Anyone attempted to have a pair of purple tangs?

[littlefoxx]

Hey guys, wondering if any have a pair of purple tangs??? I got offered a great deal on a tiny baby. Currently in the works of setting up a 250 gallon (if the deal on the tank itself is good enough!). But plan was to keep the baby purple in my 70 gallon until it grows out and is bigger and introduce that to my adult purple when the bigger tank goes up at the same time. Anyone tried this? @vetteguy53081 ?? If its a bad idea please let me know, dont want the little guy being killed if purples just cant be kept in pairs like yellows seem to be able to

 

[Snoopy 67]

Years back I had 5 purples in a 220. Eventually they started dwindling from hierarchy.
The last one had to be the boss of everything. Must have been a male because when he left the 3 female Wanatabies became a trio in short order.

 

[kzenoni]

I’ve got three, a sailfin, a yellow and a gem. They all get along great.

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

It's certainly possible, as with most species of tang. However, I would not risk adding a juvenile to an established adult, and if I were to do it, I'd try a larger group, and it would be an odd number. The reason for an odd number is that while two are fighting, the other is resting. You certainly will not get any peaceful schooling, most likely they will ignore one another, with occasional bouts of fighting. And that's the good scenario, it's entirely possible that one of them will be killed.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey guys, wondering if any have a pair of purple tangs??? I got offered a great deal on a tiny baby. Currently in the works of setting up a 250 gallon (if the deal on the tank itself is good enough!). But plan was to keep the baby purple in my 70 gallon until it grows out and is bigger and introduce that to my adult purple when the bigger tank goes up at the same time. Anyone tried this? @vetteguy53081 ?? If its a bad idea please let me know, dont want the little guy being killed if purples just cant be kept in pairs like yellows seem to be able to

Only in odd numbers. . . . 1-3-5 and so forth and thats if they swell well together. Tried it in my store display with 7 of them and it was a wrestling battle royal.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Some relevant information about purple tangs that seems a bit random at first - they are reportedly gonochoristic (i.e. they have males and females, they’re not hermaphroditic), they’re solitary as juveniles, and they shoal as adults. I’ll discuss these more throughout the post.

I haven't heard of purples being kept in pairs in our tanks yet, but I do know people have kept both yellows and Hippos in pairs successfully. I'd assume you'd have more aggression between individuals of the same sex, but that may be wrong (I’ve found speculation that you may be able to sex them based on the size of their cloaca, with a larger cloaca being found on females, but this is speculative at this point). Either way, you'd want to be careful when introducing/trying to pair the fish:

I can't find the paper where it was discussed, but I remember reading through where someone tested four different methods for introducing/pairing broodstock. 3 of the 4 were pretty effective for getting them to pair while the fourth had frequent aggression.

I only remember two methods off-hand: one method was just dropping them into the same tank; the other was putting them in breeder boxes (or breeder box like setups) where they could see each other and sense the chemicals in the water from each other but not actually interact with each other physically. Dropping them in is the one that often resulted in aggression, so I wouldn't recommend that. I'd introduce them through the breeder box method. In theory, you should be able to tell if they're aggressive/calm and if they're bonded or not within a few days/weeks.

The quote below should be good advice, though I'd probably suggest modifying 2 a bit by waiting until the smaller fish is an adult/bordering on being an adult (to try and prevent issues with the solitary nature of the juveniles of the species) and then putting the smaller one in a breeder box as discussed above and the bigger one in the tank itself:

1)make sure you have a male and a female, 2)add them at the same time if possible (if not possible, do what you can to minimize territorial-ness/aggression [such as the mirror trick], and it is probably a good idea to have them be relatively close in size - one big, aggressive fish plus one little, aggressive fish frequently equals one dead, little fish), 3)make sure they have plenty of hiding spaces, 4)watch for aggression (which should lessen, not intensify) and separate/rehome if necessary, and 5)feed heavily (make sure they have plenty of food). Eventually, they should (in theory) pair up.

Now, I brought up the shoaling at start because some shoaling/schooling fish (like dartfish) do fine in groups in our tanks, but others are known for killing each other off until there’s only one survivor (presumably, based on Snoopy 67 and vetteguy53081’s comments above, purple tangs would fall into this category). For those species, the below info may help:

My understanding is that keeping a large school can theoretically work, but - as mentioned above - there are a number of things to keep in mind with schooling:

- The number of schooling fish in the tank (I've heard odd numbers are preferred, and the preferred number of fish that I've seen seems to be 9 to 11 at a minimum; the more fish, the more diluted the aggression is between them)

- The size of the tank (for quality of life purposes for your fish, bigger is better - yes, some animals will be calm when shoved into tiny spaces with large numbers of conspecifics where if there was just one or two conspecifics, it would be a deathmatch, but they obviously wouldn't be happy in that situation long-term)

- The amount fed, the quality of the feed, and the frequency of feedings (basically more food = less aggression; and better food = better health = happier, less aggressive fish [theoretically])

- Tankmates (big, scary tankmates that the schooling fish could view as a threat may act as an outside force that keeps the schooling fish focused on not getting killed rather than on fighting amongst themselves)

- The scape of the tank (lots of fish need lots of places to hide/sleep - the more hiding places, the safer the fish feel; line-of-sight-breaks can also help with feeling safe)

That's all I've got for the moment (and pretty much all of it has been mentioned above), but basically - to my understanding - it's a balance of making the fish feel threatened enough by external sources to prevent infighting while also making them feel safe enough (largely through their numbers, the tank's scape, and food security) to not be too stressed. If you're able to strike that balance, you should be able to see schooling behavior (to the best of my current understanding).

 

[C_AWOL]

Your odds will improve if you're able to keep the existing purple in the 70 temporarily and let the new small one establish it self in the 250g from experience. I do agree with the odd number system though since that works with other tangs as well (not exactly with angels though)

 

[jda]

I have a few in a 240g right now - one about twenty years old, one about 6/8 years old and the third one was the size of a US quarter this spring. No issue. A few yellows in there too. Don't believe the "same body type" thing - if they are well fed and have plenty of places to fully escape and hide to where they cannot be seen, they are not aggressive with other fish.

 

[Dburr1014]

I’ve got three, a sailfin, a yellow and a gem. They all get along great.

3 purples?
Or 3 tangs?
OP is asking about 2 purple in one tank.

 

[littlefoxx]

Sounds like not a good idea! Thanks guys I will stick with my one purple tang! I have a blue hippo and yellow too. Sounds like a pair of purples is asking for problems

 

[littlefoxx]

3 purples?
Or 3 tangs?
OP is asking about 2 purple in one tank.

Yes I was thank you! And I have 3 total tangs now all different kinds

 

[littlefoxx]

Some relevant information about purple tangs that seems a bit random at first - they are reportedly gonochoristic (i.e. they have males and females, they’re not hermaphroditic), they’re solitary as juveniles, and they shoal as adults. I’ll discuss these more throughout the post.

I haven't heard of purples being kept in pairs in our tanks yet, but I do know people have kept both yellows and Hippos in pairs successfully. I'd assume you'd have more aggression between individuals of the same sex, but that may be wrong (I’ve found speculation that you may be able to sex them based on the size of their cloaca, with a larger cloaca being found on females, but this is speculative at this point). Either way, you'd want to be careful when introducing/trying to pair the fish:

The quote below should be good advice, though I'd probably suggest modifying 2 a bit by waiting until the smaller fish is an adult/bordering on being an adult (to try and prevent issues with the solitary nature of the juveniles of the species) and then putting the smaller one in a breeder box as discussed above and the bigger one in the tank itself:

Now, I brought up the shoaling at start because some shoaling/schooling fish (like dartfish) do fine in groups in our tanks, but others are known for killing each other off until there’s only one survivor (presumably, based on Snoopy 67 and vetteguy53081’s comments above, purple tangs would fall into this category). For those species, the below info may help:

Yeah this is what I was worried about so that helps thank you! Will pass and just enjoy my purple. I love her dont want her hurt or her to kill the little one shes so pretty too

 

[angelsandtangs]

I have a pair of purples with no issues .. they were best buds from day one .. one was already established he was around 2.5 inches that I bought a bigger one around 4 inches thought they would spar a little but nope and both are 4.5 inches now and where you see one you see the other .. it’s been close to 2 years together

 

[kzenoni]

3 purples?
Or 3 tangs?
OP is asking about 2 purple in one tank.

Three purples, total of 7 tangs in all

 

[juanroseco]

I have two and there‘s no issues. Always active. They eat well and are perfect citizens of my reef.

 

[littlefoxx]

My current one is about 4.5 to 5 inches thats why I was a little worried about a tiny one

I have a pair of purples with no issues .. they were best buds from day one .. one was already established he was around 2.5 inches that I bought a bigger one around 4 inches thought they would spar a little but nope and both are 4.5 inches now and where you see one you see the other .. it’s been close to 2 years together

 

[Dburr1014]

Yeah this is what I was worried about so that helps thank you! Will pass and just enjoy my purple. I love her dont want her hurt or her to kill the little one shes so pretty too

She has server HLLD!
How long have you had her?
You are feeding a veried diet?
Water quality good?

 

[littlefoxx]

She has server HLLD!
How long have you had her?
You are feeding a veried diet?
Water quality good?

So LFS thinks shes about six. She was surrendered to them from her previous owner because of her HLLE. Ive had her 4 months now I think. She sat at my LFS about six months. I couldnt take her sooner as I had a purple tang but would always go to the store and check on her. My tank crashed due to an electrical issue and I lost my purple. I decided to rescue her. The store owner all but gave her to me essentially, paid 70 for her. Since Ive had her her colors have brightened a ton! Very vibrant purple. I feed her nori on a clip, lots of different algaes, mysis, and other frozen foods with garlic, selcon, and vitachem to keep the HLLE where it is. No idea what she went through before me but Im glad I have her and shes so beautiful to me!

 

[littlefoxx]

She has server HLLD!
How long have you had her?
You are feeding a veried diet?
Water quality good?

Shes also the fish in my profile picture. Just love her a lot! Very beautiful in her own way. I have a thing for rescue fish

 

[Dburr1014]

So LFS thinks shes about six. She was surrendered to them from her previous owner because of her HLLE. Ive had her 4 months now I think. She sat at my LFS about six months. I couldnt take her sooner as I had a purple tang but would always go to the store and check on her. My tank crashed due to an electrical issue and I lost my purple. I decided to rescue her. The store owner all but gave her to me essentially, paid 70 for her. Since Ive had her her colors have brightened a ton! Very vibrant purple. I feed her nori on a clip, lots of different algaes, mysis, and other frozen foods with garlic, selcon, and vitachem to keep the HLLE where it is. No idea what she went through before me but Im glad I have her and shes so beautiful to me!

They can recover, kudos to you!