school of yellow tangs, possible?

plancton

Active member
Hi, I have a 175 gal reef tank with 2 ocellaris clownfish, 1 cb butterfly, 1 sailfin tang, 1 blue hippo tang.

I was thinking about adding 3 more yellow tangs. I read somewhere that you can end up with only 1 yellow tang due to bullying, is that true?, I wouldn´t like to invest so much to end with one individual like what happened to chromis.

The tank looks quite empty.
 
I have a 10ft tank and decided to go a group of tangs as well.

i found by introducing the tangs together it certainly reduced aggression, not saying its not there, but it is reduced.

i have a groups of 4 yellows and 4 purples, the purples are more aggressive in my tank but they all get along well, the aggression is also dispersed amongst different individuals.

The purples were introduced one at a time, each addition certainly is placed under pressure by all the other tangs, after a week it is left generally alone and is accepted into the group, i rearrange rock work a little and found this helps.

i have only had my group together for 3 months and all fish are exceptionally healthy and vibrant, will see if things change as individual grow, also my tangs are all different sizes, dont know if it makes a difference just thought id mention it.

Cheers,
FP
 
I have had a trio of Purple Tangs, in my frag tank for about 6 months now and are doing very well together. Yellow tangs seem to be much less aggressive than purples so I think its possible in a 175, just make sure to keep and eye on them as they mature which could make them more aggressive.
 
I have seven hawaiian yellow tangs and eight purple tangs... so far they are okay for about 2 years now. However, I am still trying to solve why the purple tangs can get really fat while the hawaiian yellow tangs doesnt seem to grow fat and round unlike my blue tang or convict tang.
 
Also, I don't think they are really schooling but rather shoaling at best... they follow the biggest tang in the tank (a yellow fin tang)... the next sized one is a clown tang and then a sail fin tang.
 
I don't think a 175 is big enough for 5 tangs to have enough territory so they wouldn't fight. Especially 4 that are in the zebrasoma family. Shoals of tangs do work, just in very large systems ( 500+g)
 
I don't think a 175 is big enough for 5 tangs to have enough territory so they wouldn't fight. Especially 4 that are in the zebrasoma family. Shoals of tangs do work, just in very large systems ( 500+g)

I agree, a 175 is probably not large enough for that many tangs of the same genus.
 
I don't think a 175 is big enough for 5 tangs to have enough territory so they wouldn't fight. Especially 4 that are in the zebrasoma family. Shoals of tangs do work, just in very large systems ( 500+g)

I wonder if the idea is not so much to give the fish enough territory so they don't compete, but rather -- as is done with African rift lake cichlids -- to give the fish no chance to secure a territory, and thus give them nothing to fight over. I mean, what is a typical Zebrasoma sp. territory? A couple hundred square meters or so?
 
7 tangs in a 175 is asking for a crash. IME you need double what you have to keep that many but there will still be aggression issues. I would not try multiples of them. Just 1.

What kind of skimmer do you have?
 
I have kept multiple yellows together with absolutely no long term issues, even when introducing them at different times. At first they will beat each other up but things eventually settle down. To me, the key is aquascaping. If they can break eye contact, they can get a brief reprieve from aggression.

What are your tank's dimensions? Although I am definitely not a card carrying member of the tang police, I would say you might be pushing.
 
I had three(I know don't bash me) in a 55 for about a year and half with no problems.That was before I knew better,but they only showed agression when a new one introduced,It would last about a day.This is just my opinion,I would only do 3 or 4 max in a 175.Good luck with what ever you decide.
 
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