Fish for my 180 gallon reef tank

[codydemmel4]

So I have a 180 gallon tank, 72x24x24 with around 150 lbs of live rock and 100lbs of sand.

I have now in my friends tank:
1 Powder Blue Tang
1 Yellow Tang
2 clownfish
1 Lime Green Wrasse
1 Diamond watchman goby

What I want to add:
2-3 more yellow tangs
1 whitetail bristle tooth tang
3 female lyretail anthias
1 male lyretail anthias
1 purple firefish


Questions I have, will the 3-4 yellow tangs all fight till only one is left? Do I need to add 3 female and 1 male anthias or can I add 4 female anthias and one will change to a male?


I greatly appreciate all the input

 

[BigBlueTang]

​

So I have a 180 gallon tank, 72x24x24 with around 150 lbs of live rock and 100lbs of sand.

I have now in my friends tank:
1 Powder Blue Tang
1 Yellow Tang
2 clownfish
1 Lime Green Wrasse
1 Diamond watchman goby
Fine
What I want to add:
2-3 more yellow tangs No, only one Zebrasoma for this tank.
1 whitetail bristle tooth tang Fine
3 female lyretail anthias Fine
1 male lyretail anthias Fine
1 purple firefish Fine

Too many tangs. A trio is not feasible in your tank.
Questions I have, will the 3-4 yellow tangs all fight till only one is left? Do I need to add 3 female and 1 male anthias or can I add 4 female anthias and one will change to a male?


I greatly appreciate all the input

 

[codydemmel4]

Thank you! More I research the multiple yellow tangs will not work. Will I be able to add 4 female anthias or do I need to add a male too?

 

[pyithar]

Will I be able to add 4 female anthias or do I need to add a male too?

you can add all female. the dominant one should turn into male.

 

[codydemmel4]

you can add all female. the dominant one should turn into male.

this is what I thought. Thank you.

Any other suggestions on fish to add? I am looking for colorful ones that have good characters.

I will be adding a green mandarin but not for 6-12 months

 

[shred5]

I do not know about multiple yellows, I have seen it work before.

But let me tell you this a powder blue is a super aggressive tang and will most likely do away with the rest. They work if there in a very large tank with lots of tangs but with a couple they can be real bullies. You would for sure to add them last, problem is that is never the case. At some point a fish will die. They also hate new fish. Your tank is borderline for them in my opinion. Shoal tang is the only one worse. Sometimes you do not see this behavior till they get larger. Just a risky fish, a few times it works out.

 

[codydemmel4]

I do not know about multiple yellows, I have seen it work before.

But let me tell you this a powder blue is a super aggressive tang and will most likely do away with the rest. They work if there in a very large tank with lots of tangs but with a couple they can be real bullies. You would for sure to add them last, problem is that is never the case. At some point a fish will die. They also hate new fish. Your tank is borderline for them in my opinion. Shoal tang is the only one worse. Sometimes you do not see this behavior till they get larger. Just a risky fish, a few times it works out.

he is in my friends 180 right now till mine is cycled with the yellow tang and a couple of his tangs (yellow eye and hippo tang). He does not show any extreme aggressiveness to his fish, if anything the yellow tnag is more aggressive then the blue powder. They do the occasional tail wag but nothing really more then that. (This is what I am hearing from my friend and what I saw the couple of times I was at his house)

 

[shred5]

he is in my friends 180 right now till mine is cycled with the yellow tang and a couple of his tangs (yellow eye and hippo tang). He does not show any extreme aggressiveness to his fish, if anything the yellow tnag is more aggressive then the blue powder. They do the occasional tail wag but nothing really more then that. (This is what I am hearing from my friend and what I saw the couple of times I was at his house)

The tail wag is bad in tangs and is a sign of aggression. They are trying to stab each other, tangs have a barb/spike. Some tangs have a venom gland.

Sometimes this goes on till one tang submits in most cases but sometimes it is death. Like I said it gets worse in powder blues as they grow. Right now the yellow tang may have the upper hand but it can change.

Purple tangs are another aggressive tang.


It is very hard to mix tangs, sometimes it works and sometimes it does not and each tang has its own personality. I have just known to many people who wish they never added a a powder blue. Your size tank should hold several tangs just fine, just adding a shoal, powder blue or purple can make it harder. More tangs added and the bigger the tank makes it easier. More tangs can spread out the aggression. Good things is tangs are usually easy to trap if there is a problem.

 

[codydemmel4]

The tail wag is bad in tangs and is a sign of aggression. They are trying to stab each other, tangs have a barb/spike. Some tangs have a venom gland.

Sometimes this goes on till one tang submits in most cases but sometimes it is death. Like I said it gets worse in powder blues as they grow. Right now the yellow tang may have the upper hand but it can change.

Purple tangs are another aggressive tang.


It is very hard to mix tangs, sometimes it works and sometimes it does not and each tang has its own personality. I have just known to many people who wish they never added a a powder blue. Your size tank should hold several tangs just fine, just adding a shoal, powder blue or purple can make it harder. More tangs added and the bigger the tank makes it easier. More tangs can spread out the aggression. Good things is tangs are usually easy to trap if there is a problem.

well I was thinking of adding a purple tang, looks like that isn't a good idea.

What other tangs would you recommend to add to spread out the aggressiveness. I definitely want either a whitetail bristletooth or a yellow eye kole tang.

What else would you suggest?

 

[codydemmel4]

so you think adding a purple tang would be a bad idea? It would be small, less then 3 inches. I have a fellow reefer who is moving and I could buy him for only $80 which is a really great deal.

 

[shred5]

Yea it is a good deal. Purple is the least aggressive usually of the three, might be worth a shot.

Personally I like to mix tangs of different body shapes and I try to do ones of different species.

I mean you never know each tang is different. Two passive ones can end up fighting. I was just trying to warn you about the powder blue that is could become a problem and most likely will.

Some divide their tank to allow them to see each other. I suggest adding them at once so no one has territory established.

Koles are great and so are bristletooths they just sometimes do not mix well with each other..

I have a white cheek and a kole who are doing very well together as of now. They had aggression with the tail slapping for the first day and I still occasionally see them flair up at each other. I need to get a third tang but it is hard to do now.

What is funny is my most aggressive fish is not my tangs it my little dwarf angel.

 

[codydemmel4]

Yea it is a good deal. Purple is the least aggressive usually of the three, might be worth a shot.

Personally I like to mix tangs of different body shapes and I try to do ones of different species.

I mean you never know each tang is different. Two passive ones can end up fighting. I was just trying to warn you about the powder blue that is could become a problem and most likely will.

Some divide their tank to allow them to see each other. I suggest adding them at once so no one has territory established.

Koles are great and so are bristletooths they just sometimes do not mix well with each other..

I have a white cheek and a kole who are doing very well together as of now. They had aggression with the tail slapping for the first day and I still occasionally see them flair up at each other. I need to get a third tang but it is hard to do now.

What is funny is my most aggressive fish is not my tangs it my little dwarf angel.

Thank you! Yeah I plan to add all the tangs at once. Right now I have the yellow and blue powder in my friends tank. I plan to also add in a purple tang and whitetail bristletooth. Maybe it would make sense to add the yellow, purple and whitetail first and then wait like a week or two to add the powder blue since it will be the most aggressive.

 

[codydemmel4]

so I am pretty set on my stock list.

Right now in my friends tank I have a powder blue tang, yellow tang, lime green wrasse, 2 clownfish and a diamond goby.

I am going to be getting a purple tang, whitetail bristletooth tang, 4 female anthias, pureple firefish and maybe a regal angelfish. How would you guys go about QTing the fish that arnt in my friends tank? Would you do it in one large like 55 gallon tank or 2 smaller tanks like 2 10-20 gallon tanks. Also what would you treat the water with or wouldn't you treat it with anything? Some of these are expensive fish so I want to make sure I do it the right way.

 

[jbvdhp]

IME, purples are the MOST aggressive tangs. I've had two and my most current one will even bully leopard wrasses and clowns. It doesn't give up on its tang cousins. He chases them for a while then stops. My sohal isn't aggressive much at all except to a Midas blenny and I hope that doesn't ever change, maybe it will, maybe not.

Bristle tooth and Nasos are the most passive IME.


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[scooter31707]

I would be careful of during a Purple Tang and a Kole tang due to the slight purplish color the kole has. The purple tang might take that into consideration and become a jerk. I have noticed that tangs get aggressive when other tangs are in the tank. From experience, I kept a several single tangs and they were the most peaceful fish in the tank, but if another tang came it was all hell.

 

[shred5]

Tangs are a hard fish to keep. They are super sensitive to ick, lateral line and are bullies.

Once established they are hard to add any tang and allot of times some fish.

My Kole killed my Banggai Cardinalfish in minutes once. They can be relentless.

I never understood the attraction to some except like Naso or sailfin and those are like the most peaceful ones. Naso are so cool.

As soon as someone gets a large tank the first thing they want is tangs. Tangs are hard enough in larger aquariums, I can not see keeping them in small aquariums.

 

[codydemmel4]

Final stocking list I am thinking:

1 Powder Blue Tang ----already have
1 Yellow Tang ----- already have
1 Yellow or Blue Eye Kole Tang
1 lime green wrasse -----already have
1 Green chromis (think I can do like 20-30 of them????????)
2 clownfish----- already have
3 royal gramma basslets
4 female lyretail anthias
1 purple firefish
1 diamond


I am really interested to see if I can keep the 20-30 green chromis without them all killing eachother.

 

[BigBlueTang]

Final stocking list I am thinking:

1 Powder Blue Tang ----already have
1 Yellow Tang ----- already have
1 Yellow or Blue Eye Kole Tang
1 lime green wrasse -----already have
1 Green chromis (think I can do like 20-30 of them????????)
2 clownfish----- already have
3 royal gramma basslets
4 female lyretail anthias
1 purple firefish
1 diamond


I am really interested to see if I can keep the 20-30 green chromis without them all killing eachother.

I don't see it happening.. Many hundreds before have tried to keep them... 99% failed. The chromis I mean.. If you already know that they kill each other off, why add them to the tank, and lose ~120 bucks?

 

[codydemmel4]

I don't see it happening.. Many hundreds before have tried to keep them... 99% failed. The chromis I mean.. If you already know that they kill each other off, why add them to the tank, and lose ~120 bucks?

yeah i thought about it more and its not worth it. what about the rest of the list?

 

[BigBlueTang]

yeah i thought about it more and its not worth it. what about the rest of the list?

I wouldn't add the kole. Two tangs is good, especially with the powder blue being a very aggressive fish.

Other than that, list looks good..
I don't know about adding diamonds to your tank though, seems like a waste of money
:lmao:
If you meant diamond watchman goby, these usually make a mess of the tank... Wouldn't add one