Are tangs worth it?

MT. Reefer · Feb 12, 2024

My 4 year old PBT has gone off the rails and after chasing my Melenorus Wrasse out of the tank, is now terrorizing my Naso and Yellow to the point I am scared for them. I have tried to net him but that's impossible. I will put a third of my rock and corals in trash cans and try to use a piece of plastic to hold him in a third of the tank so I can net him and throw him in the sump until I can make a trip to Missoula or Spokane. After I set up my 150 gal with 60 gal sump, I made the typical mistake of getting him first and even though I buy all my fish as juveniles, they've all grown up now; unfortunately, this gorgeous fish has to go. I will be replacing him with a blonde naso which should fit in much better with my other fish

DIYreefer · Feb 12, 2024

MT. Reefer said:
My 4 year old PBT has gone off the rails and after chasing my Melenorus Wrasse out of the tank, is now terrorizing my Naso and Yellow to the point I am scared for them. I have tried to net him but that's impossible. I will put a third of my rock and corals in trash cans and try to use a piece of plastic to hold him in a third of the tank so I can net him and throw him in the sump until I can make a trip to Missoula or Spokane. After I set up my 150 gal with 60 gal sump, I made the typical mistake of getting him first and even though I buy all my fish as juveniles, they've all grown up now; unfortunately, this gorgeous fish has to go. I will be replacing him with a blonde naso which should fit in much better with my other fish

Try the nyos fish trap. It may take a little patience but I think it will work to catch your devil fish. After trying a variety of other methods to catch a yellowtail damsel of all things, it was the nyos fish trap that finally worked. That fish was pure evil.

vetteguy53081 · Feb 12, 2024

tangs offer color, activity, control algae and cohabitate well with other species of fish. I dont care who agrees with me or not but having tangs well over 2 going on 3 decades, They are by far my easiest fish to raise.

i cant think · Feb 13, 2024

vetteguy53081 said:
tangs offer color, activity, control algae and cohabitate well with other species of fish. I dont care who agrees with me or not but having tangs well over 2 going on 3 decades, They are by far my easiest fish to raise.

Honestly, I’ll agree tangs are easy to raise once settled and happy. But the colour and activity you can get in many other fish - wrasses, foxfaces, angels etc. And the algae control comes from Foxfaces with Wrasses allowing for most other pests to be taken out.

jakebarrierreef · Feb 13, 2024

i cant think said:
Honestly, I’ll agree tangs are easy to raise once settled and happy. But the colour and activity you can get in many other fish - wrasses, foxfaces, angels etc. And the algae control comes from Foxfaces with Wrasses allowing for most other pests to be taken out.

It’s looking like I may need to settle on the 48” 80-ish gallon tank size as my max. This limits my ability to get tangs to something like a tomini or Kole (which is still interesting to me). Yellow likely too aggressive in that size from what I’m reading.

Sounds like dwarf angel, wrasses, and maybe a fox face could be other additions that would serve helpful functions while also being colorful and active.

i cant think · Feb 13, 2024

jakebarrierreef said:
It’s looking like I may need to settle on the 48” 80-ish gallon tank size as my max. This limits my ability to get tangs to something like a tomini or Kole (which is still interesting to me). Yellow likely too aggressive in that size from what I’m reading.

Sounds like dwarf angel, wrasses, and maybe a fox face could be other additions that would serve helpful functions while also being colorful and active.

Definitely! Also, Blennies can serve helpful to battling algae whilst giving more personality than tangs.

Nate Chalk · Feb 13, 2024

seamonster · Feb 13, 2024

jakebarrierreef said:
Hey Everyone, I'm planning on starting up a new reef tank sometime this year. I've had two nano tanks over the past decade and have always envied larger tanks for the variety of marine life they could sustain. I'm trying to figure out what size tank will be right for me.

Tangs have always been interesting to watch in the LFS tanks. I love their swimming habits and body form. Their help with algae control would be great, though disease can be a concern.

Having never owned a tang, what might I be overlooking in 'cons' to building a habitat to accommodate at least one? What surprises might I have going from a 10 gallon nano to something 100 gallons plus?

Hello,
I’ve had a powder blue in my 120 gallon reef tank for 4 years. Tank is 4x2x2 feet. Nacua is far and healthy, but a little bossy. I’ve had other tangs in there before, but they were small bristletooth ones, and they died from stress. I kind of rushed the acclimation process and I wasn’t prepared for the over aggressive behavior from Nacua. I’m going to try again one of these days and not rush the acclimation process. Usually mixing bristletooth tangs with Acanthurus ones works pretty good. I’ve never had that problem before. The trick is to provide good flow, lots of swimming room and a variety of foods. Powder blues are not the easiest fish to take care of but you do the work, you will be rewarded by its behavior and beauty. He has lots of character, very intelligent and he even recognizes me. Great at eating algae too. I purchased the powde blue from Dr. Reefs, fully quarantined and on the smaller size. I built my reef around this fish.. I have a minimalist aquascape, small and few fish. ( 3 lyretail anthias, 1 lawnmower blenny, 1 sandsifting goby, 2 percula clowns, 1 leopard wrasse, and 1 small blackbar damselfish. Good luck.