Are Acanthurus Tangs really that aggressive?

[Gator0930]

I really enjoy Tangs and I want to get a White Tail Bristletooth Tang. I do not only one tang and Scopas is my son's favorite, so i think i will be adding one of these. I love a lot of the Acanthurus species, but I have heard that they are all aggressive.

 

[Friday24]

I really enjoy Tangs and I want to get a White Tail Bristletooth Tang. I do not only one tang and Scopas is my son's favorite, so i think i will be adding one of these. I love a lot of the Acanthurus species, but I have heard that they are all aggressive.

Acanthurus do tend to be on the more aggressive IMO, that being said my White Tail Bristletooth used to bite the crap out of my Atlantic Blue, and bite at the spines on my Rabbit until they got bigger than him by a decent amount.

 

[reefes pieces]

I've had luck mixing other species tangs with an acanthurus by making sure they are added after and are smaller than the other tang. Still no guarantee and no guarantee the other types of tangs will be aggressive towards the acanthurus.

 

[Gator0930]

Acanthurus do tend to be on the more aggressive IMO, that being said my White Tail Bristletooth used to bite the crap out of my Atlantic Blue, and bite at the spines on my Rabbit until they got bigger than him by a decent amount.

I've had luck mixing other species tangs with an acanthurus by making sure they are added after and are smaller than the other tang. Still no guarantee and no guarantee the other types of tangs will be aggressive towards the acanthurus.

Thank you for your input. What about a convict tang or an edible mimic tang Those are my favorite as of right now. I have a 210 Gallon btw

 

[Friday24]

IMO you’ll have a better chance adding multiples at the same time and around the same size

 

[Antics]

Here is an article written by @4FordFamily that covers the topic in general (and specific comments about Acanthurus tangs).

I should preface this by saying that Acanthurus tangs specifically tend to be very fragile with regard to dealing with Ich/Velvet etc. If you're not quarantining or planning to quarantine I really think you should avoid pursuing these tangs specifically.

With all of that being said, my tank is overstocked with tangs including a Goldrim (Acanthurus nigricans). When I introduced it into my hierarchy it was half the size of the larger/more established tangs. My white tailed bristletooth tang is the smallest tang in my tank but it is also the aggressor and boss interestingly enough.

All of that being said, my Goldrim was introduced last and it has outgrown the other tangs 2:1 and is close to being the largest after only a year.

 

[4FordFamily]

Here is an article written by @4FordFamily that covers the topic in general (and specific comments about Acanthurus tangs).

I should preface this by saying that Acanthurus tangs specifically tend to be very fragile with regard to dealing with Ich/Velvet etc. If you're not quarantining or planning to quarantine I really think you should avoid pursuing these tangs specifically.

With all of that being said, my tank is overstocked with tangs including a Goldrim (Acanthurus nigricans). When I introduced it into my hierarchy it was half the size of the larger/more established tangs. My white tailed bristletooth tang is the smallest tang in my tank but it is also the aggressor and boss interestingly enough.

All of that being said, my Goldrim was introduced last and it has outgrown the other tangs 2:1 and is close to being the largest after only a year.

I agree with this, yes, they truly are nasty, territorial fish. Extremely susceptible to parasites if you’re not quarantining everything, avoid them as it’ll be a sure death and headache.

Acanthurus are a beautiful but risky endeavor :)