5 Tangs in one tank....

[R.Allard]

so recently i purchased the naso and the orange shoulder tang from "the bionic reef".
i was a little hesitant to put the orange shoulder in the tank one because my tank is 210 gallons and the thought of removing 250lbs of rock to get him out wasn't something
that excited me, Two i have three other tangs a Tomini,Hippo and yellow eye or kole tang.
i really wasnt worried about the Naso as he is 2.5 inches bigger than anyone else but the
Tomini,Kole and the Orange Shoulder are all the same size.so far its been almost 24 hrs and no aggression between any of them except the Kole and the Orange Shoulder and its more
just a flash here and there no real fighting. so here is my question..... to all that have 5 or more tangs in there tank. what do you feed them and how often? also ... what if any type of aggression should i be looking for in the future as they grow?

am i just lucky?? every time i have put two tangs in a tank befor they battled to the death or at least till i pulled them out and separated them..

[sharkboy]

feed them plenty of nori and frequently to try to keep them from getting aggressive towards each other.....maybe several veggie clips around the tank??? that's a bunch of tangs!!!

[profntbtr]

actually i have had good experiences feeding them pelletized food, it spreads out enough so there is no one spot to eat at and there is rarely a fight over a single pellet. and the tangs love it. i usually use formula 2, as it is balanced for herbivores.

[JeffCo]

I just added a bunch of tangs also. Feed them nori at least once a day. And feed them twice a day with some frozen food until they get settled in. Then keep feeding Nori at least every 2-3 days.

[R.Allard]

my other ones i was feeding nori once a day and feeding emerald entree and spirulina brine shrimp.once day i think ill have to step up to twice a day with the nori and add anoher cube of emerald entree ... i shouldnt have to worry about algae problems ;)
thanks for all the input!!

[jay3]

Hey man, If you do get aggression with five tangs, just add 5 more....and so on. Just kiddin- good luck with it- I think luck seems to follow you.

[corydrysdale]

Lets see, I have a hippo, blue eyed tang, tamini , yellow.....um i thought i had one more, ill have to take a closer look at my tank. Anyway, i feed nori every other day, like a 4x4 piece, plus spirulina brine shrimp (3 cubes a day) that alone with regular brine, mysis etc. Tangs get along great together.

[R.Allard]

well its been almost a week ... still the same thing between the orange shoulder and the kole but their all eating like pigs and devouring a 1/4 sheet of nori a day along with emerald entree and brine shrimp and alittle krill for the naso. seems to be working.
and yes jay-3 i am the luckiest man in the world,....have you met my wife?!?

[jay3]

Well of course, what else would I have meant? Its interesting that most references say that tangs in small numbers will not likely live harmoniously, but here are two examples of the opposite. Whats up with that? I think maybe there is something here we don't know about tang behavior. Ya think?

[addboy]

I have been having really good luck with the Julian Sprung sea veggies. I soak it in Marine C, Zoa, and Galic for an hour or so, combined with Emerald Entree....once a day...the stuff sinks and spreads out ...and they hit it on the sand bed.....seems to have really reduced agression and no more swollen belly stuff.

[R.Allard]

i think its just temperament and adding the bigger tangs later on. also not adding the ones like the soho that have a NASTY attitude to begin with..

[R.Allard]

hmmm what if i add a clown tang?????

[Mr_Cool]

You might be pushing it there. I've never had one, but I've heard that they're almost as aggressive as the Sohal's can be.

[The Butcher]

I am just as lucky, I have:
1 large Blue Hippo Tang (jrsatx20)
2 Yellow Tangs (G-Ray -1)
1 Sailfin Tang (B&B)
1 Vlamingii Tang (Gabe's)
1 Scribbled Rabbitfish (BStreep)
1 Niger Trigger (BigKGlenn)
2 Picasso Triggers (txav8r -1)
1 Maroon Clown (Joe31)
1 Coral Beauty (Fintique)

[Jolly]

I, sprung a leak in my 350 where I had 12 fish,all were either tangs or angels. I put an egg grate in my 125 to divide the tank in half for awhile and put them in there. There were 6 tangs and angels in there already. At first the powder brown and powder blue would face off thru the egg grate, but I finally just removed it and all the fish just accepted each other. I had 2 blue hippos, 1 yellow tang, 1 brown tang, 1 powder brown, 1 powder blue, 1 yellow eye bristol, and 1 sailfin. The rest were angels, unfortunately my chiller malfunctioned and I lost all , but the sailfin, 6 weeks ago. Maybe because I have lots of live rock for the fish to hide in I was able to do this, I don't know. The good news is I found someone to fix my tank and I am rebounding. GOOD LUCK with your tangs, I luv em, Johne

[R.Allard]

im seriously thinking of getting rid of most of my coral and putting 3 Heniochus and a couple of angels like a queen and a emperor ....:0

[R.Allard]

and maybe a copperband for good measure

[JeffCo]

Here's the fish I just added:
XL Hawaiian Naso tang
XL Folweri Tang
M Sohal Tang
L Bellus Angelfish
XL Copperband Butterfly.
6 Kauderns Cardinalfish

and i already had:
Powder Blue tang
3 yellow tangs
coral beauty
6 line wrasse

They are all getting along with each other. I think it's because I added them all at once. Just feeding alot.

[z28pwr]

Robert, I've got quite a few tangs and they all get along just fine as long as they get fed atleast every other day. For your tank I would feed Nori at least once a day apart from regular feedings to avoid agression.

I currently have the following with everyone getting along

9.5" Naso Tang with 2" stringers
9" Vlamingi Tang
6" Regal Tang
5" Sailfin Tang
4.5" Mustard Tang
4" Yellow Tang
4" Purple Tang
3" Powder Blue Tang
3" Clown Tang
6" Magnificent FoxFace
8" Boxfish
3.5" Maroon Clown
2.5" Maroon Clwon
4.5" Stars & Stripes Puffer
4" Dogface Puffer
2" FlameHawk Hawkfish

I would use caution with the clown tang. If you do get one get him very small.

[R.Allard]

yea but how big is your tank?? isnt it like 600gal

[Mr Cob]

yea but how big is your tank?? isnt it like 600gal

LOL, yep, he has a small ocean so he can pretty much keep anything!:wink_smile:

I can barely keep a Yellow tang and a Purple tang in my 75gal.

[sampsonndelila]

I have at least 5 tangs in my tank but they are all pretty small still yet. ranging from 3-5 inches. In my 125 gal they were a little aggressive to each other. But in the new tank they are fine. Very little conflict at all. If there is any it will involve the yellow and the purple.

yellow, purple, kole, blue hippo, 2 others I can't spell the names of.