yellow and sailfin not getting along

[smbuddy46]

i've had my yellow tang about 5 weeks it was 4 weeks ago that i introduced my sailfin to my 125. the yellow just harrassed him into getting ick. so i've hypoed him and today i put him back into my 125 and the yellow took up right where he left off. i even did a water change and rearranged my live rock and that didn't help. so i proceeded to take out half of my lr to catch the yellow and put him in my qt until i can decide what to do with him. any suggestions.

 

[guineawhop]

my suggestion is which do you like better and sell the other. obviously they're not gonna get along. there's a chance if you left the yellow in the qt for a few weeks and then reintroduced him to the main tank again to let the sailfin settle in that it might work, if not get rid of the one you like least.

 

[robchuck]

Like guineawhop suggested, your best bet is to remove one of the fish. They are both from the Zebrasoma genus (Yellow Tang: Zebrasoma flavescens; Sailfin Tang: Zebrasoma veliferum) and fish from this genus have a dismal track record of getting along with other fish from the same genus. For what it's worth, the Yellow has the reputation for being more aggressive out of those two, so if you'd like to add other tangs down the road, I would recommend removing the yellow.

 

[dogstar]

Now that you have the yellow out. You could wait a couple of weeks and try to reintroduce it. Your call but stands a better chance of working that way. Not trying to be synical but should of done this in the first place. Many ppl. have the combination including me.

 

[g-dude]

I have heard that 1 tang is okay. I have heard that 2 tangs not okay. I have heard that 3 tangs and more okay. Its weird how these fish work isnt it? A friend of mine has got about 6 tangs in the same tank. He tells that the odd fight does happen but most of the time they all get along. By the way their all differnt. Yellow, sailfin, regal, powder blue, koal and naso. Hes had them all for about two months now. So its like i said its funnie how these fish work.

 

[fishnerd]

I have found that tangs of the same genus shouldn't be kept together, unless its a very large aquarium.
The easy way to do this is to look at their silhouettes, if their outline is the same, don't mix them.