Poll: who DOES NOT have a Tang in their tank and why?

Cancun

Cancun

Member
Hi! Just like the title says....I will start...I have a 80 gallon..4 ft long tank...a few years ago my first tang was a Kole Tang. He was great.. I lost him 3 years later due to a power outage. My 2nd tang was a yellow tang. I got him from my LFS...he was about 3 inches when I got him. After about a year he grew to a little more than 6 inches...became very aggressive....and attacked any fish I tried to add after him....I knew it was because he needed a bigger tank. Lesson learned....when people on this forum say min tank size.....take that advice....plan for the full size of the fish. Because returning my now large yellow tang to my lfs was no fun....so because of my tank size and my fish load....I have decided to leave Tangs out of my tank.

Please share your thoughts....stories....and experiences.....good or bad....it might help others learn from your experiences.*
 
i have a total of 480 gals and i only have 2 tangs, achilles and blue hippo. i had a yellow tang as well and all three were qt and added at same time in main tank. over few months yellow tang got really shy and hid all the time. I noticed that other 2 were picking on him. it finally passed away. i never added any more tangs. just have the 2.
 
80 gal is too small, 125gal is the minimum for most if not all tangs. While the can survive in smaller they will never thrive. They are far too easily stressed out.


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Seems like tangs are one of those fish that are hit or miss. Some people just experience nightmares with just 1 or 2 while others can have a tank stocked exclusively with tangs and never have any issues. I myself have never kept any tangs...yet. that is because I do not have a tank large enough to support one. I agree with Scottedontknow, a minimum for tangs is 125...I know some might say u can get a kole and put it in a 75 but tangs are very active swimmers, who claim large areas of the tank as their territory...for that reason I would never put a kole in a 75 unless I planned on having 1 fish in a 75 gallon tank. Now at my local liquor store(everybody needs to have 1 in this hobby. Lol) the owner has a 180 mixed reef display that he uses to draw people in, and boy does it work. In there he has 2 convicts, 1 kole, 1 hippo, and a yellow all mixed in with anthias, chromis, blennies, hawkfish, clownfish trio, and 2 foxfish and he says he sees more aggression out of his clowns than he does from his tangs...go figure. Lol :beer:
 
DJasak said:
Now at my local liquor store(everybody needs to have 1 in this hobby. Lol) the owner has a 180 mixed reef display that he uses to draw people in, and boy does it work. In there he has 2 convicts, 1 kole, 1 hippo, and a yellow all mixed in with anthias, chromis, blennies, hawkfish, clownfish trio, and 2 foxfish and he says he sees more aggression out of his clowns than he does from his tangs...go figure. Lol [emoji481]
Click to expand...

I wonder if a combination of species selection and stocking density can impact success? Kinda like running an all male hap/peacock freshwater tank. 2 or 3 fish is almost guaranteed to fail but half a dozen or more (in an appropriate sized tank of course) will be fine due to the dispersal of aggression.
 
I have a naso, hippo, purple, 3xyellow, powderblue, and kole tang in my 300g. I wouldn't add anymore, they definitely like their space even with a ton of rockwork.
 
doesn't a poll usually include a poll? lol
i keep a purple in a standard 120 with my rock work placed with an open concept. it has plenty of tankmates and there no sustained aggression whatsoever.
 
I have a 120 gal (60 x 18 x 26T) and would eventually like to get one. Any thoughts on the type I can house? I currently have 2 B&W OSc clowns in qt and 2 purple firefish and 1 bicolor dottyback in another qt. These are my first fish.
 
I don't have a tang. My tank is only 55 gal but they have never appealed to me. There are so many things that go wrong with a tang. I don't see why everyone likes them so much honestly. They are for the most part, aggressive, Very ich prone, have a huge bioload, and take up a lot of space in the tank. You could have 5 wrasses instead of one tang. Plus wrasses are more colorful and way more species diverse


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I have never kept a tang. I think they look cool, but in my FOWLR tank I have a Dogface puffer and two Green Spotted Puffers, so a tang would just end up on the menu one day when I wasn't home. MY reef tank is only 35 gallon so it's a little small for even a kole tang, which I would love to have for my clean up crew.
 
Betaktical said:
I don't have a tang. My tank is only 55 gal but they have never appealed to me. There are so many things that go wrong with a tang. I don't see why everyone likes them so much honestly. They are for the most part, aggressive, Very ich prone, have a huge bioload, and take up a lot of space in the tank. You could have 5 wrasses instead of one tang. Plus wrasses are more colorful and way more species diverse


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Click to expand...
why? their coloration/pattern and shape is beautiful, their swimming style is eye-catching and it is by far the most asked about fish in my system.
i'm sure you know this but being you've said you never have had one, people rarely comment of forums to announce when everything is going right which is why you are under the impression they are troublesome fish to keep. buy a suitable tank with a properly sized skimmer and there is a good chance you will never have to worry about your fear of tang problems :)
 
Wow thanks for the responses! Yea I agree my 80 is too small for a tang. I learned that the hard way. They are pretty especially the purple tang...most places say a Kole Tang can go in a 70 gallon min...including many bristle tooth tangs....but like was already stated...only if that tang was your only fish....LOL.....yea when I started this thread I didn't know how to do the cool "poll" feature. Another thing I wonder about...is of a person puts a tang in too small of a tank would that add to the likelihood of a ich out break?
 
lg2725 said:
I have a 120 gal (60 x 18 x 26T) and would eventually like to get one. Any thoughts on the type I can house? I currently have 2 B&W OSc clowns in qt and 2 purple firefish and 1 bicolor dottyback in another qt. These are my first fish.
Click to expand...

From what I read and from your tank size you have many choices. Purple Tang...Yellow Tang...Kole Tang....if I had a 120 I would go for the Purple Tang. But I would only keep 1 Tang in a 120....
 
A tang in too small a tank (or a rabbit or damsel, for that matter) would increase stress levels in everybody, which lowers slime coat, which exposes fish to parasites...but far more likely, it would start killing off the fish that in its opinion are overcrowding the scant space. Or those it can hit, due to shape.
 
i have a kole, a hippo , 2 clowns, 2 lyretail anthias, 2 fairy wrasses, watchman goby in a 57 for over 2 years now.
never seen a single fight, and my fish are fat and healthy.
i also have about 85 lbs of rock in a 57, so i think they all have there own place to hide

about 2 months ago i added a yellow and a coral beauty to the tank. the kole did harass the coral beauty for about a week. but after a month the coral beauty now swims around fine eats and everything is healthy.

yes i am upgrading to a 265 in a week,
 
JohnnyHildo said:
why? their coloration/pattern and shape is beautiful, their swimming style is eye-catching and it is by far the most asked about fish in my system.
i'm sure you know this but being you've said you never have had one, people rarely comment of forums to announce when everything is going right which is why you are under the impression they are troublesome fish to keep. buy a suitable tank with a properly sized skimmer and there is a good chance you will never have to worry about your fear of tang problems :)
Click to expand...



To all his own. You're right I do hear a lot of bad stuff about tangs but I also hear it a lot more than any other fish. And I'm a wrasse freak [emoji13][emoji13][emoji13]


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