Tang Advice

[JoshH]

Many tangs either get large OR can be jerks. I recommend. . . .. Tomini, Yellow, convict, eibli tang, mata and hepatus blue

All 5 in a 5 footer or a blend of them??? I would have thought the Hepatus would be too big eventually, but I'm certainly no tang expert.

Well , I guess ya'll are trying to tell me something here ,, no one is picking the two that I want ,, maybe just skip the tang and go with a Rock Blenny

Lol keep your Hope's up! Mostly cause I have almost the exact same tank and would love a tang or two.

I originally wanted powdered blue or achillies as well. I think I've settled on a WhiteCheek and MAYBE a purple/yellow or tomini

 

[vetteguy53081]

All 5 in a 5 footer or a blend of them??? I would have thought the Hepatus would be too big eventually, but I'm certainly no tang expert.



Lol keep your Hope's up! Mostly cause I have almost the exact same tank and would love a tang or two.

Choice of. . . Not all 5. . NO

 

[JoshH]

Choice of. . . Not all 5. . NO

I thought so, just had to clarify, a Hepatus would be a beautiful centerpiece fish.

 

[Braves Fan]

What 2 did you want I guess i missed it, was it the powder brown and nso? I say go for it and add a 3rd. Like a sailfin maybe?

Really I just want the Purple Tang ,, but added the Powder Brown ,, because

It has been suggested that it could be a mistake just putting him ,, the Purple Tang ,, in the tank by himself ,, I am guessing because he may become mean to the rest of the fish in the tank and would need a second Tang to keep him in check ,, I have never had a Purple Tang ,, I don't know their nature ,,

I have had this happen to me before ,, back in the day in my first 125g tank ,, I had a Fox Face ,, Blue Tang,, a Flame Angel and several other fish in the tank ,,, The Blue Tang taught the Fox Face that zoas were a tasty treat ,, I had to remove them from the tank ,, when I did this ,, the Flame Angel , who had been a model fish in the tank ,, went after several of the other fish in the tank with a passion ,, so mush so ,, the other fish wouldn't dare come out of the rock scape ,, I had to remove him also ,, this was back in the day before we really used fish traps ,, yea ,, I am old lol ,, so in a matter off weeks I had to destroy my rock scape twice ,, once to remove the Fox Face and Blue Tang ,, then again several weeks later to remove the Flame Angel ,,

I would rather have less Tangs and more Wrasses ,, that's why I was wanting just the one Purple Tang and be done with it ,, but if I have to add a second Tang to the tank to keep the Purple Tang in check ,, I wanted to pick the Powder Brown. I have had one before ,, a Powder Brown is a pretty fish ,, and I think ,, no expert here ,, a different type of Tang then the Purple Tang ,, I could be talked into getting a different second Tang if need be ,, other than the Powder Brown,,

When its all said and done ,, this is what I want my fish list to be in the tank :

2 Disbar Anthias ( already in the tank )
2 Clown Fish ( already in the tank )
1 Midas Blenny ( already in the tank )
1 Malinarius Wrasse ( already in the tank )
2 Flasher Wrasses
4 or 5 Fairy Wrasses
1 or 2 Tangs

I have a Marine Betta in the tank right now ,, I am strongly thinking of removing her and placing her in the Chalice only tank ,, a 48x24x15 ,, when the tank is ready for her ,, this tank will be a calmer, darker ,, slower paced tank ,, more to her liking ,, than the SPS tank ,, the tank is ordered but won't be here till late September ,, I say her because I am convinced she is a she she is a pretty old fish ,, her size has maxed out well below the Marine Bettas in all of my friends tanks ,,

At the end of the day ,, if I am adding 2 Tangs to the tank ,, I want to add them at the same time ,, I know Wrasses I can make good choices there ,, its just the Tangs I don't know ,,

 

[Xanthurum]

The purple should stay, if that was your first choice and it sounds like it was, keep it. Zebrasomas are by far the easiest to keep and will be very happy in a tank that size, well not sailfins but we are talking about a purple.

As for your second choice if you really want a Powder Blue or Brown they would both have challenges but with proper QT and provided they are the last fish added either would be a great choice. I must emphasize that they are added last, I have had an Achilles tang that was healthy for about 6 months absolutely loose his mind with the addition of a Scott's fairy wrasse. To the point that he relentlessly chased it until my rocks collapsed trapping himself and dying while I was at work.

If you are concerned about the size of your tank I am confident that they will be happy in a tank that size if the aquascape provides lots of room to swim and move around. I fully believe that most tank size recommendations are based off of old habits. I am currently writing an article on tangs and that will be further discussed in the article but here is a quick explanation. Basically it boils down to square footage, take a standard 180 gallon which is considered more than adequate for a powder blue or brown. 6x2x2 gives you a square footage of 24, your tank is 5x2.5x1.66 which is 20.75 sq feet. But that is only part of the equation, we used to cram as much live rock as we could into the back wall of tanks which further restricts swim space and water flow. The thing that most people agree on is that tangs prefer lateral swim space opposed to vertical. Sure an argument can be made for total but does a 10 inch fish prefer 4 more inches of height or 6 more in width? On numbers alone without any other factors your tank allows for more lateral swimming room.

 

[Halal Hotdog]

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

I believe your dimensions would yield a 180 gallon tank, not 120.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I believe your dimensions would yield a 180 gallon tank, not 120.

Those dimensions are a 180g

 

[Braves Fan]

Thanks for the advice ,, I think I will just go with the Purple Tang for now and deal with down the road later ,, I might not even add the second Tang ,,

 

[Braves Fan]

Looks like finding one will be kinda hard ,, Divers Den has one for $800 ,, NY Aquatics has one for under $100 but you get what you get ,, Fishy Business you can kinda pick what you will be sent ,, but they are 100% out of stock ,, haven't found one on any other sites yet ,,

 

[Stege_saurus]

I believe your dimensions would yield a 180 gallon tank, not 120.

Lol my dimensions might be off a tad. I'll remeasure, cause that's gonna drive me crazy.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Looks like finding one will be kinda hard ,, Divers Den has one for $800 ,, NY Aquatics has one for under $100 but you get what you get ,, Fishy Business you can kinda pick what you will be sent ,, but they are 100% out of stock ,, haven't found one on any other sites yet ,,

$800 for a Purple Tang ?

 

[WMR]

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 ,,,

I think you’re doing a great job at researching this issue, IMO, a purple tang & a ctenochaetus tang in the tank & a rabbitfish( foxface, onespot, magnificent, etc), that way you have 2 different tangs from two different genus( which helps with aggression) & another algae eater

 

[Braves Fan]

$800 for a Purple Tang ?

https://www.liveaquaria.com/divers-den/product/469536/bali-aquarich-captive-bred-purple-tang

I was wondering if anyone would catch that

 

[JoshH]

https://www.liveaquaria.com/divers-den/product/469536/bali-aquarich-captive-bred-purple-tang

I was wondering if anyone would catch that

Theres an entire thread on those $800 purple's lol

 

[Braves Fan]

I have contacted the LFS ,,, that's not so local for me I am going to see if he is willing to get the Purple Tang and run it thru his QT system ,, don't see why he wouldn't ,, I pretty much think you can't buy a fish from this store that hasn't been thru his QT system ,, except for Wrasses for the most part ,, he explained to me ,, why for the most part he doesn't run Wrasses thru his system ,, I forgot what that reason was though ,,

 

[Squidward]

Get a Lavander Tang. They don't get real big and is a very underrated Tang. Way prettier than any kole, yellow, or lame bristletooth tang.

 

[Braves Fan]

I have contacted the LFS ,, they are going to find me a Purple Tang and run it thru their QT System ,, I am just going to leave it at one Tank for the present ,, most likely ,, maybe ,, the only one that goes into the tank ,, thanks for all the advice

 

[Fishnut]

I would love to get rid of my 5 “ purple tang. The biggest bully in the tank. It is always chasing everyone away from the front of the tank at feeding time. Has slashed my regals enough times that they are scared to come out in the open and eat. Everyone grabs a bite and then hides in fear of the angry purple tang. Beautiful fish ,but too much stress on my angels, wrasses and chromis. If I can find the time to capture and re-home it I would and replace it with 3 tank raised yellow tangs. Which IMO they are beautiful slow growing and easier going. They would be fine in a 6’tank. Just my 2cents

 

[Marco S]

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 ,,

I know you already decided on the Purple, (I have one and love it) but I figured I would add my two cents before you rule out the PBT...

I have a Purple, Powder Blue, Achilles, Hippo and Whitetail Bristletooth Tang in a 6' 180 gallon tank. While I would not recommend an Achilles or Purple to anyone, (I love them, but they are very aggressive) my Powder Blue has been a model citizen and is a very beautiful fish. Don't rule it out just because others have had problems with them. If you really want it, I say go for it and see how it goes. It may work out and it may not, but life is too short to avoid something you want because others have had bad experiences. You can always re home it if it doesn't work out, but if it does then you will be very happy with your choice.

Note: For those of you that love to tell people that their tanks are too small for certain Tangs, (You know who you are). If you have the urge to let me know that my Achilles and Hippo will get too big for my tank...don't! I realize that and have plans for them to go into a 300+ gallon in a couple years.

 

[Braves Fan]

Ya'll have me re thinking this Purple Tang the fish hasn't been bought yet ,, the LFS who is going to QT the fish ,, what ever it ends up being ,, I will send his a message see what he says ,, I am not set on the fish ,, I want a fish that won't end up being a problem ,, as much as I can make that happen ,, I want a looker Tang though, seeing as I am only planning on one at this point ,, doesn't have to be a rare fish ,, I just want one that is easy on the eyes but he also has to be a good algae grazer ,, That LFS is also going to QT my Wrasses as he finds them ,, I gave him a want to buy list he already has one Wrasse in QT for me ,, hoping I get the tank top this week ,,