Adding TWO yellow tangs at once- thoughts?

[carey]

Since I recently lost twitchy my yellow tang I have a tang position open in the 180g tank. Tankmates would be a blue hippo tang and a tomini tang, the rest of the fish in the tank are very mellow and not aggressive.
I wanted to add another tang before the yellow died anyways, but now I was thinking of adding two smaller yellow tangs instead of two separate types of tangs. I figure the aggression would be less since they are both being introduced at the same time and they will be smaller. The only potential issue is the blue or tomini bothering the smaller yellows. there are lots fo caves and crevices in the tank for them to get safe in. I even have a bunch of places that the blue tang cant get into cause he's such a fatty. lol

What do you guys think?

The other choice is just the one yellow tang and then try to find a different one to go with it. I tried a couple naso's and they didnt do well at all, not sure i would wanna try another one.

 

[Holygral]

I had a Yellow and a Sailfin and added my rescued Blue Hippo and I would have to say he is on the bottom of the pecking order, Sailfin, Yellow and Blue, was he because he was the last one in, not really sure, but they all get along fine

 

[JJ-MIK]

I just recently added two yellow tangs in my 150. And they are just fine together.

 

[jeremy upshir]

I am new to saltwater but everything I have read about tangs is that you should not do it. like I said im new to this so I may not be correct

 

[tonedogz]

Hey Carey, I just added two yellow's a couple of weeks ago. I got them from the same tank and made sure I got two close to the same size and their doing fine not much fighting at all.

 

[Gregcoyote]

What killed the first tang?

 

[jeffaquarius]

Blue tangs are voracious eaters and I would not be surprised that yours is a heavy weight. I notice my yellow is getting starved while the blue is always full.

 

[carey]

Not sure what killed the yellow I had, we foundhim very close to when he expired and he looked perfectly normal. He was quite fat and had no marks at all on him.

I'm leaning towards getting the two new yellows, unless a naso or something else really neat comes along.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Yellow tangs fight. They also have issues with sailfin tangs. All my other tangs leave each other alone, except for the clown tang and he isn't allowed in the big reef, he hates everybody. Fighting causes stress, so I would do whatever you do with the idea in mind that they need to get along, especially if conditions don't allow them to stay away from each other.

 

[melosu58]

IME adding them at the same will be ok most likely. Adding them at different times would be a disaster.

 

[MarinaClown]

May be even 3 to spread aggression and remove focus from one another.

 

[Jtisle506]

Red Sea salifin is one of my favorite zebrasoma tangs. Personally 2 yellows may end up fighting one another, I would do a trio.

 

[jeffaquarius]

I agree odd numbers for aggressive fish is more favored.

 

[carey]

The only issue with getting three yellows is that there will be FIVE tangs in the tank, probably one tang too many. I currently have the blue and tomini tangs. Not that i am against getting five in there, lol, I love tangs, but worried about the space.

 

[Faucett]

I would give it a try, just do as you normally would when adding them. There won't be an territorial aggression and yellow tangs typically aren't that aggressive unless you have the one I do! He's a jerk. Anyway, good luck!

 

[MarinaClown]

The only issue with getting three yellows is that there will be FIVE tangs in the tank, probably one tang too many. I currently have the blue and tomini tangs. Not that i am against getting five in there, lol, I love tangs, but worried about the space.

I get what you are saying. Fish can be tricky...and I only have three in a 60 gallon. Lol. After losing a lot of them and $$$ I stopped buying fish to focus more on corals.
If I were you and my heart were set on having two yellow tangs I would put them together and see what happens. You could always take one out for store credit if you have to. Good luck!

 

[Jeegan]

I have 2 yellow tangs in my 90 gallon that were together for a couple years before I picked up the setup a little over a year ago. They had been fine for all that time but in the last few days, one has been trying to kill the other one relentlessly. I have had to keep the lights off for the last 2 days to keep them at bay until I pick up a trap tonight. I don't know why the sudden change as nothing has really changed in the tank otherwise. In a 180 it might not be an issue, but I just wanted to let you know my experience with 2 yellows.