How many Tangs

freakunleash

New member
Hi All,

Just want to put a quick question.

I have started a marine tank few weeks back & its still in cycling stage. I want to have reef setup.

My tank specs are:

5x2x2 feet tank
3x1.5x1.5 feet Sump
Weipro Protein skimmer with 2100 LPH pump
3x150 Watt Metal Halide running for 5 Hr per day
3x800 LPH pumps for water circulation.
275 Lbs Live Rock
55 Lbs Aragonite sand

My question is how many Yellow Tangs can be put in this tank consider they all are juveniles & introduce in the tank at same time.

Regards
W
 
In a 150g tank, I would only do one yellow tang. You could get away with another small type of tang. Two of the same type of tang in a smallish tank is not a good idea.
 
i agree with the the previous post in that different species of tangs would be a wisse alternative, but i think you could have two in there. a lot will depend on your aquascaping. depending on the amount of tunnels/caves/general hiding places you creat, as well as the amount of open swimming space you leave will great affect the number of tangs, or any fish you can keep. also, if your worried about their behavior (which is smart of you to be concerned) always feed in two different spots at once. ESPECIALLY with your veggie clips or any other leafy tang feeding you may decide to do.

so i guess what im tryign to say is:

yellow tangs only: no more than two (and two may be risky as they get older)
mixed tangs: still, i would say two. three would be really pushing it. and if you DID get three, no yellow tang at all. their just kind of punks a lot of the time.

good luck and let us know what you end up doing! :)
 
Thanks guys for the reply

I got the point...only one Tang can be kept in the tank...

Its realy sad I was thinking of putting only Yellow Tangs in the tank...4-5 Nos...but I think it is not posible...so will try to figure out another combination of Fishes...

Thanks
BW
 
if you like the look of similar fish, look into the different types of anthias's. lots of them have at least soem yellow, and if you know the sex of the fish before you purchase, you could probably have about 6-10 in your tank. if you like yellow, and bigger fish, whay not go with... a copperband, a yellow tang, and a foxface rabbitfish or something like that? theres a real good forum thats practically right next to yours. its caleld "help me fix my 90g" or something like that. hes got a nice selection of anthias's. also, the angels everyones talking about over there would be good for you too!

but yeah... id say two yellow's. MAYBE MAYBE 3, but expect a lot of quarreling and be prepared to remove one when they mature...
 
we recently purchased a 90 gal set-up complete with fish, it came with 2 yellow tangs, they have been together for about 2 years (about 4" each i would guess) and they do very well together, we have only had the tank for a week though, but the man we bought it off of didnt say there had been any problems.
 
Re: How many Tangs

I wouldn't mind putting 5 or 6 yellow tangs together. When u buy them make sure they've been together in the same tank in your LFS for more than a month.But try not to put any other tangs at all. I envy you cos u have such a large set-up. I always dream of having a school of yellow tangs. All the best!
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10403672#post10403672 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by freakunleash
Hi All,

Just want to put a quick question.

I have started a marine tank few weeks back & its still in cycling stage. I want to have reef setup.

My tank specs are:

5x2x2 feet tank
3x1.5x1.5 feet Sump
Weipro Protein skimmer with 2100 LPH pump
3x150 Watt Metal Halide running for 5 Hr per day
3x800 LPH pumps for water circulation.
275 Lbs Live Rock
55 Lbs Aragonite sand

My question is how many Yellow Tangs can be put in this tank consider they all are juveniles & introduce in the tank at same time.

Regards
W
 
Oh yes! Remember not to rush buying the yellow tangs before your set-up is fully mature. I assume you know that u need to run tests after tests and so on.
 
I am in no rush to jump start the tank. Its been 43 days seen I have started this tank & doing a regular water testing twice a week. As of now water parameters are stable.
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Ammonia 0
Ph 8.2

Still trying to figure out the fish combination. I am looking for schooling fish which can coexists in reef setup.

Regards
BW
 
a lot of the time when you see tang together, they arent exactly schooling. its a lot of quarreling and marking territory. if you see a group of yellows in a tank and hey are startled, the tangs will all hid independently of eachother. on the other hand, a large, ture school of chromis will all huddle together and seek the same shelter.

buyignt he tangs young and at the same time is very smart of you, and when they are young you probably could have 3 or 4, but down the line when they become more aggressive, you may have troubles. but also, behavior REALLY depends on fish to fish. weve all seen that damsel that can raise all sorts of hell in a seemingly aggressive tank. and, ive seen triggers in reefs before.

its up to you, really it is. and if anyone gives you a hard time about it; remember this. this only true way to give a fish exactly what it needs, and to satisfy all of its demands, is to leave it in the wild
 
Well you have probably seen loads of pics online of people sucessfully keeping yellow tangs together, and have been lured into the idea - as I was.

As with everything in the hobby (life) these folks with groups of yellow tangs have suceeded despite the territorial nature of teh tangs, and not because of it..........

I think (and this is just my theory) that even within the species there is alot of variation.... not just from fish to fish, but from region to region..... by this I mean tangs collected from one location might be much more territorial and aggressive than tangs from another, maybe where there is less compeitition..... or visa versa, maybe where there is less competition, the tangs don't evolve to be as territorial, hence when confined to an aquarium they feel extra cramped......

Anyway, my suppositions aside, I can tell you that I got 5 yellow tangs for my 8x2x2 tank. They kicked the crap out of each other. In the end I returned them. The resulting stress caused an outbreak of ich, and with everything I lost a cooper band butterfly and lipstick tang too........

So - while there are plenty of people who will stand proud when they suceeded, not so many seem to be willing to admit they failed...... I am one that failed, in a tank nearly double the size of yours......

So in short, I would say don't do it.

Tang recommendation for your tank - yellow and regal.

Schooling fish - well anyone that I know who has kept a large school of chromis tells me that in time you end up with about 3..... they slowly kill each other.

Most folks that I talk to say that lyretail anthias are good - I have a small group in q-tine at the moment..... had 6, one was murdered, another is looking poor..... trying to get to the bottom of that right now.

Personally, from here on in, I am going to look to buy individual fish, or true mated pairs ........ in a 5x2x2 I would suggest (respectfully) that you do teh same.

HTH

Matt
 
i agree with our buddy matt. well, on one thing at least. i believe the region DOES largely impact the behavior of the fish. that is certainly true. however, the problem is once you get oast the breeder, distributer, whole-saler, and then store operator/manager, and THEN to a worker, which may or may not be an knowledgable aquarist, its a little less than obvious where the fish came from.

iff aggression is a concern, which it should be, consider getting your group of fish from a tank raised source. personally, i dont support wild caught. ever. but thats just me.

there are many different types of anthias that look similar, but not exactly the same. i dont know what your goal for the tank is, but personally, i think two or three small school of five or six less aggressive anthias would look very, very nice. all the fish would be "pink and yellow" but when taking a close look, the observer will realize suttle differences between the species


i hate to say it, because it really is a different case for each fish, but if you REALLY want/need a group of fish that are all the same species, or at least genus, avoid yellow tangs.

let us know what you choose to do, evne if it is tangs. i wont give you crap for it! :D i just want to hear about/see pics of the tank. it sounds liek it should be a nice setup!
 
and just for the record, that WASN'T me starting a big, angry debate on wild caught vs tank raised

(but seriously, they tend to be a bit less aggressive, and a whole lot easier to adapt and accept food)
 
I'm pretty much a "Tang Police" kind of hobbyist and have swore them off, but that wasn't always the case, and I have owned pretty much every species readily available over the past 25yrs. I've grouped them and paired them successfully for years and have mainly changed livestock due to moves. I've also had my pitfalls such as a small Kole in a 7' tank that became a pure terror even with much larger and supposed more aggressive species. In another 7 or 8' tank I was running (so many years, so many tanks) I too wanted a grouping of yellow tangs. My LFS had 5 of the smallest YT's I've ever seen swimming peacefully in an open 40gal breeder for more than a month.
I placed them in this large tank and watched as they kept a tight formation grazing on the rocks just like in nature. There was plenty of room for these tiny fish and I hadn't seen them swim the entire tank even after two days. I guess it was about the third day that they began to beat each other viscously and before I could remove a single tang, that's all that was left. One small victor that never shown aggression again. (never had a tang for a companion either).

Success varies, although the general rules are fairly solid and worth adhering too for most hobbyists, but if someone didn't try to break the rules once in a while, we'd all have a bare bottom tank with dead corals and a few of the same species of fish. Just remember that when pushing the limits, to do so responsibly and have a good back up plan to rescue our fishy friends. Otherwise you too will have a list of mistakes and a lighter wallet like so many of us before you.
 
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