Anyone with a group of convict tangs in a large tank?

[Dmorty217]

I'd probably pm him tbh as I just did a quick thread search and they aren't mentioned much. I also now think he didn't have the best of luck from the few posts I read.

I read thru it finally and I have came to the same conclusion of it not ending in success. I want a group of fish you don't always see in tanks. So no yellow tangs, anthias, cardinals, ect... I guess I could always do a group of 9 purple tangs but the price increases dramatically from convicts and if the aggression is bad enough each fish that dies is 130$ I flushed down the drain. Anyone have any other suggestions on active fish that would work in a group? Keep in mind the tank is 7ftx6ftx2ft so there is some area in the tank, so small fish (3" or less full grown) won't really cut it. Or I guess 50 of them would but then QT becomes a problem

 

[sethd12]

Has anybody ever kept powder blue tangs in a school? I would assume that you would need quite a few but they look so great while grazing on wild reefs. And would be a little cheaper than purples.

 

[Dmorty217]

Has anybody ever kept powder blue tangs in a school? I would assume that you would need quite a few but they look so great while grazing on wild reefs. And would be a little cheaper than purples.

I had two purples in my 180g 15 years ago without any problems at all. Then I got overzealous and tried the same with two PBT and it ended horribly. I think with as crazy and aggressive they can be it would be difficult to do but then again I can't say for certain. I thought about a couple orange shoulders since they are quite mellow but they get large quickly and I personally like the juvenile coloration better than adult.

 

[sethd12]

I just looked through a surgeonfish book I bought many years ago to see if there was any other great schooling tangs other than what we have previously discussed. I could definitely see how two powder blues got into it. They must require many in the school to "somewhat" get along.

 

[Dmorty217]

I like where your head is at on this. I love tangs, angels and butterfly's so I would like the "shoal" or "school" if you will to be one of those. Problem is I like not so cheap angels and butterfly's. Would love a group of bandit angels or mitratus butterfly's or some wrought irons would be cool. Issue there is my wife will divorce me and possibly shoot me with my own gun... Not in any particular order. Anyone else who has suggestions please let me hear them

 

[sethd12]

Thats great! A school of wrought irons would be crazy! If you are open to other species, a school of pyramid butterfly's would look great. And, from what I have seen I don't think they are too expensive either. Nothing compared to the bandit angel school!

 

[Dmorty217]

I have thought about the pyramids but those seem to come in hit or miss as far as health goes. They are more than doable as far as price goes. Humaguy is the closest I will get to more than one bandit without having some serious explaining to do. It's my fault for showing my wife Ted's, Wayne's and Drews tanks and telling her what some of the fish they have cost... Silly me. I could always just overload her with pictures of fish and hope she forgets what I had previously told her, like I do to her :lmao:

 

[Moort82]

I read thru it finally and I have came to the same conclusion of it not ending in success. I want a group of fish you don't always see in tanks. So no yellow tangs, anthias, cardinals, ect... I guess I could always do a group of 9 purple tangs but the price increases dramatically from convicts and if the aggression is bad enough each fish that dies is 130$ I flushed down the drain. Anyone have any other suggestions on active fish that would work in a group? Keep in mind the tank is 7ftx6ftx2ft so there is some area in the tank, so small fish (3" or less full grown) won't really cut it. Or I guess 50 of them would but then QT becomes a problem

A local reefer tried purples in their 12ft tank (think that had 9) they also had 15 or so yellows and totalled about 30 tangs. I hadn't heard that much about the system for a few years but did hear the numbers declined steadily after a while.

There is a famous chap over here David Saxby and he believes you can't keep yellow tangs in groups for very long before they begin picking each other off. He still does but just replaces them all after a while.

Another guy who recently closed their tank had a group of scopas. It wasn't a long experiment as the tank was only just setup before it had to be broken down again but 15 or so looked amazing and different to the norm. I am a fan of the scopas though and I know most people aren't.

I've also pondered a group of kole tangs based on the picture of them eating algae of a turtles back. I've never seen anyone do multiples but I don't know if that is for a reason or not.

Is this a reef system? if so pyramids might be your best bet. I wasn't aware that they were particularly aggressive to one another so do you actually need to qt them all together or could you introduce in say 3 groups of 3?

 

[Slummies]

We dive and catch our own Convicts. I could probably catch 10 in one dive,but space. we have kept 3 in a tank and they SUPER agro..

Funny enough, i caught one yesterday and is taking a beating from my Flame Back Angel.

 

[Dmorty217]

A local reefer tried purples in their 12ft tank (think that had 9) they also had 15 or so yellows and totalled about 30 tangs. I hadn't heard that much about the system for a few years but did hear the numbers declined steadily after a while.

There is a famous chap over here David Saxby and he believes you can't keep yellow tangs in groups for very long before they begin picking each other off. He still does but just replaces them all after a while.

Another guy who recently closed their tank had a group of scopas. It wasn't a long experiment as the tank was only just setup before it had to be broken down again but 15 or so looked amazing and different to the norm. I am a fan of the scopas though and I know most people aren't.

I've also pondered a group of kole tangs based on the picture of them eating algae of a turtles back. I've never seen anyone do multiples but I don't know if that is for a reason or not.

Is this a reef system? if so pyramids might be your best bet. I wasn't aware that they were particularly aggressive to one another so do you actually need to qt them all together or could you introduce in say 3 groups of 3?

I know who David Saxby is, if they don't work in his tank there is no way it will work in my small comparitavely speaking tank. It won't be a full blown reef but will have some corals in the tank, mainly low maintainace softies and LPS none of which I will care if they get picked at or completely eaten for that matter

 

[Dmorty217]

We dive and catch our own Convicts. I could probably catch 10 in one dive,but space. we have kept 3 in a tank and they SUPER agro..

Funny enough, i caught one yesterday and is taking a beating from my Flame Back Angel.

Can you catch me a Polyzona/Zebra? I know of at least one other person on here that also is looking for one of these guys

 

[o2manyfish]

I have 9 yellows and a purple in my 400g. They are assorted sizes. The purple is one of the smaller fish but he has the most attitude. But they all have full bellies and full finnage.

In the past I have kept up to 9 purples together in a 400g sized tank. I have never had any issues with them going after each other. At the time I had 9 purples I also had 6 yellows plus other tangs. Everyone was fine and dandy for a long time.... till I added a Sohal. Once the Sohal was removed things settled back down again.

I keep the Zebrasomas in bigger numbers. 2 or 3 seems to lead to issues. 5 or more and they seem to settle out. And that's even with some being larger sized and some being smalls.

Dave B

 

[Dmorty217]

Thanks for the insight Dave, what happened to all the purples? Would you do it again? Now that you mention it 6 purples and 5 yellows would look awesome in a tank together. Do you have any pictures from when you had all the purples?

 

[o2manyfish]

I've been through lots of purples. Purples break down really quickly at the LAX wholesalers. If the purple tangs are in commercial holding systems for more then about 10 days the lateral lines start to open up. My tanks have always had the ability to heal purples quickly. With my outdoor tanks purples with completely open lateral lines would be closed up within several weeks and look perfect within a month. So when I get the opportunity I pick up the damaged purples at bargain prices.

Having dove with purples in the Red Sea they are a special fish to me. So the opportunity to get them and make them healthy again is something I really enjoy. I can say I have healed up and rehomed 100's of purples. In my FO tank one of the very first fish I got when I started the tank was a purple with lateral line that had gotten it's butt kicked by a Golden Sapo puffer. I gave the fish a home and healed it up but the fish was scarred permanently. Over the years going through the purples I would have various nemo fish (damaged fins, scarred, damaged tails) that I just kept adding to the FO tank. When I decided to sell the FO tank all the collected fish went with the tank.

I have to look to see if I have any photos with them all together. In the reef tank at one time I had 3 purples with a cluster of yellows. But after keeping the purples in the outside sun lit tanks - Anything under tank lighting is dull. In the sunlight the purple tangs are stunning and brilliantly colored. I'm spoiled now

Dave B

 

[sethd12]

Do you have a picture of the purples in one of your outside tanks? I'm curious to see how they look. Purples are one of my favorites and have thought about adding one when I upgrade my tank in a few months. Dmorty217 I really like o2manyfish's idea of putting purples with yellows. That would look amazing all swimming together in the same tank. What a splash of color!

 

[alprazo]

FYI - Im my experience, fish will only school if a predator is present. I've tried menhaden, mullet, and atlantic silversides (all they do is school). After several weeks they stop schooling. I placed a bluefish in with the silversides once and they schooled again . The best long term success I have had with a schooling was atlantic pompano. I only had 4 but they stayed together. They are constant rapid swimmers, voracious eaters, grow ridiculously fast and IMO need several thousand gallons.