The most aggressive tang vote

[Tangdora]

Just added my 11th (tomini) and 12th (chocolate) tang to my tank this weekend. They definitely took a beating the first day and a half before I was able to curb the aggression of the others. All back to grazing together now including the newest additions. Here was the order of aggressors ranked worst aggression to least for the first two days

1) powder brown heavy aggression (my smallest too need to keep my eye on him in the future)
2) white tail kole - heavy. First time ever seen any aggression. This was a surprise this addition
3) powder blue - mild
4) gem - mild
5) clown - mild (1.5 inch when I bought so basically tank raised and probably why it’s not as aggressive as some say)
6) Blond naso - very mild
7) yellow - only protects its house and only hates my scopas.
8) Purple - only protects its house. One of my least aggressive tangs oddly. Not complaining
9) scopas - 0 aggression
10) Hippo - 0. Never seen a killer Dory

 

[Bohemian Waxwing]

At my job when I was a young lad there was a Clown tang that regularly bullied Green Moray eels, tarpons, Black rip reef shark, 3ft grouper…just so incredibly quick and mean.

I’ve heard Sohals are nasty too but never kept one or seen one above juvie size.

Pound for pound, Gems and Purples are right there though.

 

[Zionas]

What’s a better Tang for a 120? A Yellow or a Purple or Scopas? If not a Bristletooth.

 

[allenk4]

Would like to gather community opinion on the most aggressive tang they have personally experienced.
in my tank maintenance days I have personally witnessed sohal tangs murder an entire tank. What tang belongs in the asylum in your opinion?

Even though tangs live and move in large congregation in the wild, like this school of zebra, the stress of limited resource and hiding space may cause them to turn against one another at home

To avoid tang aggression, the best tenets in tang keeping are:
1. Provide appropriate space. Only obtain tangs that can roam and grow in your tank. Follow other experienced hobbyists’ recommendations in this community and do not “hope” to tame a tang in an undersized tank. Please don’t ask us what tangs are good for a 55 gallon- the answer is none!
2. Provide plenty of hiding spaces and scape to give less aggressive fish a chance to break away from fights and recover.
3. If at all possible, avoid known aggressive species unless your other tankmates are also know aggressive to semi aggressive (angels, wrasses, other tangs).
4. If you absolutely are determined to get an aggressive fish, be sure all fish are thoroughly quarantined and introduce the aggressor last. If any of your fish isn’t properly quarantined and is a disease carrier, the added stress of an aggressor will help set up an outbreak and may easily wipe out your whole tank, including the aggressor.

Some people have experience of diffusing the aggression by obtaining multiple tangs so that no single fish is being targeted at a time. Although I have seen success with this, I generally consider this an expert, or at least experienced move in stocking strategy. Also you have to have a large enough tank to begin with. If anything, just think of the thousands of dollars that can go down the drain (figuratively and literally) if things don’t pan out well.

I want to believe that majority of our fellow hobbyists are here to enjoy and hopefully feel relax when viewing our tanks. So it is best to avoid the fish(es) that too our poll here if you cannot meet any one of the tenets listed above.

Happy to hear any other pro-tips from fellow tang keepers on what actions you have taken to manage your tang aggression.

You should do this survey again, but with Ranked Voting

Take the list of fish from the first survey and ask participants to rank them.

 

[BryanM]

This list is not complete without the ****** Powder Blue Tang.

 

[Naekuh]

Ack this is a old thread i already participated in...

But my vote still goes to the Sohol and Clown tang.

This list is not complete without the ****** Powder Blue Tang.

Nah a PBT wont kill your other fish from agressiion.
He'll kill it by getting ICH somehow even though you QT'd it. and then nuking your tank with ICH.

 

[Wandering Albatross]

I do wonder about the tank sizes, tank mates, and how much everyone was feeding, and how much it’s affecting their behavior. That should probably be part of the poll…

That said, my tomini killed several types of anthias, a yellow watchman, a tailspot blenny, a gramma, and harassed wrasse. Suspected of killing several others. This was in a 5-foot 150g community.

 

[winxp_man]

I do wonder about the tank sizes, tank mates, and how much everyone was feeding, and how much it’s affecting their behavior. That should probably be part of the poll…

That said, my tomini killed several types of anthias, a yellow watchman, a tailspot blenny, a gramma, and harassed wrasse. Suspected of killing several others. This was in a 5-foot 150g community.

My brothers Tomini is also a nasty little 2.5-2.75” fish! Has not yet killed. His maroon chomped part of his tail, and put maroon lip marks on it! Hahaha. But the dude is really something else.

 

[FrugalReeferJon]

It’s been mentioned but I do believe Clown Tangs take the top spot for most aggressive.

 

[winxp_man]

It’s been mentioned but I do believe Clown Tangs take the top spot for most aggressive.

Have seen and heard all sorts of stories. My final conclusion for my is each tang you can can turn into a murderer. Each fish has its own personalities. And such is the nature of each of them, that each tanks and stock like can make one pop off murdering the others.

Any given Sunday.

 

[Seansea]

This butthole. This is him in my jail tank after he.pounded my orange shoulder tang into the corner and wouldnt let him out. Orange shoulder tang was 4" bigger and was in tank 2 years before. After about 8 months being in tank and being a general pain he went bezerk. Sold him for 50 bucks

 

[Seansea]

This is him pounding his reflection in mirror i put up to stop the madness on the orange shoulder. Lasted about an hour before he went back to murdering the orange shoulder.

 

[winxp_man]

This is him pounding his reflection in mirror i put up to stop the madness on the orange shoulder. Lasted about an hour before he went back to murdering the orange shoulder.

A mirror about 16x12 is what I used. And all 6 of my powders go nuts on themselves!

The clowns are the least to care, my WhiteTail BT is the crazies with the mirror.

 

[Seansea]

A mirror about 16x12 is what I used. And all 6 of my powders go nuts on themselves!

The clowns are the least to care, my WhiteTail BT is the crazies with the mirror.

Did u say all 6 of your powders? You have six in one tank?

 

[winxp_man]

Did u say all 6 of your powders? You have six in one tank?

Yea….

And my biggest yellow keeps getting in it with my purple. The two are such dummies! I would expect the powders to have more stand offs.

Adding more rocks to my 300 system soon.