Thinking of adding purple tang

[ladyshark]

Hello all

I have a well-established FOWLR (tank has been up for three years or more)

125 gallon (4 foot long)
A LOT of LR (sorry, I have added over time, no idea # pounds)
I have sponge growing on the rock, so no Angels allowed -- also I think the current tankmates are too aggressive for a butterfly

Currently in the tank:

Zebra Eel--12-15 inch
Magnificent Foxface--4 inch
Red Coris Wrasse--4-6 inch
Regal Tang --2 inch
Two striped damsel-2 inch
Mandarin-1-2 inch--converted to frozen food-fat and happy and out and about
Cinnamon Clown--2 inch

Each holds its own, although the Regal hides in the rock a lot, of course.

I had a yellow tang, which I just lost. I had him for 5-6 years, so could be old age, although I noticed the wrasse was chasing it around a bit lately. No appearance of disease or trauma.

All fish look great, tank is cleaned and water changed every two weeks.

Would a purple tang, added to this mix as the "last added" seem to work, or too aggressive?

THANKS in advance for your thoughts.

 

[reefergeorge]

My purple is a sissy.. The sailfin puts him in his place daily.. IMO you will be fine, but someone will say no in a 4' tank.

 

[LedZep fan2]

I'd say you're pretty much maxed out. I've got a purple in my 4' 120 but he's in there with a fraction of your stock list. Not trying to be the one with bad news but I wouldn't try it. They are extremely active fish, I've had to rearrange my rockwork to accompany his energy.

 

[Toddrtrex]

I personally wouldn't do it. I tried a purple in a 4 foot tank many many years ago -- worked for the first year. Shortly after that it became very aggressive, as it grew, to the point were it would attack/drew blood on my male clarkii clown.

 

[rpjaws74]

hate to say it but I agree. very active fish and aggressive.

 

[ladyshark]

Appreciate the feedback. That's why I asked.

 

[MrTuskfish]

For many years I tried to deny that swimming space had a lot to do with aggression in tangs; not anymore. I'm totally convinced the too little swimming space + fish that are fairly aggressive anyhow (PTs) = stress = aggression. Also (IMO), and this is hard to quantify, PTs just don't look right in a 4' tank after you see them in an 8' tank. One flip of the pectoral fins and they've covered all the tank length. They don't seem to show off their beautiful dorsal in a smaller tank either; this is true with most tangs that have gone through my 55 gal QT.

 

[SDguy]

I tried a PT in my 4' 150g. He grew from a little 1" tiny thing to a 5" terror. Kicked my powder blue's and tomini's butts. I sent him to a friends ~300g reef.