Purple tang experiences ?

[ynot65]

I'm adding a 3 1/2" purple tang to my existing 150 DT and was wondering what to expect after introduction. My other fish are as follows, coral beauty 2"+, a fox face 5", blond Naso tang 2", 3 purple fire fish, a marine betta 3", lawn mower blennie, 2 psychedelic mandarins.
All fish are very healthy, some fat, and the person I'm getting it from has had it for around 4 months. It's eating out of his hand, literally.
So I was wondering what others have to say about them and their experiences adding them. It will be the last fish added to this system that has been set up for a year. Here's a pic of my tank, it does have a mixture of sps and LPS corals as well as a few cleaner shrimps.

 

[scooter31707]

IMO, you should be ok. I have no experience with Purple Tangs, but I heard they can become quite aggressive once they become established. I have steer away from them due to that fact. I want one so bad.

 

[Dmorty217]

The foxface and zebrasoma might not get along as the tang matures and gets larger. This has been my experience more than once. The Naso will out grow your current tank

 

[brett559]

I added an established purple tang to a tank with a blue tang and there was no aggression problems. I've added numerous fish afterwards and they have gotten along fine. I've had many people tell me that getting established tangs from other reefers is the way to go. I know lots of friends that have had trouble getting tangs to eat (Nasos, Achilles, etc.). Sounds like this purple knows how to be an aquarium fish. Go for it. I love mine - it's my favorite fish.

 

[ben jammin]

About 4-6 weeks ago I added a 5" purple tang to my 260 that already contained yellow, hippo, powder blue, and tomini tangs, all about 4-6", in addition to a 6-7" goldspotted rabbit. I was concerned about aggression between the tangs, especially the yellow as it is the same genus, but it has been smooth. I did keep the purple in a large acclimation box for several days to let everyone get used to him. There was minimal aggression when I released him. The yellow didn't even notice for 24 hours, then sparred with him tiny bit for a few days, but everything soon subsided and is going smoothly. They're a beautiful fish, for sure.

 

[m3lacoste]

I have to agree. I too, added an established purple tang from a tank breakdown to my tank with a yellow tang. Immediately the yellow tang attacked and chased the purple everywhere but it was funny because I put food in the tank and as the purple was getting chased it was also eating so I have to think it knew how to be an aquarium fish. I remember turning the lights out and the next day when I got back from work there was little to no signs of aggression between the two tangs and they've been together for 4 years.

 

[jmm]

A long time ago, when I had a 500 gallon fish-only tank, I added a large purple tang and a large sohal tang at the same time. A powder blue that was established attacked and over a period of two days, killed the purple tang but left the sohal alone.

A purple tang I have now in a 210 gallon reef attacks any new fish but only seems to occasionally damage, and then not seriously, other narrow-bodied fish like angels and butterflies. I can distract him with a mirror for a little while. He's definitely the most aggressive fish in the tank.

 

[mecheng]

I agree with what has been said about the purple tang aggression. I also find that with my purple tang his aggression has rubbed off onto my golden angelfish. These two fish now patrol my tank together like SS stormtroopers. The golden was never aggressive until I introduced the purple tang. However, I do find that if you keep them full of algae they are not as aggressive for some reason.

 

[cosorio]

They are also very hardy. I've had an ich infestation that it was totally covered but it kept on eating and eventually made a full recovery.

 

[kegogut]

I added a purple to an established yellow and ended up having to get rid of the yellow even after I took him out of the tank for a week and reintroduced him.