yellow tang compatibility

madisonfish

hi, i have a 55 gallon tank FOWLR w Yellow Tang, hippo tang, leopard wrass, two gobis, 2 cleaner shrimp, 2 starfish. i have been having trouble introducing new fish, they tend to die after a couple weeks (recently lost a 4 inch emperor angel and a maroon clown). Set up includes UV, protein skimmer, fluval, powerhead. water quality is fine, all existing fish remain healthy. i dont see overally aggressive behavior but the new fish seem to get stressed. my guess is the Yellow Tang is causing the stress as he is the largest fish in the tank - about the same size as the emperor that i introduced. does this seem consistent with other experience?? any ideas besides removing the Yellow Tang?? thanks!!!

seba

The yellow tank is way to big for your setup, i know they are beutifull fish i want one myselft but i have a 60 gal which is too small for this fish. Yellow tanks need at least 100 gal tanks. I would return the fish.

Cody

+1. Yellow Tangs need to have a lot of swimming room. Some people, however, can house Yellow's in 55-60 Gallon tanks (SKAustin) if their needs are met.

How old has this tank been setup? And your water params?

madisonfish

the tank is about 9 months old....water is good, nitrate, ph, salinity, ammonia etc all in range

Cody

Can you post them please?

gymnothorax

Tangs in general are very territorial, and this is especially relevant for yellows. I normally recommend adding tham as the last fish to a tank in order to avoid any territorial dispute. It will be very difficult to add any new inhabitants to a 55 gallon with an established Yellow Tang already in it.

melo

Have you ever even seen the tang harassing the new fish, another thing I can think of is how do you change your water? If you are using tap water his could be the problem, even with de-chlorinator and water conditioning drops their is still very harmful stuff in tap water that will kill your fish. So if you are or have ever put tap water in your aquarium that could be it.

Pasfur

I know this post if a few days old, but the problem sounds like fish selection. Your aquarium is not large enough for these types of fish. Stress alone will make it very difficult for the fish to settle into the aquarium, resulting in the results you are seeing. Each of the fish you mention are open water swimmers and territorial by nature. A 55 gallon tank just does not allow for these behavioral interactions to occur properly.