Talking about Tangs

[lhm nole]

I have had both saltwater and freshwater tanks for the last 20 or so years and have have african cichlid tanks full of mbuna ( zebras johannis etc) and they are very territorial and are also omnivores so to me they are very similar to tangs and their behaviors, so in keeping these guys I always found better success with the more the merrier theory to tone down aggression so would this rule apply to tangs?

The only issues I had was adding fish after everyone was established but the tank would have a pecking order once established .

I have worked at lfs when younger and have seen tanks holding 10 plus yellow tangs and they were all healthy no frayed fins and minimal aggression but noticed once the tank got low 4 or so tangs thats when the aggression really started and even to a point one of the tangs would be beat to near death.

I have never personally tried putting 10 plus tangs in one tank . So has anyone tried this and had success ?

 

[TampaReefer79]

IBTL

No, I'm pretty sure everyone here would suggest NOT to overstock a tank with tangs to 'avoid aggression'. Fish stores get away with it on a temporary basis, your tank in your house should house fish their entire life - from juvi to adult - in which case aggression will someday be unavoidable.

I can see the similarities you're drawing from cichlids...sort of...but tangs and cichlids are very different. I actually took my old 125 african cichlid tank down to make it a reef, so I've kept both. They are just 2 different animals. No pun intended.

How big is the tank we're talking about anyway?

 

[lhm nole]

Say if you had a 300 plus gallon tank and you wanted to do all tangs and it was a established tank and you decided to add 12 to 15 tangs mix species I know thats a heck of a fish load but if you did it that way would it not work out and tame aggression down? Or even if you decided on 10 achilles tang?

 

[Stanley-Reefer]

In my 175 I have:

purple
yellow
blonde naso
sohal

In my 90:
vlamangii that is about to outgrow the tank ) it sas 1.5" when I got it
yellow
sailfin
eiblii mimic
regal

IME if you put them all in at once it works best. If you want to add a sohal and it's last, the others won't mess with it.

 

[nikon187]

i would not put 12-15 tangs in anything smaller than a monster tank ( 300g isn't that big)



10 achilles tangs would need over 1000g to avoid extreme fighting, probably more