3 tangs in 180 tank?

[Steve1500]

I am upgrading from a 75G DT to a 180 DT. The 75G has a yellow and a blue tang and I want to add a purple tang to the upgraded 180 tank. The yellow and blue tang were introduced to the 75G at the same time and are the best of friends. If I transfer the yellow and blue to the 180 at the same time as I transfer the purple tang, will this help with territorial aggression or will they fight to establish a territory? Any body ever try mixing a yellow and purple (Zebramosa's) in a new tank at the same time?

If not a purple, how about another tang....kole, Achilles or powder brown tang instead of the purple? I want to have multiple algae grazers.

Thanks in advance

 

[ScooterV]

If you want a grazer it's pretty hard to beat a kole anyway I love purple tangs, but with a yellow already there and wanting a grazer I'd just go with a kole myself.

 

[TheRealDmorty217]

Stick with a Kole. I personally think a 180g is too small for a Achilles when they are full grown.

 

[AcroNem]

I'd stick with a Kole as well. You could make the purple work but you'll likely see plenty of aggression. Whichever route you go, adding them at the same time is still a good idea.

 

[ca1ore]

Depends on the kind of grazer you are looking for. Hippo isn’t a grazer at all. Zebrasoma tangs are inconsistent grazers, but if they do it will be mostly hair algae. Bristles are film and slime algae grazers, and detritovores. I always keep a bristle in my reef tank.

If you are going to add a second zebrasoma, a new tank changeover is a good time to do it. Probably they will fight regardless. Mine still fight after being together for 5 years. Nothing major but they certainly are not ‘friends’ LOL

 

[Steve1500]

Depends on the kind of grazer you are looking for. Hippo isn’t a grazer at all. Zebrasoma tangs are inconsistent grazers, but if they do it will be mostly hair algae. Bristles are film and slime algae grazers, and detritovores. I always keep a bristle in my reef tank.

If you are going to add a second zebrasoma, a new tank changeover is a good time to do it. Probably they will fight regardless. Mine still fight after being together for 5 years. Nothing major but they certainly are not ‘friends’ LOL

Thanks for the breakdown on which fish eat each type of algae. What type of algae do koles eat? Also, between the kole and the bristle, which one will get along w the Yellow and blue hippo better? Or is it a toss up?

 

[nereefpat]

Just to clarify...

Kole is a species of bristletooth tang. There are several bristletooth (Ctenochaetus genus) tangs that we see in the hobby, including: kole, truncated, chevron, tomoni, and others. As @ca1ore mentioned, they eat film/slime algae and detritus.

Any of them would be a better tankmate to the two you mentioned than a purple (close cousin to the yellow).

 

[Erica-Renee]

I have a Yellow , Lavender and Scopes tang in my . New 220. I want more tangs . But not sure what it will be. I also believe its best add them all at the same time.. My Yellow and scopes tang have a on and off relationship . but they have never hurt each other. Sparing only like Super briefly and Lavender usually inter veins and sends them both off to pout .

 

[Reeferguy365]

You should be fine with multiple tangs but a yellow and a purple probably won't work. I have a 180 myself and have 9 tangs that get along great but when I first started to add tangs I tried a purple and a yellow. The purple was in the tank about a week before I put the yellow in but the second that yellow entered the purple started to attack and almost killed it within a minute.

 

[ScooterV]

Kole for sure prefers film algae. But, if the glass is clean and it has to pick at the rock it has always eaten plenty of GHA, even if by accident. It WILL avoid it if long though, otherwise each swipe of that huge mouth makes everything go "bye bye".

 

[davocean]

180g seems to be where it begins to be much easier keeping multiple tangs, as long as you still keep to the right species and sizes.

I never had a lavendar before as they always looked so plain in LFS under their lighting, and stressed, but I finally got one and it's so pretty and peaceful in my tank.

Their nature so far seems very in line w/ tennenti/lieutenant which is also one of my favorites, and also took on nice color in display

Achilles and powder browns are on my sensitive to disease list.

 

[menglish]

Scott has about 8-9 tangs in his 210 and they are all doing well.

check out some of his videos

 

[ScooterV]

8-9 tangs, other than keeping the tang police away, is different than trying to mix just one yellow and one purple to me. I think, excluding tang vs. tank size, all can agree multiple tangs can spread out any aggression. One butthead purple, and a yellow will be harassed, followed by other fish. The smaller the tank, the worse the aggression.

Add enough to spread out aggression, and push the scales on space and maintenance. There is always a trade off, but also much that "can" work even if against generally accepted guidelines.

 

[Steve1500]

How about an Achilles or Powder brown/blue tang with a yellow and blue hippo? Less aggressive than a purple? I think the Kole will be a sure bet but if I wanted to spread the "love" a fourth might be the Achilles or powder. Thoughts?

 

[ca1ore]

Just because somebody keeps 8-9 tangs in a 210 ..... doesn’t make it a good idea.

 

[ca1ore]

Just to clarify...

Kole is a species of bristletooth tang. There are several bristletooth (Ctenochaetus genus) tangs that we see in the hobby, including: kole, truncated, chevron, tomoni, and others. As @ca1ore mentioned, they eat film/slime algae and detritus.

The chevron is my personal favorite, and since I like it’s adult clothes I almost always can get a rehome for not a lot of $$.

 

[ca1ore]

all can agree multiple tangs can spread out any aggression.

I think this is true if one keeps multiples of a single species, or add multiples at once. Less true with singles or single additions. I have 8 in my 450, 4 of which are zebrasoma. The most recent addition, a gem, got a very hard time from the established purple. In that case, multiples were no help at all.

 

[carmodpg]

I think you are fine. If you are switching the yellow tang out of the old tank into the new, I would put the purple tang in at the same time. Issues with tang aggression, especially yellow tangs, happens when tangs are added to the tank after a yellow tang has been added and already established its "territory." When you are moving the old tangs to the new tank, they have not had the chance to stake out their grounds yet. Further, I have a 180. I have 2 yellows, a Hippo, and a Salfin. Very little aggression, if any at all. Because of stocking delays, yellows were added first. Luckily, there were no issues when the Hippo and Salfin were added two weeks later.

 

[Steve1500]

I think you are fine. If you are switching the yellow tang out of the old tank into the new, I would put the purple tang in at the same time. Issues with tang aggression, especially yellow tangs, happens when tangs are added to the tank after a yellow tang has been added and already established its "territory." When you are moving the old tangs to the new tank, they have not had the chance to stake out their grounds yet. Further, I have a 180. I have 2 yellows, a Hippo, and a Salfin. Very little aggression, if any at all. Because of stocking delays, yellows were added first. Luckily, there were no issues when the Hippo and Salfin were added two weeks later.

Thanks. My current plan is to add the yellow and blue tangs on one day and no more than 1 week later add a kole and possibly a purple. If worse comes to worse, I will still be using the 75G and I can move one of them to that tank. though the 75 is to small, it will buy me some time.

 

[60CubeReefer]

Plan out all the tangs that you want, and introduce them all into the tank at the same time. Adding tangs after existing tangs have established territory in a tank usually does not end well for the newcomer. Two things you can try to mitigate this:

1. Use an acclimation box. Give it a week or so to try and get used to each other. You'll still see aggression when you let it out, but not to the extent if you had just dropped it in.
2. This seems counterintuitive, but the more tangs you have, the better luck you will have in adding newcomers. The aggression is spread out amongst all the tangs, and no one tang gets constantly picked on.