Thinking about getting a purple tang eventually in my 200G. Current tank inhabitants are yellow tang, bellus angel, magnificent fox face, pajama cardinal, oscellaris clown, several small flasher wrasses, 6-line wrasse, pink spot watchman, algae blenny, midas blenny, molly millers and cleaner wrasse. I plan to add a yellow eye tang before adding the purple. Are there any issues I need to be concerned about with the purple? And will this tang be compatible with my reef?
Purple Tang compatibility
- Thread starter bucfan
- Start date
3FordFamily
In Memoriam
I have a purple, yellow, desjardi sailfin, achilles and powder blue in one tank no issues. I add two tangs at a time to keep aggression down though. Three zebrasoma tangs do better than two unless added at same time
Stevenliu9
New member
3FordFamily how long have you had those tangs together in your tank and what was the order of adding them? Are they in your 180? I have a desjardini and yellow in my 180 right now and I'm hoping I can add a purple too but not sure if I can do it. When I added the yellow after the desjardini (desjardini was a 6" big guy already) they NEVER fought, just mingled right away. But I am not sure if the same can be expected of the purple?
Certainly possible in a large enough tank, though they will almost certainly fight initially. I have a 265. I started with a yellow and a hippo, and then added each at a time, a purple, an Achilles and a Sailfin (twice because the first one died for no apparent reason after about six months). The purple I ran through 12 weeks of QT so it was a good weight. Good thing too, because even with the use of an acclimation box, it and the yellow really went at it. Even resorted to the mirror trick. Eventually they settled down, though even now they only just about tolerate each other. Adding the Achilles was no problem; nor, interestingly, was the first Sailfin. The second Sailfin, the largest tang in the tank, got quite a bit more trouble from all but the hippo (he's largely oblivious).
So, yes you can do it, but expect the two tangs to fight. There also individuals, so some will fight more and some less. I suspect the kole will be no problem.
So, yes you can do it, but expect the two tangs to fight. There also individuals, so some will fight more and some less. I suspect the kole will be no problem.
nuxx
.Registered Member
In all honesty you risk it every time you add a tang to a tank with another tang.
Our Purple and Tomini Tangs were killed by a Yellow Tang and Yellow Bellied Blue Tang.
The Tomini was a completely different body shape, so out goes that argument.
Was more intimidation than pure aggression. Witnessed the Yellow and YB Blue Tangs corner the Tomini in the upper part of the tank and cause the Tomini to dart across the tank and ram into the far wall (10 feet away). After that it just swam in circles, later died in the sump.
The day before I found the Purple Tang on the powerhead.
This was months ago and now the tangs are down to a Black, Yellow, YB Blue and Chevron.
I want to add a Zebra, Gem, Achilles and Achilles Hybrid to the tank... but I will only do so after much more fish are in the tank. I think a large population decreases aggression IMO.
Our Purple and Tomini Tangs were killed by a Yellow Tang and Yellow Bellied Blue Tang.
The Tomini was a completely different body shape, so out goes that argument.
Was more intimidation than pure aggression. Witnessed the Yellow and YB Blue Tangs corner the Tomini in the upper part of the tank and cause the Tomini to dart across the tank and ram into the far wall (10 feet away). After that it just swam in circles, later died in the sump.
The day before I found the Purple Tang on the powerhead.
This was months ago and now the tangs are down to a Black, Yellow, YB Blue and Chevron.
I want to add a Zebra, Gem, Achilles and Achilles Hybrid to the tank... but I will only do so after much more fish are in the tank. I think a large population decreases aggression IMO.
o2manyfish
o2manyfish
I have had success with keeping bigger groups together. In ones and twos there is bickering. I have 9 yellows, 1 purple, 1 chevron, 2 hippos and an Achilles.
The purple is the only fish with attitude. The yellows are various sizes between small and med/lrg. The purple shows a little puffery at the smaller yellows. But there is no contact and it is not constant. The other tangs all leave everybody else alone.
Dave B
The purple is the only fish with attitude. The yellows are various sizes between small and med/lrg. The purple shows a little puffery at the smaller yellows. But there is no contact and it is not constant. The other tangs all leave everybody else alone.
Dave B
nuxx
.Registered Member
Dave get a YB Blue... that thing is a monster... would have rather had a Sohal TBH.
I think when I add more tangs I'll try to add a group of 3 or 4 at once. With an otherwise stocked tank.
o2manyfish
o2manyfish
I've kept Yellow belly blues in the past. I have always kept 2-4 and never had any issues with them, and would never compare them to my experience with Sohals.
I did have one that would spaz out every 3-4 months and take out a colony of zoas. When mu goldflake does it she eats them. When the hippo did it he just tore them apart and dropped them.
But no aggression issues and I keep lots of little timid fish.
Dave
I did have one that would spaz out every 3-4 months and take out a colony of zoas. When mu goldflake does it she eats them. When the hippo did it he just tore them apart and dropped them.
But no aggression issues and I keep lots of little timid fish.
Dave
jbvdhp
Active member
I have a sohal and PT in a qt atm.
They get along great. Until today.
Noticed two tang-mouth sized chunks missing out of the pt dorsal fin, and a beat up tail. I've seen the sohal munch on nori so I know his bite mark! I don't know why he went for the pt but he did. That guy!!!!!
On a side note, the U shaped notches should grow back in reasonable time, right?
They get along great. Until today.
Noticed two tang-mouth sized chunks missing out of the pt dorsal fin, and a beat up tail. I've seen the sohal munch on nori so I know his bite mark! I don't know why he went for the pt but he did. That guy!!!!!
On a side note, the U shaped notches should grow back in reasonable time, right?
jbvdhp
Active member
Haha! I know, everyone here tells me that and I know it too. Sadly I love the way they look. Their beauty is a curse.
nuxx
.Registered Member
I guess I got lucky and got one of those mean YB
Kind of back to that whole down to the personality of each fish thing...
When the YB was smaller and in a smaller tank with our Yellow Tang, it was very passive. The Yellow was crazy.
Now the Yellow is the most passive fish in the new tank... go figure...
OrionN
Moved on
IME, Purple tang are more aggressive than Yellow tang. Fox Face are OK but does not take any crab from any other fish.
In a 200 gal tank, add a Purple tang to you fish load would be fine, but your will have a easier time if the purple tang is healthy and eating well, not stressed. You may want to keep him in the sump until he eat well and is fat. Make sure he is not too small in compair to the Yellow tang. It is better for the new tang to be bigger than the resident tang.
Over all the addition should go well and no problem at all in 1 week.
OrionN
Moved on
The tang police is going to get ya for having all those tangs in a 180.
I have a Purple, a Yellow, a Powder Blue, Yelloweye Kole, and a One spot foxface in my 320 gal tank and I consider this nearly overloaded with tangs.
nuxx
.Registered Member
We had three Zebrasoma Tangs in our tank at once.
2.5" Purple, 3" Yellow and a 5" Black.
The Purple would never back down to the Black Tang and ended up being chased everyday.
Ended up finding the Purple dead on a powerhead after a few months. The Black Tang hasn't chased anything since.
2.5" Purple, 3" Yellow and a 5" Black.
The Purple would never back down to the Black Tang and ended up being chased everyday.
Ended up finding the Purple dead on a powerhead after a few months. The Black Tang hasn't chased anything since.
