though the rocks and around the tank and stopped that against the glass non sense lol. And would eat as soon as food hit the tank. So mybe it just needs time to get used to the tank
 
What your flow like?

They like good flow and turbulent currents

Try having your power heads face eachother. I read low flow freaks them out a bit. Like they got trapped in a drying pool of water. I had my yellow tang do that till i adjusted flow an he stopped.
 
I have used egg crate in the past and sectioned off the tank. Then moved the live rock and was able to net the fish pretty easily.
 
lots of flow, 60g cube at around 3000GPH
-Jebao WP25 @ 50% (1000GPH)
-Jebao WP25 @ 40-70% (800 - 1400GPH)
-eHeim return pump - ~600 GPH

The WP25's are facing each other.

Any higher flow, water is splashing out of the tank.
 
What size tank is he in?

60g cube, 2'x2'x2'

yes i know, this is not a good grow out tank for a yellow tang, but i was at the lfs with my 2 year old and he wanted it. so i got it, and i spoke with the owner of the store, he told me when it gets 4-5" to bring it back and for store credit and get another small one if i want. or get something else.

lots of open space to swim, here's the scape:

CC0CAB22-17BB-4BE9-837E-5B33357C3FC7_zpsekgfrxpz.jpg
 
fish are stressed when added to a new environment. flow really has nothing to do with it.

imagine if you were scooped up into a plastic bag by a giant and thrown into a box? you'd probably go a little bonkers too...

give him some time to acclimate. its best to leave them alone. mine hid in the corner for days....5 months later he is extremely active, has vibrant coloration and eats nori from my hand
 
60g cube, 2'x2'x2'

yes i know, this is not a good grow out tank for a yellow tang, but i was at the lfs with my 2 year old and he wanted it. so i got it, and i spoke with the owner of the store, he told me when it gets 4-5" to bring it back and for store credit and get another small one if i want. or get something else.

lots of open space to swim, here's the scape:

CC0CAB22-17BB-4BE9-837E-5B33357C3FC7_zpsekgfrxpz.jpg

he's going to need rehomed long before that. i have a standard 75 and my YT is about 3". he needs more space already, and i have a 4 foot tank.

what was he like while in quarantine?
 
Any time you add a new fish to a tank, the resident dominant fish will harass him. That's just fishy-normal. Unless fins are getting ripped, he's good. And tangs and rabbits if cornered can kill another fish. If the yellow tang seriously wants to fight or attack another fish, he's the most dangerous thing in there...and they can get real cranky. You might be better off leaving the yellowtail in there as a means to calm this fellow down once he settles in. Tangs generally can't hit a damsel unless they corner it, and the damsel will rapidly back off the tang once he asserts himself.
 
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