Tangs in one tank

[joshdr]

I am going to be adding some tangs to my tank. I read and been told they all have to be added at the same time, is this true? I have a 200 gallon tank 6' long that's 4 years old. I also need to know if this group can be together in one tank
1 powder brown
1 blue hippo
1 lieutenant
1 yellow
1 sail fin
1 blonde naso

[windlasher]

Originally Posted by joshdr

I am going to be adding some tangs to my tank. I read and been told they all have to be added at the same time, is this true? I have a 200 gallon tank 6' long that's 4 years old. I also need to know if this group can be together in one tank
1 powder brown
1 blue hippo
1 lieutenant
1 yellow
1 sail fin
1 blonde naso

IMHO - NO - Lets first of all say that I am not one of the "Tang Police" (forgive the terminology) as I love Tangs. but Tangs get big. There are those who will tell you that ALL Tangs will suffer in anything less than a bazillion gallon tank. I have a yellow and a Naso in a 90 that I bought when they were the size of a quarter when I moved house. They have gotten along famously for about a year but now they are each about 5". They are starting to fight each other off which means that I need to hurry up and get the 220 that has been sitting upstairs empty, ready so I can transfer them (mostly because I have been lazy about getting it up and running) going. Tangs are territorial. Pick, One, maybe two of different shapes and stop there. That many tangs are NOT going to be nice to each other.

There are people who are going to reply to this thread and tell you that they have 74 Tangs in a 30 gallon and it works great. They are lying. Tangs are beautiful fish who need space so please give it to them or you will end up sitting in front of your tank watching your Tangs try to use that sharp "slicey thing" on each other and wondering when you will see the red of Tang blood cloud your water.

[ginpang]

No.

A. Japonicus and z. Flavescens will be ok with proper quarantine and high oxygenated flow.
Everything else needs more space.

Some will say get a CB p. Hepatus at 1" by then your stuck with burden of re-homing it in about 3-4 years if you're an ethical person that is.

And life is funny sometimes... so when it's time for re-homing ....your wife gives birth to twins, you get hit by a tornado, your car dies, you have to take time off on sick leave.... the you end up with the scenario above stressed retarded crazy fish swimming in circles, ich, jumping out, and blood bath.

Better go with fish that can housed long term in whatever length of aquarium you have now.




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[sdbc]

Another no. That many similar fish with the same diet will spawn some aggression. Especially since they are not what I would call small fish. I would pick a couple from different genus and leave it at that.

[Optionman]

i have blonde naso, yellow, and blue hippo in a 150 gal and i think that is the most i would put in. they get along great and share a daily piece of seaweed. they've been together for a year and the naso is 5" while the other two are about 3" each.

[kmbyrnes]

Could You? Yes. Should You? Doubtful.
The Zebrasomas will be at each other a lot unless they small and are added together. Choose just one. I went with a Desjardini.
Much as I love Powder Browns, I have found them overly aggressive ( Blues aren't terribly better )
Pass on the Hippo. I have a 10' tank and think that would still be too short.
Naso will do fine IMO.

So my list would be:
Sailfin
Naso
Lieutenant

[OrionN]

Originally Posted by joshdr

I am going to be adding some tangs to my tank. I read and been told they all have to be added at the same time, is this true? I have a 200 gallon tank 6' long that's 4 years old. I also need to know if this group can be together in one tank
1 powder brown
1 blue hippo
1 lieutenant
1 yellow
1 sail fin
1 blonde naso

I put in my 2 cents.
In a 200 gal, I would avoid Sail Fin, Naso and Blue Hippo. All get way too big. I have a 320 gal and I would not want to put those fish in there.

In a 200 gal tank, I would just put three Tangs and a Foxface. I would try to add all separate Genus. May be Kole/or Chevron (or another Ctenochaetus , a Purple or Yellow (or another Zebrasoma), and a Powder Blue or Powder brown or some other Acanthurus.

[mendel]

bs"d

its funny - i have owned tangs in my early reefing experience, but was young..... they died.

but my lfs has a beautiful 75 gallon display tank with a yellow, yellow eye, chevron, naso, i belive a purple, 3 fox faces, and some angles ( i could be missing something) and its doing great, and he's had a clown tang in there for a while ( he took it out when he rescaped / trimmed down the corals, he did a pretty big change of stock then)

but he seems to be going against every tang rule in the book and having great success!

(as a side point; he told me that he doesn't use rodi, just dechlorinater - and i live in los angles!)

[jda]

I agree on the big tangs - too small of a tank. Purple stay small. Chocolate Mimic is my favorite tang and people LOVE them when they come to my house - they are adult colored, are peaceful and don't get big at all.

I have had several purples, yellows, sailfin all in together OK. They are fine for me as long as their needs are met (food and space). I feed them enough to actively grow.

Remember that these need to be fed meaty pellets or some mysis - they cannot live on nori alone. They eat a lot of greens, but they are not obligate herbivores and can get sick without vitamin A and E that they get from meat. New Life Spectrum, Formula 2 and New Era Pellets work great for me.

[Kremis]

i have had a blue tang in my 180 for 4 years and in my 28 gallon for a year before that, still only about 3.5 inches

also have a desjardini sailfin thats around 4 inches and stopped growing there for 2 years

[Pericyte]

I agree with the sentiments above. Should you, no. Could you, yes.

I have 6 tangs in a 300, 8' tank. I really have no problems other than the purple tang going after my two yellow tangs once in a while. Others include: large powder blue tang, large blonde naso tang, and a a medium regal blue tang.

So why do I say no: mostly the blonde naso tang. I love mine, maybe my favorite fish. It's beautiful, has a great disposition, always out, but he is huge. In 2 years it has gone from a 2.5" fish to a 9" fish plus streamers (that is not an exaggeration). I'm worried I may have to re-home him someday, which is not fair to the fish. I've seen huge sailfins and I would say the same about them, and this is in an 8' tank.

If you want to keep 4 smaller tangs, that would probably work. Start small, feed lots of nori (I give 2.5 sheets per day) + mysis in selcon, lots of filtration/ nutrient export, have rockwork for hiding but a stretch of open lane for fish swimming, and have small peaceful fish to distract.

[McPuff]

Originally Posted by jda

I agree on the big tangs - too small of a tank. Purple stay small. Chocolate Mimic is my favorite tang and people LOVE them when they come to my house - they are adult colored, are peaceful and don't get big at all.

I second the chocolate tang. I also have one so I am biased but it's got superb color. Would also say that the Lieutenant is great. It does seem to grow fast and gets very thick. This one is sometimes aggressive to my chocolate. The scopas I have stays small and the naso I have is only about 3". No more tangs will go into my 300 because I know that 3/4 of the tangs are going to get much larger, especially the naso.