Can a Kole Tang and Yellow Tang get along

[Magickiwi]

I have a hippo and a yellow in the same tank. I'm starting to have issues because the fish all crowd up against the left hand side of the tank and territories are starting to be formed.

[Reef Puffer]

I have both in a 120. My yellow is an ass. He is the biggest fish in the tank and was there long before the kole. The kole tang is almost the same size. In the beginning there was lots of aggression from the yellow. Every other day the kole had new cuts and scrapes. I put up mirrors to distract the yellow but it only worked temporarily. It took a couple weeks before the yellow calmed down. He is still the boss and doesn't like to share his nori, but they get along fine otherwise now. Good luck if you decide to try.

[Madreefer]

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

But again, those who have both, which one was in the tank first?

Yellow first

[windcoast reefs]

I had a yellow and a kole for quite a while and they were fine. The kole ended up getting a parasite and died, so I replaced him with a white cheek and they get along fine as well.

[xenon]

Depends on the size of the tank.

We keep 5 yellow tangs and 1 kole tang in some of our corals beds but its a big footprint (48x96").

[LoJack]

Yellow and Scopas will always be a disaster. Similar body shape. Its tough to make that combo work. You typically need a very large tank to house a Scopas, Yellow, Purple, or Longnose Black together ... They all hate eachother it seems lol

[Reef Pilot]

Thanks, everyone, for the great feedback. Am still on the fence, so not sure what I am going to do. I would really hate to see my Kole get hurt.

[Taipan]

Perhaps.....you can bring your Yellow Tang downstairs first; and introduce it into the system with the Kole Tang first. Let them become 'acquainted' in the Yellow Tang's NEW environment. Since the Kole is familiar with the surroundings; it may be less intimidated and the Yellow Tang is unfamiliar territory. Once (if) they 'get along'; bring them both upstairs to the 'new' environment. New environment; fewer territory issues. In theory. That is....also.....if your upstairs display can go a little while without an algae grazer. Good Luck.

[Wheelman76]

Originally Posted by Taipan

Perhaps.....you can bring your Yellow Tang downstairs first; and introduce it into the system with the Kole Tang first. Let them become 'acquainted' in the Yellow Tang's NEW environment. Since the Kole is familiar with the surroundings; it may be less intimidated and the Yellow Tang is unfamiliar territory. Once (if) they 'get along'; bring them both upstairs to the 'new' environment. New environment; fewer territory issues. In theory. That is....also.....if your upstairs display can go a little while without an algae grazer. Good Luck.

Great idea !

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by Taipan

Perhaps.....you can bring your Yellow Tang downstairs first; and introduce it into the system with the Kole Tang first. Let them become 'acquainted' in the Yellow Tang's NEW environment. Since the Kole is familiar with the surroundings; it may be less intimidated and the Yellow Tang is unfamiliar territory. Once (if) they 'get along'; bring them both upstairs to the 'new' environment. New environment; fewer territory issues. In theory. That is....also.....if your upstairs display can go a little while without an algae grazer. Good Luck.

Yes, I thought of that, too, and agree that would be much better for the Kole. However, the problem would be in catching the Yellow. Then I would have to catch him again in the downstairs tank. It will be hard enough to catch the Kole, but I think I have a better chance with him because I have a feeder that he comes up to. Actually, that is how I caught the Foxface once before. And you can imagine how skittish a 6" Foxface can be.