Multiple Tangs

[sandwi54]

I just read an ongoing thread on this forum too about someone asking people's experience with sohal. This should help you decide whether you want to keep this fish.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2133360

 

[Kahuna Tuna]

Lets assume for the sake of argument that the tank is big enough to house all of them

When you begin a discussion with a faulty assumption you will not be able to have an "intelligent" conversation. You have too many tangs in a tank that is too small for them so it really doesn't matter what genus thay are in or in what order they are introduced. You will ultimately end up with a bunch of dead fish.

 

[John&Steph]

Here is a good article about tangs and keeping them. I found it very interesting. I keep multiple tangs in my tank and have for years.

http://www.coralmagazine-us.com/content/arrested-tang-police-i-refuse-confess

Pic of my tank.

 

[Toddrtrex]

I would take that article with a huge grain of salt (( pun intended )), it has been discussed numerous times and his methods/results are suspect.

 

[bigdaddystar]

My tank,

Naso 11"
Vlimingi 10"
Sailfin 7"
Blue hippo 6"
Purple 4"
yellow 4"
180g
along with
Humu Humu trigger
3 anthias
maroon clown
2 damsels
marine betta
in a softy tank
Total tank volume is almost 400g, skimmer rated at 800g to cope with nitrates

I believe the key is adding them in the right order and size according to there aggression to size...No problems here but it can be a gamble..The next and last tang will be a Sohal at about 3-4"

More aggressive tangs should be smaller than and added after the less aggressive ones.
and keep plenty of hiding spots and swimming room

 

[lucky_snapper]

Thanks BigDaddy that is exactly what I was thinking..

Currently In my display I have

Yellow tang 4.5in
Magnificent Foxface 4.5 in
2 ocellaris clowns
Christmas wrasse
Rainbow wrasse... who is looking for a new home..
3 ignitius Anthias
3 psutochromis
long nose Hawk
Flame Hawk
Lawnmower Blenny
Flame Angel
Blue Damsel

2 torch corals
3 hammer corals
frogspawn
2 giant wellsophyllias
duncns
2 acan colonies and frags
Large Blasto colony
Large Favia prism
zoa's

Green Haddoni

My nitrates are under 20ppm
Nitrite 0
Phosphates 0
Ammonia 0

Currently not using my sump because I accidentally broke the center brace (fixed) and due to a pluming issue and has been this way for months (should be fixed on Tuesday) I run BRS Jumbo Reactors of GFO and Carbon and it keeps my parameters in check.. I am heavily stocked in LPS and have a green Carpet anemone. I feed twice a day and all livestock growing and doing well.

I would have expected to see that my nitrates were higher than they are without the sump running and all but everything is working out great. I can't wait to see how everything improves when the sump is running and I can use my skimmer.. Tank has been running for 4 months and none of that time with a skimmer.. I admittedly have probably done everything wrong with the tank ,,, or at least against conventional wisdom.. it cycled in about 2 weeks because I used a ton of biospira and I haven't run a skimmer yet (which I plan to do) I have had a bout with Ick because of a clown tang that I didn't quarantine and it got sick got ick.. unfortunately the tang died because he never ate but I successfully treated the tank with HYPO and all was well.. What can I say i like to do things my own way and see how they work out.. if it blows up and hey you learn not to do it that way any more but if 20 tang police tell you its against the law and you are able to do it then that is a sense of accomplishment to me (doing something that everyone said you can't or is impossible). I don't like being told I can't do something especially when I asked for ways on how to do something and 5 people jump in and say no way .. you see nothing ever gets accomplished that way.. Think about it, there was a time when people used to say you can keep corals in a tank or people used to say 100 mhz pentium processors would be the fastest we ever needed... Think outside the box and you might discover something...

I may not get a shoal tang because he may be too aggressive.. and they are expensive .. and he was an after though.. maybe I will because who knows for sure what they will be doing in 5 years .. I know I don't... I would hope I still have the tank but by then I may have moved to a bigger rig or moved on... Right now I am a reef junkie so that is what I like and am into...

By the way I appreciate Bigdaddy and John for offering their comments.. I read the article and enjoyed it.. I also found it funny that one of the tang police was the first to bash it.

 

[bigdaddystar]

Yeah Its definitely Taboo....
Add slow, I will admit that with each added fish a pecking order was reinforced and still is...Tangs can and will mellow out slightly but add a new fish of any significant size and you see them go nuts...I kept African Chiclids for years and it was the same only worse... 15 large chiclids same thing key was size and temperment and knowing them to minimize the stress and tail-nipping.

Biggest problem was always the same too..hiding spots..they are all particular of where they lay there head and hide...gotta move a few rocks around and give the new guy a spot to sleep at some point.

And obviously the most mellow tang is my tank is the biggest...the most aggressive to come (sohal) will be the smallest tang

 

[lucky_snapper]

 

[StephLionfish]

if it blows up and hey you learn not to do it that way any more but if 20 tang police tell you its against the law and you are able to do it then that is a sense of accomplishment to me.

Do you think people are telling you that you can't do it just to make your life suck? You won't be able to do it long-term. Us "Tang Police" are telling you based off our knowledge and experience that it will not work. Why not just do the research yourself and see that you can't do it? Or visit a local aquarium and see how large these tangs get, and how much space they require.


BTW, Us "Tang Police" go off when we see threads like this because we care for the fish. If you want to avoid us, then put your fish in an appropriately sized tank.

 

[sandwi54]

Thanks BigDaddy that is exactly what I was thinking..

Currently In my display I have

Yellow tang 4.5in
Magnificent Foxface 4.5 in
2 ocellaris clowns
Christmas wrasse
Rainbow wrasse... who is looking for a new home..
3 ignitius Anthias
3 psutochromis
long nose Hawk
Flame Hawk
Lawnmower Blenny
Flame Angel
Blue Damsel

2 torch corals
3 hammer corals
frogspawn
2 giant wellsophyllias
duncns
2 acan colonies and frags
Large Blasto colony
Large Favia prism
zoa's

Green Haddoni

My nitrates are under 20ppm
Nitrite 0
Phosphates 0
Ammonia 0

Currently not using my sump because I accidentally broke the center brace (fixed) and due to a pluming issue and has been this way for months (should be fixed on Tuesday) I run BRS Jumbo Reactors of GFO and Carbon and it keeps my parameters in check.. I am heavily stocked in LPS and have a green Carpet anemone. I feed twice a day and all livestock growing and doing well.

I would have expected to see that my nitrates were higher than they are without the sump running and all but everything is working out great. I can't wait to see how everything improves when the sump is running and I can use my skimmer.. Tank has been running for 4 months and none of that time with a skimmer.. I admittedly have probably done everything wrong with the tank ,,, or at least against conventional wisdom.. it cycled in about 2 weeks because I used a ton of biospira and I haven't run a skimmer yet (which I plan to do) I have had a bout with Ick because of a clown tang that I didn't quarantine and it got sick got ick.. unfortunately the tang died because he never ate but I successfully treated the tank with HYPO and all was well.. What can I say i like to do things my own way and see how they work out.. if it blows up and hey you learn not to do it that way any more but if 20 tang police tell you its against the law and you are able to do it then that is a sense of accomplishment to me (doing something that everyone said you can't or is impossible). I don't like being told I can't do something especially when I asked for ways on how to do something and 5 people jump in and say no way .. you see nothing ever gets accomplished that way.. Think about it, there was a time when people used to say you can keep corals in a tank or people used to say 100 mhz pentium processors would be the fastest we ever needed... Think outside the box and you might discover something...

I may not get a shoal tang because he may be too aggressive.. and they are expensive .. and he was an after though.. maybe I will because who knows for sure what they will be doing in 5 years .. I know I don't... I would hope I still have the tank but by then I may have moved to a bigger rig or moved on... Right now I am a reef junkie so that is what I like and am into...

By the way I appreciate Bigdaddy and John for offering their comments.. I read the article and enjoyed it.. I also found it funny that one of the tang police was the first to bash it.

Like I said, it's your money and your fish. There's no point getting defensive and attacking the people who are trying to give advice based on knowledge and experience. If you disagree, just go ahead and get the fish. We did our job warning you what will likely happen because that's how 9 out of 10 cases end up. Are there success story? Of course, and probably quite a few. But keep in mind that for every case that worked (because the individual fish's personality is more mellow, or some other particular reasons), there are 10 more that failed. We wouldn't be saying what we said if the historical success rate was moderately high.

At the end of the day, people (including myself when I first started) aren't going to listen until they fail. Your argument of corals being able to be kept or not is not a valid point. The reason why corals can be kept now is due to the advancement in technology in the last 20 years. Technology can improve, but genetics won't change. Fish are wired in their genetics to be aggressive when they need more space or need to fight for food. Unless you have the ability to change their DNA, there's no reason to argue on and on.

 

[TriggerDude]

My tank,

Naso 11"
Vlimingi 10"
Sailfin 7"
Blue hippo 6"
Purple 4"
yellow 4"
180g
along with
Humu Humu trigger
3 anthias
maroon clown
2 damsels
marine betta
in a softy tank
Total tank volume is almost 400g, skimmer rated at 800g to cope with nitrates

I believe the key is adding them in the right order and size according to there aggression to size...No problems here but it can be a gamble..The next and last tang will be a Sohal at about 3-4"

More aggressive tangs should be smaller than and added after the less aggressive ones.
and keep plenty of hiding spots and swimming room

I absolutely disagree with having that many tangs in a 180 but I bought corals from daddy today and somehow he has it working, his NASO TANG is HUGE!!!!! And I mean HUGEEEEEE!!!! They all seemed to be doing awesome too, no sign of stress etc... I dunno how he did it but he did, but he still doesn't have as many as your trying to add, daddy also has massive water volume with a 2nd tank and a monster sump not to mention his equipment. He is one of the few who is lucky with this.

BTW, sell me that HUMU!!!!!!!

 

[dzfish17]

We see this all the time on RC. Ask a question, get upset with most of the responses and then get happy when you get one guy that gives you the answer you were looking for. Like I said in an earlier post, youre going to do what your going to do no matter what. What you fail to see young one is that we have been in your shoes and have overstocked our tanks in the past.

You think because its a 210g tank that it can hold the 16 fish that you already have and all those tangs too... youll be way overstocked. You can call people names if it makes you feel better but you still have much to learn. Unfortunately your fish will be the ones to suffer the consequences.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Starting to dislike the reasons for you doing this -- because the vast majority of people with experience stated that it is too large of a bio-load and several fish that need a bigger tank. You don't like that answer, so instead of taking advantage of decades of experience you are going to do it -- just because you don't like being told what to do.

 

[Kahuna Tuna]

You don't like that answer, so instead of taking advantage of decades of experience you are going to do it -- just because you don't like being told what to do.

Yep, seen it a thousand times here on RC.

Good luck to you with all those tangs, you are going to need it.

 

[lucky_snapper]

I'll be sure to post pics once it is all up and running.

 

[120reefermadnes]

I love seeing tanks with alot of tangs like these but dont think im up for the challenge of actualy trying it, nor do I have space in my 2 bedroom app. for a tank big enough not to mintion im on the second floor, the tank would probly fall through the roof.lol

 

[lucky_snapper]

I agree they are really beautiful and awesome fish. My powder blue will eat out of my hand. The purple I rescued from a pet land who had it in a 30 gallon tank with a large 8-9in Naso and Blue Regal that were beating it to death. I went back a few days later and everything in that tank was dead. Best of all the purple was $100 which is basiclly cost on that fish.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Be aware that once that S. haddoni is fully healthy (( the tentacles are too sparse )), it has a great chance of eating several fish. I've been keeping S. haddonis for the last 15+ years, it is just a matter of when (( and not if )) for them to catch/eat a fish.

 

[sandwi54]

We don't need to see pictures once you get it up and running, because that's not what we are stating would work or not. We are saying 3-5 years down the road, after the fish get big and aggressive, you'll have problems, not NOW. You're completely missing the point...

Like what others have said, your behavior is seen on a daily basis on RC. So no, you're not special and you're probably not going to be able to accomplish something that thousands have failed, especially with the attitude.

 

[Dashiki]

How was the tanked In hypo with all those corals?

Good luck keeping all those fish in a 180 no matter what size skimmer it will not take that bio load

Why post the question if you don't take the advice? Or already know the answer.

Are you just bragging about all the fish you are going to kill? Your plans for your tank are not responsible reef keeping. Go find another hobby. These fish are already ripped from the ocean. It is your duty to put the fish in the best situation possible to keep them healthy.

Anyone else ever want to punch someone through their monitor before?