Is it bad to keep tangs with clams?

shy07guy

Premium Member
I was just reading the new coral magazine and they stated that surgenfish should not be kept with clams is this true? I had never heard of this do they really cause problems? I just brought home a baby chevron tang! He is about 1 - 1/4" and currently in a QT. Any ideas or experience would be great.Thanks
Derek
 
My yellow tang has been in my reef aquarium for a while now. He does pick on the algea off the clam's shell, but has never harass it, or nip on the mantle...(I currently have a yellow tang with 6 clams).

I have read some stories in this forum about clams constantly being harass by tangs...the Blue hippo tang in particular.

My only recommendation is to feed your tang well, and also monitor your aquarium often,
 
Last edited:
I have never had an issue with keeping Tangs and clams together. I have keep clams with everything from Purple, Powder blue, Powder Brown, chevron to kole eye.

But with fish you never know. I have heard of Lawnmovers eating the mantle off of clams.
 
I keep a purple and a yellow tang together in my sps clam reef and to be honest I dont even think the tangs know that there is clams in the system lol
 
Also, the Chevron Tang is a bristletooth tang. Because of the shape of their mouths, they'd probably be the least likely tangs to pick on clams. You should have nothing to worry about.
 
Tangs can be very sneaky. My purple tangs pick algea off of the clams but do not directly pester the mantel. They do however have a taste for open brain corals. Especially the green ones.
 
Tangs can be very sneaky. My purple tangs pick algea off of the clams but do not directly pester the mantel. They do however have a taste for open brain corals. Especially the green ones.
 
Other than eating the occassional zooanthelle expelled from the clam's exhalent siphons, my purple tang leaves the clams alone.
 
Back
Top