Tang question

[reefninja]

Hi. I'm looking to add another tang to my 125g, and wanted some feedback on what type to add. We currently have a Kole tang. Don't want a hard-to-keep or ich magnet, so I'm curious which would be a hardier type that would get along with the Kole. Any suggestions?

[mFrame]

Koles are great in that they get along with just about any other tang.

I love my yellow tang and purple tang, both very hardy and very pretty.

I've had bad luck with clown tangs and sailfin tangs, both gorgeous fish.

I hear that power blue, powder brown are "ich magnets", but have never had either. If you QT whatever you get you should be ok.

[Timfish]

The Zebrasoma species are the least likely to have issues with ick. The Acanthurus and Paracanthurus are notorious ick magnets. The the two Sailfin Zebrasoma species will outgrow your tank but it will probably be 3 years or more. The Purple and Yellow Zebrasoma both "should" do fine. +1 on the QT

[jestep]

Personally, I would go with a yellow. Great fish with an opposite color of the kole that should be compatible and wont really even compete for the same algae.

[FarmerTy]

Yellow is a good bet. I have a sailfin and blue hippo tang in mine and they occasionally get a light case of ich when stressed. Doesn't happen more than 1-2 times a year for like 2 days but enough to make me worry here and there. The yellow tang I have is always just fine.

I'm hoping my sailfin keeps getting bigger so I'll finally have an excuse with the fiance to get a bigger tank. 210... here I come!

-Ty

[reefninja]

Thanks for all of the responses. My first thought was to go with sailfin, who I heard was less prone to ich. Eventually tank size may be a problem. I have also considered the yellow, of course for the color! I'll probably steer clear of the powder blue and brown. Definitely want to target different algae so they don't compete for the same food.

[jestep]

The purple would be awesome too, but they're on the pricey side. If you have a yellow eye kole, they may look similar enough to cause problems, but in a tank that size I would think you'd be ok. Anything but another bristletooth like the kole wont compete for food, for the most part. There's some overlap, but the kole's are usually film algae eaters, while the other tangs eat macros.

[Long]

I would do the yellow first then purple. My purple tang is a bully.

[Mark V]

I always felt every Tang except tanked raised yellow tangs and the kole tang types are ick magnets. QT like everyone said. Always cracks me up when I see YouTube tank build videos when they get a Tang it always gets Ick.

[Juiceman]

I had a purple, yellow, hippo, and Sailfin in a 90 and they did fine as long as you weren't constantly stressing them out. I also did a mimic lemon peel tang that got along great too. All have been very hardy.

[Sascha D.]

The rule for tangs is that you can keep 1 of each of the 3 different species - Zebrasoma, Acanthurus, Ctenochaetus. They say the reason is because tangs of the same shape will fight in close quarters. They don't fight based on color because they are believed to be color blind.

I have successfully kept a sailfin, clown, and achilles in a 180 without any incident. All the powder tangs and the hippo are prone to ich. Members of Acanthurus are the most aggressive and prone to disease. Every person I've ever known that has had a purple has said he's a major bully.

[DerrickH]

Sailfins are supposedly able to fend off ich better than most. At least thats what Ive read and been my experience. I had a sailfin and then got a blue hippo....week later the hippo had ich bad. He had it for months, my sailfin never showed signs and always ate and stayed active.

[mFrame]

The rule for tangs is that you can keep 1 of each of the 3 different species - Zebrasoma, Acanthurus, Ctenochaetus. They say the reason is because tangs of the same shape will fight in close quarters. They don't fight based on color because they are believed to be color blind.

I have successfully kept a sailfin, clown, and achilles in a 180 without any incident. All the powder tangs and the hippo are prone to ich. Members of Acanthurus are the most aggressive and prone to disease. Every person I've ever known that has had a purple has said he's a major bully.

My last Purple grew quickly and did become the tank bully (son named it 'Fluffy the Destroyer'). We traded it in and got a smaller one that I've had about a year and a half. It's the same size as my yellow tang who had been bullied by Fluffy. I guess yellow learned his lesson, because he immediately established dominance when we added Fluffy2, my current purple. I can say that Fluffy2 is the least dominant fish in the tank.

With tangs I believe it's as much about size and established territory as it is species. When you watch nature videos you see huge schools of tangs of the same type but that's obviously in a much larger area.

Timfish and I have discussed this and he believes that it's only a matter of time until you get aggression issues with tangs. You may have 3 smaller tangs that all get along fine and then one day they hit a size or maturity level and decide they'd really like to try living alone.

[Sascha D.]

There are 3 ways to dissolve aggression in nature - schools, space and lack of territory. Schools of fish don't show territorial behavior because there are too many fish to dominate. This method can be seen in aquariums with Mbuna. Having little or no territory is another way to decrease aggression. When you go into a pet store and see that 500g tank with all the South American predators in it, it never has any decoration. Nothing in the tank = nothing to defend.

With tangs I believe it's as much about size and established territory as it is species. When you watch nature videos you see huge schools of tangs of the same type but that's obviously in a much larger area.

I've done this before. It's recommended and often described in books. Add the most aggressive fish last and they will be less dominate. Also adding them small with larger tank mates helps.

[Timfish]

There are 3 ways to dissolve aggression in nature - schools, space and lack of territory. Schools of fish don't show territorial behavior because there are too many fish to dominate. . . . Add the most aggressive fish last and they will be less dominate. Also adding them small with larger tank mates helps.

My opinion these are often effective methods to deal with it in aquaria. In nature survival tactics are certainly more complex due to the presence of apex predators and much larger numbers individuals and/or of species interacting.

In my experience schools of a single species of tangs will not work. At least not without a larger predator swimming around with them. Schools have pecking orders. In other words the bottom fish in the hierarchy is being picked on by everybody above it. Crowding fish may work with pair spawners but from what I have seen trying this with tangs which are group spawners only accentuates the problem. The scenario that arises is after a few months one dies, then the new bottom fish starts getting the brunt of attention and after a few months it dies and so on. It may take 2 or 3 years for a school of 10 or 15 to whitttle themselves down to two but this is what you end up with.

The other scenario I've expierenced is with 3 or 4 tangs in a tank which do fine for a while, sometimes years, and suddenly one decides it does not want a threesome or foursome and it can quickly kill the unwanted individuals and again you end up with a pair. (Interestingly, I've ended up with a couple of Purple/Yellow pairs this way so if somebody ever figures out how to breed and raise them there may be the possibility of hybrids).

From what I've seen in my tanks is it takes something like 4 - 6 years for tangs to become sexually mature. It seems reasonable to me we should see changes in behaviour when this happens and we still do not know many of the specifics of thier behaviour and the above reccomendations of just one individual per species should be followed.

One reason I suspect it takes several years for tangs to mature and there is a change in behaviour is the "apparent" success I've had keeping a stable group of 6 in one of my systems. Initially over 4 years ago a group of 6 2"-3" tangs were added. Over the next year this dropped to 4. Then a 5-6 year old tang was added from another system, had to be removed because the dominate tang had started chasing it incessantly while swimming peacfully with third (fortunatley this was only a 120 gallon to tear apart to catch it). Shortly afterwards an 8-10 year old tang was added without incident from a system that was being torn down. If in a few more years this ends up being a stable population I would speculate what might be needed to keep a large group of tangs is a range of ages, some young and some much older.

[reefninja]

We picked up a yellow tang today. The splash of yellow should add some much needed color to the tank. Will let you know how the acclimation goes. Thanks for all of the suggestions and advice~!

[Sascha D.]

Hey Tim have you had any luck with yellow & convict tang groups?

[Timfish]

I really try to stay away from the Acanthurus sp. and the sole Paracanthurus, they all stress out easily especially during quarintine. The Yellow Tang, Zebrasoma flavescens, is definitely the most common and being the smallest of the tangs it will also attain adult size in a 75 gallon. There are a couple of others that are slightly larger but most tangs get to be pretty good size and espcially if you are going to try to keep a school of them you will need a BIG tank. If you were going to keep a group of 6 adults of a species I would go with a tank 4 to 6 times the size Scott Micheal reccomends in his books.