HELP! Old tang not friendly with new tang

[ickmagnet]

Originally Posted by dsaundry

Ok lets try to put some perspective on this. First of all I have a Tang dominant tank that has been running successfully for over 4 yrs now. All my fish are fat and happy, now lets try to cut this member a bit of a break, the plain simple truth is when it comes to Tangs you cannot predict how they will act when a new Tang is introduced. I picked up a Purple Tang from a fellow Canreefer a few years ago that was apparently beating the crap out of his Yellow Tang, in my tank no problems. I don't think there is anybody on this board that hasn't had an impulse buy at one time or another.So let's not throw too many stones at his member. Sometimes you get lucky with them and sometimes you don't. Yes you should always research what you are planning for your tank but sometimes fish do not get along. So I stand by my original statement to this member, because these fish don't get along it would probably be in yours and the fish's best interest to either take the fish back to the lfs for credit or let another member take him off your hands. Rearranging rock doesn't always work and neither does the mirror trick. The other option is which Tang do you really want to keep? Get rid of the Scopa if you like the Yellow one better. Because they are similar in shape I find that that sometimes contributes to spats in the tank. Fish are like people in a lot of ways, sometimes they get along but every now and then you get a bully or murderer in your tank and you deal with it as quickly as possible. Anybody on this forum who really knows Tangs and their different personalities will agree with this. Good luck with whatever solution you come up with....

Good advice. Cut the kid some slack. I have added other tangs and kept my fingers crossed. Sometimes you never know until you try. Currently I have 4 tangs in my 180 and they all seem to be doing fine. In theory, this seems like a recipe for disaster but in reality, it is just one big happy family.