Purple & Yellow Tangs

[mathman]

Has anyone had any success with keeping a yellow and a purple tang together? I have had a yellow for over a year and a half and I don't want to get rid of him. On the other hand, I really love purple tangs and they are really cheap right now ($29). I know tangs with similar body types don't do well together, but I wanted to hear of any success or failure stories.

[Denzo]

My friend has kept a yellow tang and a purple tank very happy in the same tank for over a year now. They might fight a lil at first, but they should be okay. My friend has a 210 G tank.

[danieljames]

$29 PURPLE TANGS??????....you need to start a business

[o2manyfish]

In my 225 FO tank, I have 1 massive purple, with 4 Med Size Yellow, a Large Powder Blue, and 3 Med/Lrg Blues (Hippo), 1 Massive Hipp and a Pair of Red Sea Blonde Nasos,

The last altercation was when I added a lrg Asfur Angel, the powder blue was not happy.

The purple tang is about 6 to 7 years old. The yellows have been with him for over 4 years. The Huge Blue is 7 years old.

Also I was at a wholesaler at LAX today and picked up 3 small purple tangs for under $10 each. I now have purple tangs as algae gaurds in my outdoor prop tanks.... I love LA !

Dave

The photo is from Jan, it shows my 3 year old Naso, he has been moved to one of my Prop sumps, because he refused to play nicely with the Blonde Nasos.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/18153FishJan18_Full-med.jpg

[cthetoy]

Hey Mathman,

I live in Rancho Cucamonga also. Where did you find $29 purple tangs?

[rhino]

12 tangs in a 225g ? wow , thats a lot of fish !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[rhino]

What filtration system do u use ?

[o2manyfish]

Rhino,

The tank has a small wet/dry underneath it with bioballs and a turboflotor skimmer. It has a closed loop with an Ocean Clear canister.

There is an Ultima 1000 Fluidized sand bed (Approx 5-6gal).

The closed system pump is a Life Guard Quiet One. The Wet Dry is also a Quiet One.

Lighting is a Pair of 165w 72" 50/50 VHO.

Tank is almost 8 years old. It has a 3x7 skylight over the top of it, and since it's clear on all sides, keeping it clear is a *****.

Dave

[mathman]

cthetoy-

Actually, I was able to find them with a little drive. It is a shop in Huntington beach called reef collection. The guy posts flame angels for $16 here on RC so I had to give him a shot. He also had blue spotted jawfish for $28.

[mracroman]

I agree they can be kept together, be careful with some of the cheap ones I have seen a few that are as thin as potato chips. A local store had Koran Angels for 9.99, when I finally went there I could not believe how small they were, they were as round as a dime

[moonpod]

that reefcollection place has ridiculously low prices. So low, I'd stick to fish that I know don't come from cyanide areas ie red sea. I'm not accusing them of anything, it's just that at those prices....it's hard to believe that some of the other fish don't come from indonesia and the phillipines. Seriously though, they're prices are stupidly low.

[cthetoy]

Mathman,

Thanks. I thought you knew somewhere closer to Rancho. I was at Reef Collection 2 weeks ago. Naso Tang for $15.

[mathman]

O.K. I just introduced the purple tang yesterday and my yellow tang is tearing him up. The purple has been relegated to a corner at the very top of the tank. His main fin is torn in several places and he seems pretty stressed. I have tried to feed a lot but this seems to make the yellow even more ****ed at the purple for eating HIS food. I am beginning to think I made a mistake. Is there any tricks to getting them to play nice. Anyone with any advice would be appreciated.

[o2manyfish]

Sliced fins is no big deal, they can close up fins and tails in just a day or so.

Watch to make sure they don't slice, or stick each other in the body.

The best thing you can do is move around as much of the tank decorations as reasonably possible.

Overfeeding won't help.

Give them at least 24 hrs before you try to figure out how to get him out of the tank.

I added a tiny Purple to my reef tank this week, I have a Chevron tang that is at least 2.5 times the size of the purple and been in the tank for over 3 years. The Chevron sliced the purple's lower fin, the Purple slashed the side of the Chevron. By the next day they were following each other through the rock. And now 2 days later fins and bodies are healed.

Try to Relax. And as always good luck.

Dave

[Tadashi]

I originally had a yellow and regal for a ayear and introduced a purple tang two weeks ago. The yellow was not happy and constantly attacked the purple. I tried feeding the tank, turning out the lights, and rearraging the rock. Finally I had to banish the yellow to the sump for about 5 days. Once the purple looked established (eating, fat, and swiming around not hiding in the rock) I introduced the yellow back into the system. Everyone played nice. It may have been because the yellow did not want to go back to the sump but two weeks later there is no fighting.

My regal tang seemed indifferent to the purple tang. Probably because of the different body type.

[ReefC]

Originally posted by moonpod
that reefcollection place has ridiculously low prices. So low, I'd stick to fish that I know don't come from cyanide areas ie red sea. I'm not accusing them of anything, it's just that at those prices....it's hard to believe that some of the other fish don't come from indonesia and the phillipines. Seriously though, they're prices are stupidly low.

Hello everybody this is Victor with Reef Collection. I understand the concern for cyanide caught fish but it is impossible for one to request only cyanide caught fish when ordering. Postassium Cyanide has been banned throughout asia and is illegal for use in collection. The way we sell our fish so cheap is that we have a substantially lower mark up then other stores because we know that the hobby is extremely expensive in the long run. Back to the statement of cyanide, plain and simple we do not order cyanide caught fish because it is not possible to request a order with only cyanide caught fish. I hope this clears up the statement about our store. Thanks

[Toutouche]

I also have a Purple and a Yellow, along with a Copperband. At first the 2 Tangs would try and show eahc other who was boss, but after a couple of days, they have become very close buddies. Even my Copperband hangs out with them now.
Mathman,
Any updates on how they're getting along???

[Rfbeauchamp]

Way to go Victor!!! I look forward to visiting your store.
Thsts the type of people I like to associate with in this ever increasing costly hobby.

[George Azar]

I was told that as long as I have 3 tangs they wont fight. Seeing the LFS tanks loaded with Tangs I accepted the theory. I had a yellow Tang and I wanted to buy a purple one. So to satisfy the theory I bought another yellow and a purple. The minute I put them in the tank, the established yellow attacked the new yellow continously. To fix the problem, I added one more yellow. Another mistake. Two yellows took a side of the aquarium each and the third one did not have any place to go. Days passed and one yellow was terrorising the others including the purple. I gave up and I trapped and took out the most agrresive yellow. Finaly peace among the remaining 2 yellows and the purple. That was 3 months ago. 2 weeks ago, I noticed that one of the yellow will not allow the other yellow coming out of the rocks. The purple is OK.
Lesson learned : I will not get 2 fishs of any kind and for sure no more tangs. I should have listened to the guys begging us not to do it.

[Toutouche]

George,
There is lots of fish that are perfectly safe to get in pairs or more even. Matter of fact, some will do better only in groups. Tangs however, tend to not like being with similar types. In the LFS, they are in bunches, but only because they never stay long enough to get territorial and establish themselves. Also, they tend to pack so mny in the same tank that they are ALL equally stressed out and more docile than would be in a permanent home.

[George Azar]

Toutouche,

Thanks for the advice. I have a problem on my hands. Should I take one of the yellow Tangs out of the tank or wait it out and hope that they will stop fighting and go back to be best friends?

[moonpod]

Originally posted by ReefC
Hello everybody this is Victor with Reef Collection. I understand the concern for cyanide caught fish but it is impossible for one to request only cyanide caught fish when ordering. Postassium Cyanide has been banned throughout asia and is illegal for use in collection. The way we sell our fish so cheap is that we have a substantially lower mark up then other stores because we know that the hobby is extremely expensive in the long run. Back to the statement of cyanide, plain and simple we do not order cyanide caught fish because it is not possible to request a order with only cyanide caught fish. I hope this clears up the statement about our store. Thanks
I don't mean to imply that you are ordering "cyanide caught fish"--you're not a moron--what I'm saying is that despite cyanide being illegal, there are those that report that it's still fairly rampant in indonesia and the phillipines. Granted, it's not an issue w/a purple tang which is where this post started. What I'm saying is that your prices are crazy low, and kudos to you for doing it, but more than likely you're getting your non african/red sea species from bali and other locales where it's tough to verify net caught etc...we can all only hope that cyanide catching is on the wane.

[MuldoonJT]

if the fish lives in the guys tank and he got a good price ,, be happy for him

as for ordering stock ,, shops go thrue a supplier , suppliers buy from a vast aray of other suppliers and also the collectors ,, chances are of this shop has 20 purps , they werent caught by the same guy ,, they werent shipped or stocked togather till they hit the link in the chain directly before his shop.


as for multyple tangs in a reef ,, its a roll of the dice ,,, had a purp and a yellow togather for years never a problem ,, seen 2 yellows come from the same stock tank where they were fine get home and battle to the death ... seen a pupr intro'd to the tank with an established yellow and make a bee line at him and attacking him showing him who's boss ,,, currently i have a hippo , blonde nasso , a purp , convict togather in harmoney in the the sps tank and 2 yellows and a purp in the softies tank ,,,

above somone mentioned moving around rock and decor ,, i agree with that ,, everything scrambles for new terrority in the tank and they seem to be more on more equal grounds that way

[ReefC]

Originally posted by moonpod
I don't mean to imply that you are ordering "cyanide caught fish"--you're not a moron--what I'm saying is that despite cyanide being illegal, there are those that report that it's still fairly rampant in indonesia and the phillipines. Granted, it's not an issue w/a purple tang which is where this post started. What I'm saying is that your prices are crazy low, and kudos to you for doing it, but more than likely you're getting your non african/red sea species from bali and other locales where it's tough to verify net caught etc...we can all only hope that cyanide catching is on the wane.

MoonPod you are absolutely correct that there is no way of telling if the fish have been net caught or cyanide collected, but what we have is well established relationships with our suppliers so that we can trust that the fish are only hand caught. Plus we will only sell fish in good condition. Thanks

[OrionN]

Originally posted by mathman
..... I have had a yellow for over a year and a half and I don't want to get rid of him. On the other hand, I really love purple tangs and they are really cheap right now ($29). I know tangs with similar body types don't do well together, but I wanted to hear of any success or failure stories.
A Yellow tang for 1.5 years in a 80g tank will not tolerate a new smaller Purple tang. You will have a fish and if the Purple is thin or much smaller, he will likely be kill. I would not advice two tangs in a 80g tank anyway. You can keep them together, but you success is greatly enhance by get rid of the Yellow and buy a Purple and Yellow and add them at the same time.
I would not do this now. I did keep a Sailfin, Purple and Yellow in my 100g reef as a Newbie for several years. They were fat and without disease. I added them within a few months of each other. They were all tiny when I added them. I would not say that they are happy by observing them squabble with each other.
Minh Nguyen

[Toutouche]

My yellow one was the first one Ihad, and had been in the tank for already a year. When I bought the Purple one, I purposely got one that was smaller. This way, I was hoping that the heirarchy would be obvious to them, and the Yellow was going to be the boss. When I introduced them, for about 4 days, they would joust a bit, but nothing serious. More like bearing their teeth at each other. Surprisingly, the Purple guy was and still is the more feisty one. From day 1 till now 1 1/2 years later, they are always together, yet play like 2 little boys. Whenever I add something new to the tank, it'll be the Purple that checks him out. When I added my Copperband, the Purple wa trying to show him up, but the Copperband stood his ground right from the beginning. He would lower his head and raise those dorsal spines, which always stopped the Purple dead in his tracks. I think the Purple knew darn well what those points would do if he didn't stop. Now, al 3 are buddies and always near each other. It's funny to see the CB think he's part of the Tang family!!

George,
Honestly, it's hard to say what to do, as each fish will have it's own character. How long has it been now that they are together, and how are they treating each other this far along?

[mathman]

I now have a case of role reversal. After about two weeks of getting his rear kicked, the purple tang slowly came out of his corner. Now he seems to be dominating the yellow tang. They both swim around individually, but the purple will sporatically go up to the yellow tang backwards and sort of slap him with his tail. I believe the worst has passed. Thanks everyone for the advice.

As for Victor at Reef Collection, he seems very knowledgable and the fish I bought from him are still doing great. I will buy again from him in the future.

[Old Yeller Tang]

Originally posted by mathman


As for Victor at Reef Collection, he seems very knowledgable and the fish I bought from him are still doing great. I will buy again from him in the future.

Ditto!:thumbsup:

[Dag]

I have revived this thread in the hope of getting input from 02manyfish, among others, on yet another tang compatibility question. I have a hippo (med.) and purple tang (med.) and I wanted to add a Red Sea sailfin. this is for my 200 gallon. but I'm concerned about compatibilty between the purple and the sailfin tangs, as well as the sailfin getting too big. Any thoughts to share? If not a sailfin, what other sort of tang might be a good add?

[o2manyfish]

Dag,

Why don't you email me directly to avoid the tang police? I have had my fill from them.

Dave B
o2manyfish@TheBotwins.com