QUICK HELP needed on fish compatability

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Pneumatic

I picked up a 150 gallon tank tonight and it came with about 100 pounds of liverock and 6 fish.

I got 5 yellow tangs and one Golden Banded Maroon Clown. The Tangs pick on the clown in the little 30 gallon holding tank and I have every other thing in my possession that holds water full of live rock and water to keep it alive.

My question is, can I put the YBMC in my main tank (which is only 40 gallons at the moment) with the pair of Ocellaris Clown fish that are in there already or will that cause problems? I need at least a week (maybe two) to get the big tank ready to move everyone in so this will be a semi-long-term thing.

I need help quickly because everything is acclimating now and I need to get them out soon.
 
Yikes - my gut says no to putting the GBMC in with the other clowns. But you can't really leave him in there to get beat up by the tangs (5???). Rubbermaid tub for the GBMC? Possible to have someone keep him in their fuge for a week or two?
 
Yes 5 (FIVE) Yellow Tangs. Don't ask me why. :roll:

I have them acclimated and in the 30 gallon with about 5 big pieces of live rock so the clown has places to hide. The lights are all out (or will be soon) so I think they will be OK for the night but I need to make a decision about who to keep and who to send down the line.

Will the two O. Clowns and the YBMC be OK in the 150? I will most likely take most of the tangs to the pet store or sell them off but I want to keep one. I would LOVE to keep the YBMC because he's gorgeous.
 
I've never kept a GBMC, but heard that they can be very mean. Not sure if a 150 would be enough to keep the MC from the Ocellaris. Someone else will have to speak to that.

I'd definitely send some tangs packing - soon! They'll be a pain to catch once you put them in the 150 - so I'd trade in the ones you don't want before putting them in the display.
 
Yellows can be mean, but in such cramped quarters as a 30, even more so I should imagine. The GSM is an aggressive species as well but they can be kept with regular clowns in larger tanks. I'd put them in all at once and just let them work out their territories, they may scuffle a little, but should settle in and co-exist. The 5 tangs though.... should be okay once they are in the larger tank, but as they grow you will want to reduce their number.
 
Is the tank 4' or 6'? A 6' tank would make it more likely the clowns could co-exist.

Personally myself, I'd love to have a reef big enough to keep 5 or more YT in. I think they look spectacular in a school. Depending on their size and if the 150 is 6', they could be OK for a good while.
 
It's 60x24x24. I would think they would have enough room to spread out but I don't know how aggressive they are and if they would travel across the tank to jack with the other two clowns.
 
I don't think I'd do 5 YT in a 60" tank.

Are the Percs hosting? Is the GBM hosting? It would help if they were. You could simply place their respective hosts at opposite ends of the tank.
 
They seem to be doing well in the 30G so far. AT least one of them is picking at the Nori I put in and the rest are seeming more comfortable. I am going to the store today to get new filters for an old HOB filter I have in the garage and I am frantically making water to change out all of the water in the live rock tanks. It was really nasty in the 150 when I got there so they are still WAY better off in a 30G tank of clean water than they were in the 150G tank of filthy water.

The Clown is doing ok in the group. I think the initial picking was because there was nowhere to hide and they were all a little stressed. At the moment they feel like on happy family.

Dennis, thanks for the offer on the tank. I think they will be ok in their current setup until I can figure out what to do.

Here's a couple of pics...

holding1.jpg
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holding2.jpg
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Just make sure that these pics aren't taken out of context or you'll have the tang police all over you! :lol:
 
@Misty wrote:
Just make sure that these pics aren't taken out of context or you'll have the tang police all over you! :lol: said:
LOL I didn't think about that!! If these get linked somewhere else I will have people pounding down my door to tell me what a bad person I am. Little would they know I have their best interest at heart. :)

It is kind of neat how they school together. I don't know how long they have been together in the 150 but they obviously have learned to coexist.
Click to expand...
 
Not sure if a 150 would be enough to keep the MC from the Ocellaris said:
Have one false perc in my 100 FOWLR tank with a mated pair of GSMC. False perc just stays away from the nem most of the time, sometime get's chased away but no violence. My false perc is 11 yrs old and the mated pair of GSM's are about 5-6 yrs old.
Click to expand...
 
They are shoaling, actually. I got in debate about schooling vs shoaling in this episode of Reefcast.

http://www.reefcast.com/episodes/reefcast27.mp3 (Massive download, right click and Save As, and listen when you have time to kill) :D
 
Every now and then they do a couple of laps like this. As they get more comfortable they are swimming around more.

I am half tempted to keep them all. They have been together for quite a while so they have most likely developed a pecking order. They do tend to stick close together and they did in the tank before I moved it as well.

Should I just keep all of them since they are already a group? I could see putting 5 NEW yellow tangs together causing a problem but these seem to have already accepted each other.

Oh... And the clown is definitely not part of their party. He hangs out in a little cave in the rocks.

yellowtangs.jpg
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Well, if you want five tangs in your 150, then these would be the ones since they've been together a while. Now, it won't be any fun when you try to add any new fish...so maybe answer that question first.
 
They appear to be healthy, and are definitely active. Enjoy your new acquisitions.
 
I think I am going to keep one of the Yellow Tangs and sell off the rest.

Thanks a lot for all of your input. I don't know what I would do without this forum to help guide me along. :)
 
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