tang compatibility what's your rule of thumb?

[ddc0715]

so I've been looking at tangs and what I have started looking into more and more is the species name. that seems to be a bit simpler than asking if a yellow tang will bully a powder brown in my tank. lol i 've been reading about this here in this group but being new to the species /genus name, its a bit hard to retain

so

do Acanthurus like or dislike other Acanthurus?
does NASO LIKE OR DISLIKE OTHER NASO'S?
do Zebrasoma like or dislike Zebrasoma?
do Ctenochaetus like or dislike other Ctenochaetus?
who can be mixed and matched?

see where I'm going here. I'm interested in everyone's rule of thumb.

 

[DrMMI]

At one point, I had 9 tangs in my 260g tank. First ones were a sailfin and 2 scopas. After about a month or so, one scopas started picked on the other. Added a yellow tang. Fighting stopped. Then added a powder blue. No issues. Then unicorn tang. No issues. Then a hippo tang and blonde naso. No issues. Finally a purple tang. No issues until about 6 months later when I found my scopas had tag teamed on my purple tang. Scopas came out for 6 weeks. Put them back and within a month, they started going after the purple tang again. Had to get rid of the scopas permanently. Because the purple was now weakened, my powder blue started going after him too. And he had to come out. Unfortunately, he got too stressed in the smaller holding tank, developed velvet and died. So yeah it's a crap shoot. You may get lucky for a while but at the end of the day, it's all about competition for food and territory. So if one fish thinks another is his competition, a fight may break out.

 

[DaddyFish]

If the first scientific name (Genus) is the same, chances are they will fight when tanked in pairs. Three of same Genus in a tank of sufficient size typically fair better than a pair. Unless the pair (of the same Genus) are of substantially different size, then it's a 50/50 where the big one kills the little one, or they decide to become "besties".

IMHO, Tangs are aggressive fish, period! Nori/seaweed makes a huge difference in their aggressive behavior. The more seaweed in their diet, the less aggressive they tend to be. I think a full belly makes them lazy, kinda like eating Oreos and watching football.

I've had pretty good luck mixing singles of (different Genus) Tangs in the same tank. As already stressed above, it's mostly about territory and food. No idea what yellow fish do for sex (yet).

 

[nereefpat]

do Acanthurus like or dislike other Acanthurus? Dislike each other
does NASO LIKE OR DISLIKE OTHER NASO'S? Usually these are gentle giants, but need big tank...8 feet long or so
do Zebrasoma like or dislike Zebrasoma? Dislike each other
do Ctenochaetus like or dislike other Ctenochaetus? Dislike each other, but not *as* bad as Zebrasoma or Acanthurus

It's best to mix different genera over those in the same genus. Although in a large enough tank with enough food, things can get easier. You also need to accommodate minimum tank sizes for each specimen, and more room for multiple species.

I've had pretty good luck mixing singles of (different Genus) Tangs in the same tank. As already stressed above, it's mostly about territory and food.

Yes.

 

[ca1ore]

Depends on a lot of things, some you can control and others you cannot. More space and less direct competition generally eases aggression though if you have two tangs that are motivated to fight no aquarium will likely be big enough. You are most likely to have aggression problems within the same species, somewhat less within the same genus and even less across different genus. This does not mean no aggression however. Agree that the Naso genus are the gentle giants and least likely to give you problems, but they require a massive tank. Bristles probably next, though I have a large chevron in my tank and he does not take kindly to new tangs regardless of the genus. Acanthurus and zebrasoma are probably about the same - though there are a handful of species that can be hyper aggressive like purple, sohal and Achilles.