SCHOOLING

[carlinsa]

what kind of tangs will school? i am trying to find something other than yellows. i was wondering about orange shoulder tangs? i could us some help on finding out what will not kill each other.

[Reef69]

All tangs school...but you need a big tank for a school of tangs

[cpreefguy]

convict tangs make a pretty cool school

[carlinsa]

i just want a tang that you dont see everyday..... yellows are cool but to common....i was thinking a school of purples...or orange shoulders.....i know they say all tangs school but in all the books it says that you should only keep one of the speciesso i just thought i would ask an see if anybody has had any problems with any thing other than yellow tangs.

[Polkster13]

You really need to have a large tank (at least 200 gallons or larger) and get the fish when they are really small. Remember, these fish graze on the reef and have a lot of territory that they feed on. They school for protection from other predators, not because they are social creatures. In an aquarium were there are not any predators, they become very territorial and will fight off any other fish that looks similar to them because of a very limited feeding territory.

I have seen Alex's tank (very large) with 6 very small tangs in it. They are happy for now, but it will be interesting to see what happenes as they mature.

Also remember that most tangs get 10 inches or larger. You cannot stunt their growth by keeping them in a small aquarium. What you will do is stunt their life expenctancy. In other words, they will die before they ever reach full size and will have only lived a short portion of their full life span.

[cpreefguy]

well said