Tang Aggression - Understanding and Combating

[4FordFamily]

So in a bit of a conundrum. The tank is a 750 gallon (lets call it the , its still a bit fresh (two months old) and current Tang stock is:

2 Blond Naso (1 5", 1 3.5")
1 Sail fin (3")
1 Lieutenant (2.5")
1 Blue tang (2")

the Nasos were in first (fish stock here in canada is pretty abysmal currently)
followed by the sail fin
then the lieutenant and blue

The dominant fish is the larger Naso but he often concedes to the sail fin.

was supposed to have a PBT with the blue and Lieutenant but it jumped out of the LFS tank while being collected and didn't make it

So here's my issue, I have 3 yellows coming in, another PBT, eventually an Achilles, Fowleri, 3 purple, and maybe a few others.

But I have a Sohal thats available (~3") (super rare to get here, especially right now) that I would LOVE to have, but the issue is I'm concerned about aggression. I have 40 gallons QTs for them, do you guys think that adding any of the other tangs after the Sohal is going to be an issue? I do plan on adding them in groups after the fact.

Currently the aggression in the tank is very minor, a little bit of chasing, the blue tang has attitude lol, takes them all on even though it's the smallest.

Sohal are nasty but worsening as they grow. I would add the acanthurus tangs together or in large batches. The fowleri should be large as they’re not very aggressive it may curb aggression. My 9” dussumeiri doesn’t really diffuse aggression by my 5.5” sohal at first but the heckling doesn’t continue as long as I imagine it would otherwise!

 

[Mareshow]

Sohal are nasty but worsening as they grow. I would add the acanthurus tangs together or in large batches. The fowleri should be large as they’re not very aggressive it may curb aggression. My 9” dussumeiri doesn’t really diffuse aggression by my 5.5” sohal at first but the heckling doesn’t continue as long as I imagine it would otherwise!

Good to know! I've been a bit of a heavy feeder (always a piece of nori on the glass) and I've found that it really curbs aggression. I plan on keeping the same plan with the new ones.

 

[4FordFamily]

Good to know! I've been a bit of a heavy feeder (always a piece of nori on the glass) and I've found that it really curbs aggression. I plan on keeping the same plan with the new ones.

It seems to help though in my 10 foot tank my puffers make short work of it no matter how much I add

 

[jaxteller007]

It seems to help though in my 10 foot tank my puffers make short work of it no matter how much I add

Same here (as far as over feeding). Id rather overskim, filter, and do partial water changes than have our tangs start showing outright aggression.

 

[Bpp124987]

I have a 75 gallon with a blue tang and a small brisstletooth tang (I think a square tail), some clowns, blenny, goby, gramma, dottyback, orange back wrasse and a lemonpeel angel. Mixed reef. Doing great. All quarantined before adding haven’t had a loss in well over a year (1.5 yo tank).

I’m going to upgrade to a 5’ 125gallon in a month or three and want to add a few more tangs then have space for everything to grow up. Possibility of a 8’ tank Down the road.

I’m considering adding a gold rim / white cheek, blonde naso, and purple tang to the 125 when upgrade. So essentially a tang of each genus. Maybe a flock of chromis and a flasher wrasse.

that sound reasonable? I’m hoping no tangs of same genus will lead to minimal aggression. I’d qt then add all at once. Since it’s an upgrade I can qt new fish and then add them to the new 125 at same time as migrating the fish from the 75 so they all go into new tank at same time.

Any feedback?

 

[Awincko]

So I recently added a healthy yellow, blue hippo and sailfin to a 75g QT. The hippo is the bully of the group followed by the yellow, the sail fin seems to get picked on the most. I’ve had them for 5 days now, feeding 3x per day plus nori. Any suggestions on how to get them to get along? They all tend to hang out in the same corner but every now and again they go at one another....not sure what to do next :-/ I tried feeding more and RE-arranged the pvc.

 

[jaxteller007]

I have a 75 gallon with a blue tang and a small brisstletooth tang (I think a square tail), some clowns, blenny, goby, gramma, dottyback, orange back wrasse and a lemonpeel angel. Mixed reef. Doing great. All quarantined before adding haven’t had a loss in well over a year (1.5 yo tank).

I’m going to upgrade to a 5’ 125gallon in a month or three and want to add a few more tangs then have space for everything to grow up. Possibility of a 8’ tank Down the road.

I’m considering adding a gold rim / white cheek, blonde naso, and purple tang to the 125 when upgrade. So essentially a tang of each genus. Maybe a flock of chromis and a flasher wrasse.

that sound reasonable? I’m hoping no tangs of same genus will lead to minimal aggression. I’d qt then add all at once. Since it’s an upgrade I can qt new fish and then add them to the new 125 at same time as migrating the fish from the 75 so they all go into new tank at same time.

Any feedback?

I'm not an expert but it seems like the blue hippo and blonde naso would quickly be too big for a 125, especially with all the others. Don't they both get 1 foot or larger?

 

[jaxteller007]

So I recently added a healthy yellow, blue hippo and sailfin to a 75g QT. The hippo is the bully of the group followed by the yellow, the sail fin seems to get picked on the most. I’ve had them for 5 days now, feeding 3x per day plus nori. Any suggestions on how to get them to get along? They all tend to hang out in the same corner but every now and again they go at one another....not sure what to do next :-/ I tried feeding more and RE-arranged the pvc.

I seem to be the only person whose sailfin was the bully. Ours turned into such a bully when it was just him and a foxface that we re-homed him. He's suspected of killing another tang in his new home as well. We must have got the sociopath of sailfins.

 

[Mareshow]

I seem to be the only person whose sailfin was the bully. Ours turned into such a bully when it was just him and a foxface that we re-homed him. He's suspected of killing another tang in his new home as well. We must have got the sociopath of sailfins.

You're not the only one, my Desjardini sail fin seems to be the harasser of my tank, I'm excited to see it and the inbound Sohal duke it out

 

[jaxteller007]

You're not the only one, my Desjardini sail fin seems to be the harasser of my tank, I'm excited to see it and the inbound Sohal duke it out

Ours was a desjardini as well. I think it had something to do with the fact that for the longest time when we got the 180 up and running him and the foxface were the only two larger fish in the tank. And the foxface is so chill that the desjardini just got a real big ego. Everyone else so far is getting a long pretty well, even the two yellows.

The Lt has turned into the boss a bit and gets a little mean to some of the others (especially the Flame fin for some reason, any idea why @4FordFamily ) but I figure that will change some once the Vlaminigi catches up to him size wise. And so far no one has had any cuts on them or anything that I can tell.

 

[4FordFamily]

I have a 75 gallon with a blue tang and a small brisstletooth tang (I think a square tail), some clowns, blenny, goby, gramma, dottyback, orange back wrasse and a lemonpeel angel. Mixed reef. Doing great. All quarantined before adding haven’t had a loss in well over a year (1.5 yo tank).

I’m going to upgrade to a 5’ 125gallon in a month or three and want to add a few more tangs then have space for everything to grow up. Possibility of a 8’ tank Down the road.

I’m considering adding a gold rim / white cheek, blonde naso, and purple tang to the 125 when upgrade. So essentially a tang of each genus. Maybe a flock of chromis and a flasher wrasse.

that sound reasonable? I’m hoping no tangs of same genus will lead to minimal aggression. I’d qt then add all at once. Since it’s an upgrade I can qt new fish and then add them to the new 125 at same time as migrating the fish from the 75 so they all go into new tank at same time.

Any feedback?

In a 5 foot tank, I'd avoid most tangs other than smaller/average sized zebrasoma (avoid sailfins) and bristletooth. Most acanthurus tangs will require more space. A convict tang being a smaller exception, perhaps a chocolate tang for a short while. Your hippo will outgrow the tank in a few years too, honestly. I know you probably don't want to hear that but they get rather large and like to swim the length of long tanks. I'd avoid other acanthurus. You may be able to do a purple tang and a convict or something but that's tang heavy for a 5 foot tank. It might not work out, it's always a risk.

So I recently added a healthy yellow, blue hippo and sailfin to a 75g QT. The hippo is the bully of the group followed by the yellow, the sail fin seems to get picked on the most. I’ve had them for 5 days now, feeding 3x per day plus nori. Any suggestions on how to get them to get along? They all tend to hang out in the same corner but every now and again they go at one another....not sure what to do next :-/ I tried feeding more and RE-arranged the pvc.

These kinds of interactions with these species of tang OFTEN blow over in time. If this continues (and there is visible damage) for a week or two, you may consider rehoming one. I typically re-home the aggressor. Not much you can do in a QT environment.

 

[Awincko]

thanks! Stay tuned!

 

[Bpp124987]

In a 5 foot tank, I'd avoid most tangs other than smaller/average sized zebrasoma (avoid sailfins) and bristletooth. Most acanthurus tangs will require more space. A convict tang being a smaller exception, perhaps a chocolate tang for a short while. Your hippo will outgrow the tank in a few years too, honestly. I know you probably don't want to hear that but they get rather large and like to swim the length of long tanks. I'd avoid other acanthurus. You may be able to do a purple tang and a convict or something but that's tang heavy for a 5 foot tank. It might not work out, it's always a risk.

Thanks for the feedback! Let me recast this a bit.

i have the above noted inhabitants in a 3’ 75g. I’m moving to a bigger house (tomorrow! Zomg!), and own a 5’ 125g that has been in storage that I plan to put in the new house as an upgrade for the 75. Give the lemonpeel and the blue tang some more space.

Since I own the 5’ 125g, and just dropped a **** load of money on a new house, I want to use the 5’er for a year or two and then upgrade to an 8’ tank once the bank account recovers.

Would the white cheek, blonde naso, and purple be ok with the blue, tiny bristletooth, and lemonpeel angel for a year or two in the 5’ 125g assuming I buy them at about 3” size? My blue has grown about an inch, inch and a half over past 1.5 years so that’s what I’m using as a benchmark.

Then ya figure I should budget to upgrade in one year, or could I stretch to two?

Or am I crazy and I just need to wait till I can pony up for the 8’er?

 

[jaxteller007]

Thanks for the feedback! Let me recast this a bit.

i have the above noted inhabitants in a 3’ 75g. I’m moving to a bigger house (tomorrow! Zomg!), and own a 5’ 125g that has been in storage that I plan to put in the new house as an upgrade for the 75. Give the lemonpeel and the blue tang some more space.

Since I own the 5’ 125g, and just dropped a **** load of money on a new house, I want to use the 5’er for a year or two and then upgrade to an 8’ tank once the bank account recovers.

Would the white cheek, blonde naso, and purple be ok with the blue, tiny bristletooth, and lemonpeel angel for a year or two in the 5’ 125g assuming I buy them at about 3” size? My blue has grown about an inch, inch and a half over past 1.5 years so that’s what I’m using as a benchmark.

Then ya figure I should budget to upgrade in one year, or could I stretch to two?

Or am I crazy and I just need to wait till I can pony up for the 8’er?

Man i wish our Lt only grew inch in a year lol. I'm pretty sure he's trippled in size in a couple months haha.

 

[BeltedCoyote]

@4FordFamily

thanks for creating this thread! I just finished reading it and wanted to see what you thought about fish list.

to start with, I’ve descended to upgrade my tank from a 4ft 120 to an 8ft tank. The exact volume for the new tank I haven’t decided but at least 240g.

fish guaranteed to go in:
My pair of occ clowns
One spot foxface.

I’ve not really given much thought to tangs previously because I didn’t think I’d have the space to keep them. That said, since I’m going to have such a large tank I’ve realized I actually really do like tanks and would like a trio or quartet. So here’s what I’m thinking:

1) Naso (preferably blonde)
2) PBT (last fish that will be added to the tank out of all fish not just tangs)
3) some form of zebrasoma other than a YT (already will have yellow with the foxface) perhaps you could recommend?
4) white cheek tang
And maybe:
5) tomini

What are your thoughts, do you think this is reasonable? I’m thinking Naso would be one of the first so it’d be the boss. Assuming a tank the size I’m getting is suitable.

 

[Tamberav]

Can you recommend another 1-2 Tangs to keep with a Desjardini Sailfin in a 96x24x22 tank? Other fish are wrasse and small angels + butterflies.

I don't want anything hyper aggressive that will bother my other fish not anything delicate (Acanthurus). I was going to keep the Sailfin alone or maybe with a Tomini but some people here commented the sailfins got more aggressive when kept alone. So looking to curb that potential issue by having tangs 'distract' each other.

I was thinking maybe a Naso and Tomini? Is there enough room for these 3? Would just a Tomini be enough distraction or too small?

I am new to large tanks and therefor new to Tangs. Kept nano's for the past 10 years.

Thanks!

 

[esther]

Looking to add the following tangs to a 220g that already has a yellow belly blue tang (about 4"), a desjardini tang (about 3.5"), and a Tomini Tang (about 2.5"). I also have a couple of other wrasses and dragonets.

• I want to add Chevron & Achilles Tang now (about 3")
• Thinking of adding these as a group in the future (they'll all be about 2.5")
  • Yellow Tang
  • Gem Tang
  • Purple Tang

Am I crazy? Or is this doable?

 

[Mareshow]

@4FordFamily

thanks for creating this thread! I just finished reading it and wanted to see what you thought about fish list.

to start with, I’ve descended to upgrade my tank from a 4ft 120 to an 8ft tank. The exact volume for the new tank I haven’t decided but at least 240g.

fish guaranteed to go in:
My pair of occ clowns
One spot foxface.

I’ve not really given much thought to tangs previously because I didn’t think I’d have the space to keep them. That said, since I’m going to have such a large tank I’ve realized I actually really do like tanks and would like a trio or quartet. So here’s what I’m thinking:

1) Naso (preferably blonde)
2) PBT (last fish that will be added to the tank out of all fish not just tangs)
3) some form of zebrasoma other than a YT (already will have yellow with the foxface) perhaps you could recommend?
4) white cheek tang
And maybe:
5) tomini

What are your thoughts, do you think this is reasonable? I’m thinking Naso would be one of the first so it’d be the boss. Assuming a tank the size I’m getting is suitable.

I added My two Blond Naso's first, I think it really depends on the fish but mine keeps the aggression down. that includes a PBT, Sohal and sailfin. Of all of them the most aggressive is the sailfin. its constantly trying to battle for #2 in the pecking order with the Sohal.

Can you recommend another 1-2 Tangs to keep with a Desjardini Sailfin in a 96x24x22 tank? Other fish are wrasse and small angels + butterflies.

I don't want anything hyper aggressive that will bother my other fish not anything delicate (Acanthurus). I was going to keep the Sailfin alone or maybe with a Tomini but some people here commented the sailfins got more aggressive when kept alone. So looking to curb that potential issue by having tangs 'distract' each other.

I was thinking maybe a Naso and Tomini? Is there enough room for these 3? Would just a Tomini be enough distraction or too small?

I am new to large tanks and therefor new to Tangs. Kept nano's for the past 10 years.

Thanks!

I'd say any tangs would be alright in that tank for a while. I'd recommend a regal, they are hilarious. The Naso, would be alright for a while I think.

Looking to add the following tangs to a 220g that already has a yellow belly blue tang (about 4"), a desjardini tang (about 3.5"), and a Tomini Tang (about 2.5"). I also have a couple of other wrasses and dragonets.

• I want to add Chevron & Achilles Tang now (about 3")
• Thinking of adding these as a group in the future (they'll all be about 2.5")
  • Yellow Tang
  • Gem Tang
  • Purple Tang

Am I crazy? Or is this doable?

If you don't mind a little big of aggression they all work out. I have 8 tangs in my tank currently (2 blonde Naso, regal, sailfin dej, regal, lieutenant, Sohal, and PBT) with four more coming this week. My tank is literally called the tang gang haha.

 

[BeltedCoyote]

I added My two Blond Naso's first, I think it really depends on the fish but mine keeps the aggression down. that includes a PBT, Sohal and sailfin. Of all of them the most aggressive is the sailfin. its constantly trying to battle for #2 in the pecking order with the Sohal.

yeah I’m planning on getting a small Naso first. I’m hoping it’ll be a bit of a gentle enforcer keeping the peace. Thanks for your reply!

 

[Gobi-Wan]

I have a 6' 125 with a 3.5" purple tang. I would really like to have 2 more tangs, preferably a Desjardini and one other tang. I know some people have success with a trio of zebrasoma to spread out the aggression. I would rather have a minic tang as the 3rd tang though. Would it be safer in terms of aggression to add a Desjardini and mimic tang to the purple, or a desjardini and yellow? I hope to find the two new tangs slightly larger than the purple and introduce the 2 together. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance.