tang compatability and bio load

[newhomes4reef]

I currently have a medium sized sailfin tang and a smaller purple tang. We'd like to add two to three small yellow tangs. The tank is 145gal mixed reef...mostly softies. I have two percs, a mandarin, three blue chromis, a blue damsel that i'll never catch, two pajama cardinals, a long nose hawkfish, an engineer gobie, and a rainbow colored wrasse. We haven't introduced any new fish to the tank in nearly a year and have had no casualties in about the same amount of time!!! They are all healthy and eat like piggies. Are we getting close to maximum occupancy?
thanks!
Jeff

[Reef69]

CONGRATS on no fish loss!!!..To be honest i wouldnt add 3 yellow tangs to a tank that has a purple and a sailfin. Yellow tangs are very territorial and would hate to see you get an ick outbreak. Maybe some of the MAASTards with bigger tanks and multiple tangs can give you different advice.. I wouldnt do it.

[mathias]

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooo *TANG POLICE*


your tank is to small


JK :)

[Reef69]

Oh, didnt see how big the tank was..then, no..lol

[newhomes4reef]

next house will have a much bigger tank...in the mean time...that's all the room i can spare! I was thinking of adding several SMALL ones...i figure by the time they grow up i'll be building me a bigger casa and they'll be moving on up!

[CD]

I wouldn't do it either. That's 14 fish already in a 145G display? IMO it's not as much a matter of whether these tangs will get along with each other in your case, as many have had success with multiple tangs in a large system (when I say large, I mean 200+ gal. & the bigger the better)...they will all usually find a pecking order (although I will add that Purple tangs are one of the MOST belligerent members of the tang family, along with Sohals). What IS important in this instance is territory - places to sleep and hide without having another fish in very close proximity. Also, you would want to consider the sizes of the existing fish when they are fully grown. The Sailfin (although it may not be all that large now) will get up to around 15" in length...the Purple - almost 10"...the Engineer goby will get huge as well. So anyway - if you are looking for opinions here, personally I wouldn't do it, and feel you're going to encounter a bunch of stressed out fish and losses from that stress if you do. You mentioned that it would be a temporary situation, but even a month's worth of overcrowded fish will yield deaths or illness. (I speak from experience - the worst mistake I ever made) It would be better to just wait until you upgrade your system size. ;)

W. :)

[newhomes4reef]

Good point Wendy. I remember your experience and don't want to reenact it. ok, $50 in fish isn't worth upgrading the tank...yet! :)

[CD]

Cool - I'm glad you understand that I just don't want you to have to go through what we did...and all it took in our case was the addition of one tang - two weeks later five fish were dead. :(

So what size tank were you planning on upgrading to when you move? It's always exciting planning an upgrade! :D

W. :)

[newhomes4reef]

Depends if i get to build a custom floorplan...then i'll plan appropriately to have the utility room behind the family room wall. If i knew for sure i'd probably get that 11' one that Gator is selling! But, that is at least a year, maybe two away. I'll be sure to pick everyone's brain when the time comes!! :)

[tangz]

You could always get rid of some of the excess fish and get the Tangs.

Just my few cents worth form a tang lover. ;)

[GaryP]

Crowding fish causes stress, stress leads to agression, agression leads to violence, violence may lead to death.

[blueboy]

sounds like a good excuse to upsize, it's all in how you "spin" it!

[newhomes4reef]

I'll super size in the next home. Can't get rid of any of the fish we have...the wife wouldn't forgive me. We'll just have to be patient and wait it out. Thanks for talking me out of it everyone...i probably would have ended up with casualties...something we've avoided for a long time now!