Tang Advice

Braves Fan · Aug 16, 2019

I need some sound Tang advice ,, when I post in my local forum ,, my fish want to buy list ,, when it comes to Tangs ,, I can never get ,, that's a good choice ,, go ahead and buy

I will give you some info on what I have going on with my system ,, what fish I have in my tank now ,, what I am wanting to add to the tank ,,

I have a fairly new system ,, tank and everything that goes with that statement ,, the tank is 60x30x20 a Reef Savvy external overflow box ,, 4 Radion G4 XR30 Pro lights over the tank ,, The tank has been sit up long enough , that I am now at the point I can start adding SPS corals to it ,, I have very little Live Rock in the tank ,, only a few small pieces that are in the tank because they have corals growing on them ,, kinda a one small rock ,, one coral type of thing ,, I have a lot of Stax Rock pieces in the tank, have a lot of Favia frags, one coral one Stax rock for it to grow on ,,, I have a large Aqua Rocks Scape in the tank , a fairly open scape ,, SPS corals will go on top ,, Zoas & Palys growing up and down the branches towards the SPS corals ,, Favias on their own rock pieces on the sand bed ,, I have a large amount of Bio Sphears in my sump tank that were cured in my old system before that tank was taken down ,, that will be pretty much all the corals going into the tank ,, I have another tank ordered that will be a chalice only tank ,, I have a Top for the tank ordered from Artfully Acrylic ,, it will be here next week ,, I have been holding off buying any fish until I get the top,, actually the Top came in but had to be sent back for a few changes ,,

I do have fish in the tank ,, these were from my old tank ,, a Marine Betta I have a few rocks placed at the back of the tank to give him a place to hide ,, I have two Black Ice Clowns they have a small clay pot to live in, they don't stray far from that ,, a Malinraius Wrasse ,, Two Disbar Anthias , a Midas Blenny ,, that's all ,,

So ,, my plan is / was ,, to order my Tangs and about 3 Flasher Wrasses on my first fish order ,, give the Flasher Wrasses some time to adjust to the tank ,, then place a order for a few Fairy Wrasses ,, say 4 ,, I am not wanting a lot of fish for the tank ,, I am wanting to stay well on this side of not over stocking the tank with fish ,, My problem is coming up with my Tang Choices ,,,

I have friends tell me to add 4 Tangs to the tank ,, that's not happening ,, I would ,, rather have a lesser amount of Tangs and be able to add more Wrasses ,, I would be fine with just one or two Tangs ,, I kinda want a Purple Tang to be in the mix ,, I just think they add a lot of color to the tank ,, I have never owned one before though ,,

I am open to just about anything here ,, as long as its good advice ,, since the tank doesn't have any Tangs in it now,, I can order them at the same time ,, if ya'll recommend more than one ,, I am going into this with ,, going with what ya'll recommend ,,,

Sashaka · Aug 16, 2019

Hi Braves Fan. I have never owned a Purple tang. They are beautiful, but all I have researched about them suggests that they are usually very aggressive with other tangs, and like you, I wanted multiple tangs in my 180 gal tank. As you already know, each fish has its own personality, so what has worked for me may not work for you. There are many factors for successfully keeping multiple tangs together such as providing adequate hiding places.

I have been successful adding a Hippo tang and a yellow tang together. I tried a Kole tang but it was too aggressive with the other tangs. I sold it to my LFS for store credit, but I am trying again with a smaller Kole. My hope is that the other tangs won't see the little guy as a threat and leave it alone. Time will tell. It has one more week in copper before I acclimate it to the big tank.

Whatever you decide, I would add the tangs at the same time to the tank. Get the ones you really want, but understand you may have to separate them at some point if they never settle down together.

I'm sure others here will have advice about compatibility as well.

Good luck!

Stege_saurus · Aug 16, 2019

Im no Tang expert, however there are a few different ways to do this. There are a few different sources that explain temperaments of various Tangs, explaining which ones are more prone to being aggressive than others. I would get a list of maybe Top 5 Tangs you would want, and research which ones have a higher tendency with aggression. For instance, I have a 120g (72"x24"x24") and plan to have 3 Tangs (Yellow, Yellow Eye Kole, Tomini). I don't have the quarantine space to quarantine them all together, so I've came up with a plan on how to acclimate each one to each other.

1. Yellow Tang is already in the DT, I have done a couple tests to see what his reaction to other fish and tangs could be. I've tried to show him pictures and videos(by just holding my phone up to the glass when he's in front) and havent received much of a reaction if any.
2. Tomini Tang is in QT, and is doing great. I plan to use an acclimation box for the first week when he goes to DT, just for safety measures. I also plan to keep everyone well fed during this time.

Like I said, im no expert on Tangs, but there are alot of resources out there to help you. There is also a member who is better on this topic than I am.
@4FordFamily

MnFish1 · Aug 16, 2019

I have a purple tang and 2 yellow tangs and some other fish in a smaller tank. I dont know how many gallons your tank will be - or your sump volume. But I would think it shoudl be ok.

I would be somewhat concerned adding so many fish in a staggered manner because of disease = are you going to QT? (sometimes its better to add more at once) - How 'new' is your system?

saltyhog · Aug 16, 2019

I agree to add all the tangs at one time if there will be multiple. My tank is 72x24 and my Gold Rim will not allow another tang to be introduced now that he is established. In a tank your size I would do one or three, not two. The thought is spread out the aggression more.

If you do a purple I would make it the only tang. You might get away with a yellow, convict and bristle tooth of some kind all together. I think that would be a really interesting display.

Jon Fishman · Aug 16, 2019

I would maybe put one in a tank that size

Xanthurum · Aug 16, 2019

I have a tank that is almost the exact same size and I have 5 tangs living together now for almost 2 years. My advice would be maybe do 3 tangs all at once, 1 of each Genus but stay away for Hippos and Naso.

Adventures In Reefing · Aug 16, 2019

I have had purple tangs that were jerks and purple tangs that were sweet as sugar. It totally depends on the fish. Much like people fish have there own personalities some are aggressive and some are smarter than others. If you want a purple tang I say do it. Whatever tangs you are going to do add them all at the same time or you will definitely have issues. I have found that once you have the king of the tank in, you cannot add more of that species. In one of my displays I have a Vlemingi, and a yellow with a fox face rabbit + a ton of smaller fish and there are no issues at all, I can hand feed them without an issue and there is no aggression in the tank unless I try to add another tang (made that mistake twice and it cost me both times). I had a purple for 10 years and had no issues with it. I went to add one to the wife's tank and it was WW3 and I had to remove it and take it to the local LFS. Good luck with whatever you do!

4FordFamily · Aug 16, 2019

In a five foot tank 3 tangs that stay small and grow slowly are probably the maximum. I’d recommend a couple of bristletooth (such as tomini, kole, white tail) and a zebrasoma such as a yellow, black, or purple. Gem and Sailfin will get too large for a 5 foot tank in relatively short order.

Adding together does work best, a resident tang that has had the ability to “defend his tank” from other tangs (none have been in his territory) are much more likely to react very badly to another being added.

This is a resource I wrote on the subject, with some of my own subjectivity/experience regarding aggression levels. Of course, individuals may vary.

Tang Aggression - Understanding and Combating

Tangs tang aggression mean nasty evil injured stab surgeonfish killing killed kill beat hide hiding why help remove sump new addition

www.reef2reef.com

Braves Fan · Aug 16, 2019

I am not against just adding one Tang to the tank ,, I am fine with that ,, I have some reading to do as I haven't read all the replays yet

I think the tank is about 140g ,, give a gallon or so either way ,, Sump tank is big ,, more or less for the size of the display tank ,, Its a Advanced Acrilics tank 60x18x18 its only filled up half way with water though and Bio Spears in every section

Braves Fan · Aug 17, 2019

Hemmdog · Aug 17, 2019

I’d do a whitetail bristletooth, Yellow tang, mag Foxface for your algae eaters.

Braves Fan · Aug 17, 2019

I have been doing my homework since I made this post ,, pretty much spent my day yesterday doing nothing else but researching this choice for a Tang or Tang's for my tank ,, watching videos on You Tube about Tangs ,, read the artical posted by 4FordFamily ,, and anything else I could get my hands on to read or watch ,,

What did I learn ,, Tangs don't like each other ,, my tank a 60x30x20 is recommended to be to small for most of them ,, a few of them are apt to be more prone than others to have problems ,, either from Ich or just being mean to each other ,, and should be removed from my list ,, to be honest ,, after reading up on Tangs ,, kinda was left with the feeling ,,, I shouldn't get any Tangs for my tank ,, kinda extreme ,, but just the feeling I got ,,

I am leaning towards adding two Tangs to my tank ,, I do have a few things going for me when adding these fish to my tank ,, I will be adding the fish at the same time to my tank ,, I have a LFS that is about 1 1/2 hours drive from my house ,, they are a sponser to a local Forum I am in ,, a very good LFS ,, this store has a full QT system set up ,, they buy fish ,, run them thru this QT system ,, then he makes post in the Forum with what is coming out of QT and are for sale ,, cost more for the fish ,, but well worth it ,, I am sure that I can pre pay for the fish ,, he can get them and run them thru his QT system ,, I just have to make the drive to go get them and bring them home , no big deal , I have nothing better to do

the third thing is ,, as I said at the start ,, my scape in the tank is a Aqua Rocks scape ,, you can research that to see what that means ,, kinda a Tonga Branch Rock scape for example ,, this type of scape adds swimming room to the tank that you normally wouldn't get with a typical rock scape ,,, not sure how much that helps ,, I kinda think its a plus though ,, this scape has a lot of branches to it ,, Tangs will have plenty of pecking places ,, maybe more so than a regular typical rock scape ,,

What are my two choices ,, at the top of my list were two Tangs ,, a PBT and a Achilles Tang ,, those two came off the list ,, just more down sides with them that I don't want to have to deal with ,, third fish was a Purple Tang ,, he is staying ,, he's one of my choices ,, doesn't seem to be a Ich problem fish ,, maybe aggression issues possible , more than likely ,, I am hoping adding both fish at the same time will ,, maybe take care of that problem ,,

The second fish ,, I was having a really hard time making this choice ,, here it comes

a Powder Brown ,, if ya'll think this is a really bad choice ,, let me know it and I will rethink this choice ,, there are two reasons I am thinking this is a bad choice ,, one is ,, its second on the 4FordFamily list of fish to think about not getting ,, that's never good ,,, second reason ,, that would put me having two fish in the tank with possible over the top aggression issues towards each other ,,

So ,, why did the Powder Brown make my list ,, in my last tank, I had this fish ,, when I took the tank down ,, I gave the fish to a friend ,, he was just to big to go into my cube holding tank I had set up ,, the fish wasn't that big ,, but I just figured the tank was to small for him to be in for the extended period of time he would have to be in there ,, better to just give him to a friend that had a big tank ,, the Powder Brown is a very pretty fish ,, he also never gave me any problems ,, I did have a second Tang in that tank ,, a Naso Tang ,, they got along just fine ,,

I can sit here and second guess myself ,, if I didn't want ya'lls thoughts on this I would just get the fish and be done with it and live with whatever happens down the road ,, that's not the case ,, if you tell me this is just a bad idea to put these two fish together ,, I will listen to what ya'll think ,,,

Jay Z · Aug 17, 2019

Tomini is my best algae grazer I have. He also likes to poke at my purple and keep him inline. My hippo just hides from me most the time. Kind of like fat guy in a tiny coat, only fat fish in a tiny hole.

I had a yellow, he ended up dying. Didn't know they were sensitive to ozone.

Jesterrace · Aug 17, 2019

Zebrasoma Tangs are among the more aggressive Tangs (although Scopas tend to be better behaved). Purples will definitely run a tank if they are the biggest fish. You need something else in there to keep it's attitude in check or it will likely be a bully.

Whisperer · Aug 17, 2019

I also have a 180G tank. I have a purple tang, hippo, clown and two yellow tangs. The biggest is the hippo and is the most behaved of all. He is the first one added to the tank too. The purple tang chases the two yellows occasionally. The most bully and relatively the smallest is the clown tang. He chases everyone else when they try to eat the nori from the clip. They all get along most of the time.

motortrendz · Aug 17, 2019

I have 3 tangs in my tank, I have a vlamingi, an orange shoulder and a blue hippo. The vlamingi likes side runs, the orange shoulder will eat from my hand. The hippo bites the crap out of me every time o put my hand in the tank.