Tangs with clams

[Don's tank]

I would really like to get a clam but have been told that my current fish would eat the clams. Especially my Regal and Clown Tangs. Does anyone have experience with Tangs and clams?

 

[needbiggertanks]

No issues with my scopas and clams...

 

[Don's tank]

Thanks. Are you aware of any reef safe fish that don't do well with clams?

 

[Christopher Presley]

Technically I don’t think they can be considered reef safe if they’ll eat clams. My understanding is any tang SHOULD be safe. Of course there’s always exceptions. Currently I have a regal, kole, PB, foxface and various smalls like royal gramma and I have no issues.

 

[OceanL0ver]

I have regal, PB , and yellow tang with no issues for over a year

 

[Denver_Josh]

I have a 2” squamosa, 7” derasa, 12” Squamosa, 14” derasa and 15” squamosa with a bunch of Tangs: yellow, scopas, Black, purple, desjardini sailfin, sailfin, unicorn, 2 x vlamingii, orange shoulder, sohal and Blochii Tangs. The fish range from 3”-15”, and have never gone after my clams. However, my cleaner wrasse nipped at them like crazy, but my cleaner body has never done anything toward them. I have all of the fish (and a few more) in a 600 gallon system and nitrates are actually zero as the clams act as natural filters. So... I think you are good to go if you add clams to a tank with tangs

 

[Daniel@R2R]

I have a 2” squamosa, 7” derasa, 12” Squamosa, 14” derasa and 15” squamosa with a bunch of Tangs: yellow, scopas, Black, purple, desjardini sailfin, sailfin, unicorn, 2 x vlamingii, orange shoulder, sohal and Blochii Tangs. The fish range from 3”-15”, and have never gone after my clams. However, my cleaner wrasse nipped at them like crazy, but my cleaner body has never done anything toward them. I have all of the fish (and a few more) in a 600 gallon system and nitrates are actually zero as the clams act as natural filters. So... I think you are good to go if you add clams to a tank with tangs

Beautiful!!

 

[Joel B.]

I have a White-tail bristletooth tang with my clams and have had no issues. IME any fish that is at risk for LPS nipping is at risk to nip the clam. The worst offenders I've had by far are blennies, I won't even attempt them with a clam because they will eventually eat it.

 

[jda]

No tangs are completely reef safe. Each kind will have a few specimens that eat coral, especially as they grow. However, they are a safe bet and many, many do not ever have problems.

I have a longnose butterfly that looks like it is eating my clams, but it stuff off of the mantle. This does make the clam mad and they close up for a few seconds, but they are not actually eating it.

 

[happyhourhero]

My Kole killed both of my clams.

 

[cracker]

My buddy had a yellow tang .this fish stuck his nose too far into the clam. Clam slammed shut, killed the tang.

 

[jda]

Just to show that one person fish-of-death is another person's bundle-of-joy, here is where my tail-spot blenny hangs out all of the time.

Any fish is a risk. The only truly reef safe fish that I have ever had are Genicanthus Angelfish and Leopard Wrasses. I get along fine with most tangs and X. Triggers and H. Wrasses, but I have had a tangs eat corals, X. Triggers eat shrimp and H. Wrasses just be complete ***** to everything... but the vast majority are fine and I keep them still.

 

[Joshua Kerstetter]

I have a 2” squamosa, 7” derasa, 12” Squamosa, 14” derasa and 15” squamosa with a bunch of Tangs: yellow, scopas, Black, purple, desjardini sailfin, sailfin, unicorn, 2 x vlamingii, orange shoulder, sohal and Blochii Tangs. The fish range from 3”-15”, and have never gone after my clams. However, my cleaner wrasse nipped at them like crazy, but my cleaner body has never done anything toward them. I have all of the fish (and a few more) in a 600 gallon system and nitrates are actually zero as the clams act as natural filters. So... I think you are good to go if you add clams to a tank with tangs

That is an amazing collection of clams and tangs.. what are the ages on your clams? and what refugium/sump setup do you have that support them if you don't mind answering.

 

[Sistawolf]

I have a 2” squamosa, 7” derasa, 12” Squamosa, 14” derasa and 15” squamosa with a bunch of Tangs: yellow, scopas, Black, purple, desjardini sailfin, sailfin, unicorn, 2 x vlamingii, orange shoulder, sohal and Blochii Tangs. The fish range from 3”-15”, and have never gone after my clams. However, my cleaner wrasse nipped at them like crazy, but my cleaner body has never done anything toward them. I have all of the fish (and a few more) in a 600 gallon system and nitrates are actually zero as the clams act as natural filters. So... I think you are good to go if you add clams to a tank with tangs

Holy moly.. my dream tank.. wow

 

[Denver_Josh]

My 90 is a lot easier to maintain.... but my experience with Tangs and clams has yet to be negative.

 

[Denver_Josh]

That is an amazing collection of clams and tangs.. what are the ages on your clams? and what refugium/sump setup do you have that support them if you don't mind answering.

Some of the Tangs are as old as 10 (sohal and black tang) and the large squamosa and derasa are both at least 8. About 75% of my Tangs, and all but the 2” clam were purchased from other hobbyists. I find I have the best luck with that. I have an ice cap 48XL for a sump, and another 150 with rock and chaet0 that I use as a refugium. I dose phytoplankton for the small clams and gorgonians. I have a reef octopus regal 300 for a skimmer, but just bought an orca pro 2 skimmer to handle the load. The clams keep my nitrates next to nothing, but I still battle phosphates a bit. I run a jumbo BRS reactor with GFO and that has been helping, and I run 120 watts of UV, which I am a big fan of. I feed a TON, so that’s my own fault.

If I can find a gigas with 1000 miles of me I will make that my next clam.

 

[Joshua Kerstetter]

That is one crazy UV setup.

 

[Joshua Snyder]

my clams been going for almost a year with my scopas and no problems at all.

 

[hart24601]

I have had purple, kole and white-tail all nip at clams over the years. It just really depends on the fish and I wonder if it can be a learned behavior from seeing other fish nip. And yes, they were well fed and they were most certainly biting the mantle not the shell. Clearly not all tang will nip clams, but I promise I am not the only one that has had it happen.

I think far more clam deaths are fish related than we realize, since it doesn't take much to make a clam stop extending and we don't watch the tank the majority of the day.

 

[HB AL]

I have a couple maxima clams, along with a hippo, yellow, purple, and naso tang, plus a sargassum and bluejaw trigger and none even look at the clams.