Copperbanded butterfly vs yellow tang

[Clay Murphey]

Added a small copperbanded butterfly to my tank today for apstasia control and the original yellow tang is trying to kill it. I was told that they would get along.

Do I need to trade the monster tang in for a smaller tang that would be new to the tank or will things eventually settle down?

I like the tang but he has gotten big. He is the only livestock left from the original stocking.

[seaspook]

clay

try moving around some of the live rock. the tang may be defending his territory, if you switch stuff around he may get confused long enough for the butterfly to get settled in

alan

[Clay Murphey]

Thanks Alan. He just seems to chase him wherever he is in the tank, but it is worth a shot

[X88&94GT]

If he continues to give you trouble and u want to get rid of him, i may take him. Just how big is he? I have heard that a yellow tang should be on eof the last fish you add to your tank, but i dont know a ton, since I am just getting started in salt water. let me know deanmatt@hotmail.com

[atlaquaria]

If moving the rock in your tank does not work you should trade in the tang. Even if the moving around does work you will most likely have to do it every time you add another fish. Like X88 said, a yellow tang should be one the last fish you add because they are territorial.

If you trade the tang, wait until the after you have added the other fish you want, before you add another yellow tang. Hope this helps.

[Pamsreef]

I wouldn't wait long to make a decision about removing one of the fish. The Copperband would probably be the easier one to remove. My foxface did the exact same thing when I added a Copperband but never noticed any other fish I added and he was really ruthless (it was gonna be to the death). I had no idea fish could be that mean. I was loyal to the fish I'd had the longest.

I made the mistake of getting a yellow tang first 3 years ago and he's actually gotten along really well with others.

What size tank do you have and how big is the yellow tang. If the yellow tang is gonna outgrow your tank anytime in the near future it might make more since to get him out now.

Just a thought,

Pam

[Ray1214]

We added our tangs dead last, and it seemed to not bother the other fish at all. But all the fish since it will bother. Kinda like it respected those before it but not the newcomers.