Need tang police

[AdamSabina]

I am starting to write my stocking list and the issue of tangs is starting to come up. The tank will be mixed reef and the largest burden on the bioload will be these tangs. The tank is 8'x2'x2'. Will be getting about 200 LBS of live rock.

Current idea #1. 6 fish
2 white tail bristle tooth tangs
1 regal tang
2 gold ring tang (aka white cheek tang)
1 naso (not sure which naso I want)

idea #2. 5 fish

3 purple tangs (not sure how to pull this off with out them fighting.)
2 gold ring tangs (aka white cheek)

Idea #3. 7 fish

2white tail bristle tooth
3 yellow tangs
2 gold ring tang (aka white cheek)

Idea #4. 4 fish
2 white tail bristle tooth tangs
2 blond naso tangs

What would you pick and why?

 

[Arnel0387]

I'd go with idea # 3 for algae control! However, if I were you I'd go with 1 Ctenochaetus, 5 zebrasomas, and 1 Acanthurus tang! My future tank will most likely consists of 7 tangs = 1 chevron tang, 3 yellow tangs, 1 purple tang, 1 black tang, and 1 Achilles tang!

 

[leveldrummer]

Why not a mix of many of them? a yellow, a purple, a white cheek, a regal, a naso, and a bristle tooth?, thats 6 tangs, one of everyone you listed. in an 8 foot 240 gallon, you should be fine to add quite a few smaller reef fish too.

 

[pciscott]

I have 3 Yellows, 1 Purple, 1 Black, 2 Gems, Freckled, blonde Naso, huge Vlamingi, 2 Hippos, powder blue, Chevron, and a Powder Brown. I also have a large Sohal in the sump on time out. Waiting for the less dominant Gem to settle in a little more before he gets one last chance. The Zebras have a pecking order and get along. I tried 2 purples and they fought to the death. I would get what you want and add a few more, good luck with Achilles I tried and they do not do well on a busy reef.

 

[AdamSabina]

I have 3 Yellows, 1 Purple, 1 Black, 2 Gems, Freckled, blonde Naso, huge Vlamingi, 2 Hippos, powder blue, Chevron, and a Powder Brown. I also have a large Sohal in the sump on time out. Waiting for the less dominant Gem to settle in a little more before he gets one last chance. The Zebras have a pecking order and get along. I tried 2 purples and they fought to the death. I would get what you want and add a few more, good luck with Achilles I tried and they do not do well on a busy reef.

Achilles are very hard to keep happy. I think my skill level isn't to that level yet. I think it better I pass on that for the fishes sake.

How do you add so many and keep the territories in the tank from being WWIII. Is there any advise you have? Any rules of thumb for order. Start by adding the small first then go to big? Buy all them very small and add all at once?
I always Quarantine so adding 6 tangs at once will be VERY hard. Possible but annoying.

PS. Thank you and PCI for all the years of help and sponsorship. Adam from team Sabina.

Why not a mix of many of them? a yellow, a purple, a white cheek, a regal, a naso, and a bristle tooth?, thats 6 tangs, one of everyone you listed. in an 8 foot 240 gallon, you should be fine to add quite a few smaller reef fish too.

I like that idea, lots of variety. But it's kinda fun watching pairs interact. We will call that idea #5.

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Nice list, but I think it will get overcrowded as the grow no matter which way you go. 8feet is nice but the 2 foot height and width limits their swimming room.

My tank is only 7 feet long but 3 feet tall and 2.5 feet wide. even with that size, my two full grown Naso's seems to be maxed. Any other larger fish/tangs and it started to get crowded. Right now I have one Naso at 12", one Sohoal at 12" and two triggers pushing 8". That's about all of the big fish I think will fit comfortably in the tank and I still think it's pushing it some.

You have to think about their full grown size when picking out your fish. Good luck.

 

[pciscott]

I added all the Tangs at once and went Hypo, if I had to do over I would not do Hypo as it was tough on many fish especially wrasses. My Rock work is set so I can not move around, but I have found that adding a few Ceramic Arches throws off the fish and makes it easier to add new fish. All the Zebras hang out together and only show teritorial aggression at night when someone invades there sleep spot. I was worried about one of the Gems as it was shy and would not come out of the corner for weeks. I had to make sure he was fed in the corner as his stomach never filled out like the other. After a couple months he has come out of his shell and is following me around waiting for food. New Era Marine Grazers make the Tangs happy and Fat I think this helps with aggression. I can say the fish seem to grow much faster in a large tank than the smaller tanks they were in before. I had a show Sohal in the tank that was last fish added and he was fine with all the fish, I added the two Gems and he was on kill mode. I caught him quick and put him in the sump, I hope to try to re introduce him as the last Tang in a few more weeks. If not I will have a 9" Sohal looking for a good home soon. He is a beautiful fish and hope it works out.

I do run a large UV on a closed loop and have it on Bypass and running very low flow. I feel this helps keep ick to a minimum. My only Tang that shows any sign of ick is the Powder Brown who was the most aggresive Tang in the tank, I am thinking of moving him to a large frag tank plumbed into the same system as he is not happy in a busy reef.

Adam you been Racing as of late? I hung up my driving suit except for an occasional run down to Baja. I have teamed up with Jimmy Smith and we are putting the old girl back to the way it looked in 1994 when Jimmy won the Baja 1000. We will be racing in the Norra Mexican 1000 Vintage Rally in April.

All Acanthurus Tangs are tough and if you are stuck on these fish you will have much better luck finding a Tank raised fish over a fresh one in the hobby. Both my Powder Blue and Brown were in systems for over a year before I added and they have been my too most problematic fish and they keep the Cleaner Shrimp and Cleaner Wrasse busy.

I also think that a busy reef with many fish helps combat territorial aggressive behavior in Tangs, and I like lots of fish so I keep adding. I have several wrasses in quarantine to help booster the wrasse population in my tank the Hypo was tough on. After they go in I will try to figure out what type of Anthias I will try and get a large group.

Adam when your tank is ready for coral hit me up, I will sponsor you some frags as a fellow Off Road Racer. Good luck with your additions!

 

[AdamSabina]

I added all the Tangs at once and went Hypo, if I had to do over I would not do Hypo as it was tough on many fish especially wrasses. My Rock work is set so I can not move around, but I have found that adding a few Ceramic Arches throws off the fish and makes it easier to add new fish. All the Zebras hang out together and only show teritorial aggression at night when someone invades there sleep spot. I was worried about one of the Gems as it was shy and would not come out of the corner for weeks. I had to make sure he was fed in the corner as his stomach never filled out like the other. After a couple months he has come out of his shell and is following me around waiting for food. New Era Marine Grazers make the Tangs happy and Fat I think this helps with aggression. I can say the fish seem to grow much faster in a large tank than the smaller tanks they were in before. I had a show Sohal in the tank that was last fish added and he was fine with all the fish, I added the two Gems and he was on kill mode. I caught him quick and put him in the sump, I hope to try to re introduce him as the last Tang in a few more weeks. If not I will have a 9" Sohal looking for a good home soon. He is a beautiful fish and hope it works out. I do run a large UV on a closed loop and have it on Bypass and running very low flow. I feel this helps keep ick to a minimum. My only Tang that shows any sign of ick is the Powder Brown who was the most aggresive Tang in the tank, I am thinking of moving him to a large frag tank plumbed into the same system as he is not happy in a busy reef. Adam you been Racing as of late? I hung up my driving suit except for an occasional run down to Baja. I have teamed up with Jimmy Smith and we are putting the old girl back to the way it looked in 1994 when Jimmy won the Baja 1000. We will be racing in the Norra Mexican 1000 Vintage Rally in April. All Acanthurus Tangs are tough and if you are stuck on these fish you will have much better luck finding a Tank raised fish over a fresh one in the hobby. Both my Powder Blue and Brown were in systems for over a year before I added and they have been my too most problematic fish and they keep the Cleaner Shrimp and Cleaner Wrasse busy. I also think that a busy reef with many fish helps combat territorial aggressive behavior in Tangs, and I like lots of fish so I keep adding. I have several wrasses in quarantine to help booster the wrasse population in my tank the Hypo was tough on. After they go in I will try to figure out what type of Anthias I will try and get a large group. Adam when your tank is ready for coral hit me up, I will sponsor you some frags as a fellow Off Road Racer. Good luck with your additions!

Thank you I would love a couple frags. I'm shooting for February or March for the tank getting wet.

As for racing we had a very rough season 4 DNF and 2 crashes. Start of the season our car got run over by a big rig while parked (that was rough). But we did the MORE holiday 250 and got 3rd in class 10 and 13 and nothing broke. So that was a good end to our season.

 

[WETFISH]

I have 2 yellows,a sailfin,and a clown tang in a 180 room divider tank(visible from 3 sides.
I started with the smallest fish I could find.Clown first ,yellows next,then sailfin.All quarantined in copper separately (lowest doses that were recommended).App. 1 month apart.
7 years.....no problems ,although the clown tang is a little aggressive lately at feeding time and the yellows chase each other around sometimes (to the point of torn fins)( which is a problem).

 

[AdamSabina]

I have 2 yellows,a sailfin,and a clown tang in a 180 room divider tank(visible from 3 sides. I started with the smallest fish I could find.Clown first ,yellows next,then sailfin.All quarantined in copper separately (lowest doses that were recommended).App. 1 month apart. 7 years.....no problems ,although the clown tang is a little aggressive lately at feeding time and the yellows chase each other around sometimes (to the point of torn fins)( which is a problem).

I had 3 yellow tangs that had been at the store in a 30-40 gallon area for over a month. I bought these super small yellow and put them in quarintine. The two killed the one on day 1. The other two made it out of quarintine. Once I put them in their new 150 gallon home WWIII broke out and I was forced to sell one of them.

I haven't figured Zebra's out yet.

 

[WETFISH]

I had 3 yellow tangs that had been at the store in a 30-40 gallon area for over a month. I bought these super small yellow and put them in quarintine. The two killed the one on day 1. The other two made it out of quarintine. Once I put them in their new 150 gallon home WWIII broke out and I was forced to sell one of them.

I haven't figured Zebra's out yet.

I have heard that before....about the yellows.
I guess I got lucky that mine have declared an armistice,at least kinda.

 

[H.reidi.MN]

So you did hypo yet still have ich ?

 

[pciscott]

I did Hypo for 8 weeks and still ick came back on the Powder Brown, some days he looks good other days he is getting cleaned by the cleaner wrasse. I did have a little sand in my tank and this might have been why the Hypo did not work 100%. I do know Hypo was tough on my wrasse's and I lost some of my favorites that I have had for 5 years.

If the fish eat and get along ick is not a problem, but stress and no appetite will give it the upper hand. This is why I will never try an Achilles in a busy reef, and why the powder brown is about to be voted off the island. Acanthurus Tangs are all tough fish to keep unless only Tang in tank, I am lucky to have a Powder Blue that gets along socially on the reef.

 

[WETFISH]

Just my experience ...hypo has never worked for me.

 

[bullitr]

Just my experience ...hypo has never worked for me.

Same for me unfortunately I recommend it to Scott ...
It works for a few weeks then super ick happen.

Cupramine and prazipro always works for me. So far no strain of ick or velvet ever survive according to a lot of fish expert in the forum.

Some people use CP or tank transfer method but I never tried it yet.

 

[AdamSabina]

Same for me unfortunately I recommend it to Scott ... It works for a few weeks then super ick happen. Cupramine and prazipro always works for me. So far no strain of ick or velvet ever survive according to a lot of fish expert in the forum. Some people use CP or tank transfer method but I never tried it yet.

I've just done cupramine for 14 days out of the 30day quarantine. 8 to acclimate, 14 days cupramine (even if healthy), and 8 more after. So far no ich but I am very new to quarantine process. What is prazipro?