Larger Fish or Fish To Distract Tangs

[nuxx]

Hey guys,

I'm going to order some fish for QT next week and was wondering if any of you had a suggestion of what to get...

I went ahead and hypoed my display tank for 6 weeks since I thought I spotted some ich on my Yellow Bellied Blue Tang a few months before. I've had the fish for years and never saw ich, didn't QT before moving to the new tank...

Now looking back I think it might not have been ich... just something else... didn't exactly look like ich I've seen before. Never on fins, didn't look like grains of salt, etc...

Anyway since I had no coral yet... I just hypoed the display.

Tank is 120x29x31" with a 200 gallon sump.

Fish:
Black Tang, Purple Tang, Yellow Tang, YB Blue Tang, Chevron Tang, Tomini Tang, Cleaner Wrasse, Black Ice Clownfish and 3 Pajama Cardinals.

During the course of the hypo I had a blip of ammonia and also started feeding a bit less.

After two weeks all hell broke out...

I found the Purple Tang dead on a powerhead (he had always been chased) and then two days later I witnessed the Yellow and Yellow Bellied Blue Tangs basically corner the Tomini (Always an outsider) until it had no where to go but up and across the tank (probably hitting its head) and a few hours later after being moved to the sump it died.

Now I have the Black, Yellow, YB Blue and Chevron left tang wise. They seem to be getting along better, it's been three weeks since everything happened. I've noticed a nipped fin on the Chevron maybe once a week, but I haven't seen any chasing.

Anyway...

I'm curious what a good addition to the tank would be next. I'd like something semi-reef safe that will maybe scare/distract the tangs a bit.

I'm either leaning towards a pair of Crosshatch Triggers, but I'd be worried about adding smaller fish down the line after the Triggers get established.

OR

A medium sized school of Anthias and a large Lineatus Fairy Wrasse.

What do you guys think?

What has worked well for you and distracting Tangs in the past?

 

[ca1ore]

Hard to say with any certainty other than to suggest that what has worked for me in the past is to have a really well stocked tank with lots of fish to distract aggression. Group of anthias, pyramids, or even chalk basslets are some that I have tried. The other thing, and I don't recall your setup, but with a tank that size you might try setting up some isolated reef sections so that each fish can stake out a separate territory. I did that in a 8 foot tank many year sago and it worked quite well.

 

[Marine fish man]

I have a 1000 gallon tang tank with 35 show size tangs and I do 450 gallon water changes every 2 weeks and I dose garlic extreme and I feed my fish, my friend Julian sprungs purple seaweed and I keep a little bit of copper in the tank and I keep the tempture at 85 degrees because they were getting ich I have another tank for my corals so that I can do those things to my big tank

 

[nuxx]

Hard to say with any certainty other than to suggest that what has worked for me in the past is to have a really well stocked tank with lots of fish to distract aggression. Group of anthias, pyramids, or even chalk basslets are some that I have tried. The other thing, and I don't recall your setup, but with a tank that size you might try setting up some isolated reef sections so that each fish can stake out a separate territory. I did that in a 8 foot tank many year sago and it worked quite well.

Thanks Simon

Here is a shot of the tank as it is today. Still playing with the lights, will probably be adding two more Kessil A360WEs to eliminate shadows.

There are three "islands" for lack of a better term.

Sorry for the ugly tank... water's a bit murky during hypo and haven't skinned the stand yet.

I'd like to still add a Zebra and Achilles down the line, but planned to do it last after LOTs of fish are in.

Leaning to the school of fish being a better bet than larger more aggressive fish?

 

[nuxx]

I have a 1000 gallon tang tank with 35 show size tangs and I do 450 gallon water changes every 2 weeks and I dose garlic extreme and I feed my fish, my friend Julian sprungs purple seaweed and I keep a little bit of copper in the tank and I keep the tempture at 85 degrees because they were getting ich I have another tank for my corals so that I can do those things to my big tank

I give the tangs one sheet of Nori with selcon and garlic extreme a day, split up on three rocks spaced out.

Then give an evening feeding of formula 1 & 2 flakes, small and large pellets, spirulina and some Mysis with garlic extreme and selcon. I let it sit in tank water for about 15 minutes. Not a lot, just a nice mix. It's gone in 1-2 minutes.

 

[ca1ore]

There are three "islands" for lack of a better term.

Indeed there are, so much for that idea

Zebra Tang is my 'desert island' fish. Would love one! I would even pony up the 8 bills or so needed, but I never see them. So, I bought a convict and convinced myself that it was close enough, and it only cost $35 ......

You could definitely go for a large group of Lyretail Anthis. You could easily do 10-15 in a tank that size and they are very active and not timid at all. Bimacs would work too, though they are harder to find and little pricier.

 

[nuxx]

Indeed there are, so much for that idea

Zebra Tang is my 'desert island' fish. Would love one! I would even pony up the 8 bills or so needed, but I never see them. So, I bought a convict and convinced myself that it was close enough, and it only cost $35 ......

Gem Tang collectors tend to be wanting near gem prices for Zebras now lol...

 

[ca1ore]

Gem Tang collectors tend to be wanting near gem prices for Zebras now lol...

Do they! Even more reason to be happy with my convict then.

 

[Dmorty217]

A sohal or clown tang will sort out your issue...

 

[nuxx]

A sohal or clown tang will sort out your issue...

As much as I love sohals... It seems like a recipe for more tang on tang violence :hmm3:

 

[o2manyfish]

Within Chaos you can find harmony.

With a tank your size you can have lots of fish. I personally would pick up a school of tangs. Perhaps 10-15 small yellows and a couple of similar sized purples.

With all the bodies the aggression seems to really subside.

I currently have 9 yellow, 2 hippos, Lrg Chevron, Purple, And Achilles. These are most of the big fish of a 130+ fish population. The purple is one of the smaller tangs, and is the only one with attitude. But he just occasionally chases, but everybody is clean and intact - No scratches no fin nipping.

Dave B

 

[o2manyfish]

PS -- Anthias are another option. But In my view it takes a lot larger group of Anthias to give you that same kind of activity as you would from the school of tangs.

In addition, maintaining the Anthias can be more challenging. You need to start with a big group of females, and need to have a feeder setup to feed multiple times a day. And they have to be happy to eat what comes out of the feeder.

I would start with a group of tangs. And then as your tank matures, and has more of a sustainable source (pods and algae) then look at adding a group of anthias.

You have room to have nice groups of both.

Dave B

 

[nuxx]

Thanks so much guys

Since the tank is really low on algae right now because of the hypo, I'm going to leave the tang population where it is for a while.

Going to order a lager/extra large Lineatus wrasse and 5-6 Anthias today.

Hopefully that adds a bit of distraction for a while.

Also going to start raising the salinity in a week or so in the tank and also bump the lighting back up to normal. Hopefully this will get some algae growing for the tangs to start picking on again.