Five Small Yellow Tangs in. 180g

Salinas Hawk · Jul 25, 2014

Hello everybody
Ive cycled my 180g, back in the hobby... But still a bit of a noob. I'm thinking, 9 blue devil damsels, 3 Maldives lyetail Anthias, nd FIVE small yellow tangs. The plan is to give away a couple tangs as they grow. And eventually give away four of the five tangs... Or get that 500g tank ive been dreaming about! Would the tang police come and shut me down if they could? I have friends that say it would be cool to see the small yellow tangs school until you had to give some away, which would be no problem... Good homes to local reefers, or to my LFS... Cool guys who think my plan is solid.

But why post... Hmmmm, i second guess these "reef masters" that say go for it.

To be clear, at the first sign of aggression among the Five yellow tangs, I will be willing and able to give them away to responsible reef keepers.

As for skimmer power and water changes... I spare no expense, and if upgrading my old Warner Marine skimmer is advised, I will.

I'm trying to be responsible, thoughts.

Much appreciated.

cpayne015 · Jul 25, 2014

It could work but you never know. I would not recommend going with 9 damsels. You would regret that full heartedly.

jschultzbass · Jul 25, 2014

I also think you should stay away from the damsels. Eventually you'll want to add some other smaller fish and the damsels will destroy them. If the five yellow tangs are the only tangs in the tank and you don't add much more for bigger fish than I would say go for it. Add them all at once and there is a possibility you won't ever see aggression issues.

Daniel@R2R · Jul 25, 2014

I have a blonde nasi, a yellow tang, and a blue hippo in my 180, and all are doing great. I'd say you have nothing to worry about except for that zebrasoma tangs (like yellow, purple, scopas, gem, and black tangs) tend to be aggressive toward conspecies, but it may be possible if they're all added together.

Daniel@R2R · Jul 25, 2014

As someone else already mentioned, I'd stay away from the damsels...but that's because they usually are super aggressive...but it sounds like they'd be the smallest fish in your tank, so you might be ok there too

FLipp · Jul 25, 2014

i wouldn't add damsels either! those guys are straight killers. hahaha

jschultzbass · Jul 25, 2014

Why do you think they are called "Blue Devil" damsels?

cumbeje · Jul 25, 2014

I have yellow, hippo, achiles, sailfin, naso all in same tank and doing great. I do feed them a sheet of purple seaweed everyday. My tank is 720 so I can get away with a lot.

Daniel@R2R · Jul 25, 2014

cumbeje said:
I have yellow, hippo, achiles, sailfin, naso all in same tank and doing great. I do feed them a sheet of purple seaweed everyday. My tank is 720 so I can get away with a lot.

I bet that looks awesome! Would be great to see a picture!

cumbeje · Jul 25, 2014

forgot I have a purple tang also in the tank.

Salinas Hawk · Jul 25, 2014

Thanks everybody. man! I thought Blue Devils were more on the docile side among damsels. Hmmm

Oh, and thanks for sharing the pic. I will come back and post one soon! Hahaha. Thanks again everybody.

Kworker · Jul 25, 2014

Bad idea, I tried three in my 180 and while it lasted for nearly 6 months it seemed things just were about to get out of hand. If things get ugly, or say it does work and you have to rehome some. You will have a real hard time getting them out of there. It took me a while even with a trap. While a 180 is a large tank. Its not big enough. You are better off with the yellow, and one or two other different types of tangs. Get more Anthias instead.

FL_Reefer · Jul 25, 2014

It's gonna be a battle royal in that tank. Especially with the damsels. You will be removing them as fast as you put them in, or they will just kill each other and you will end up with one, maybe two.

racin2438 · Jul 25, 2014

We have 3 yellow tangs in our 150g , and they are fine, had them over a year now, never had issue at all. But they were added at the same time .

I would not get the Blue Devil Damsels.....you will regret later.

Go with the reef safe Blue Kupang Damsels, neon blue with lower/rear fins in yellow .
Not to be confuse with they other blue damsels that have the yellow running vertical , Kupang have the yellow running diagnol ,they are great reef safe fish....but again add them all at same time.

Kworker · Jul 25, 2014

racin2438 said:
We have 3 yellow tangs in our 150g , and they are fine, had them over a year now, never had issue at all. But they were added at the same time .

I would not get the Blue Devil Damsels.....you will regret later.

Go with the reef safe Blue Kupang Damsels, neon blue with lower/rear fins in yellow .
Not to be confuse with they other blue damsels that have the yellow running vertical , Kupang have the yellow running diagnol ,they are great reef safe fish....but again add them all at same time.

You have been lucky, my 3 yellows were in the LFS together for a month. Than in QT a month, than display 6 months while also deciding to kill my 7 bartlett anthias. It was cool while it lasted but they were nothing but a PITA.

moulton712 · Jul 25, 2014

I have a yellow, purple and a tomini tang in a 90, no problems, no fin nips for over a year. They are all atleast 4-5 inches. Still building a bigger setup. They will all be in a 125 in two weeks.

reefcubed · Jul 26, 2014

Everyone commenting about having numerous different tangs in their tank is somewhat off point. Having the same type is a different story. I tried 3 juvenile yellow tangs in my 93 gallon cube build. They were the only fish in the tank first off. I attempted this because I found 2 at my LFS that were schooling, and knew I needed to try 3 as opposed to 2 for aggression purposes. It worked out fine for the first week. Then however they began to choose territories. It wasn't a bloodbath or anything, but the territories were very defined, and no tang would venture outside of said territory. If they did, there was a chase, potential fight. I returned two of them to the LFS. It is something I would love to have in my tank though. A beautiful sight

Instagram

Kworker · Jul 31, 2014

bmcdk7 said:
Everyone commenting about having numerous different tangs in their tank is somewhat off point. Having the same type is a different story. I tried 3 juvenile yellow tangs in my 93 gallon cube build. They were the only fish in the tank first off. I attempted this because I found 2 at my LFS that were schooling, and knew I needed to try 3 as opposed to 2 for aggression purposes. It worked out fine for the first week. Then however they began to choose territories. It wasn't a bloodbath or anything, but the territories were very defined, and no tang would venture outside of said territory. If they did, there was a chase, potential fight. I returned two of them to the LFS. It is something I would love to have in my tank though. A beautiful sight

Instagram

I don't see how they're "off point" fish seek out their own territories. Most likely not as bad as if they were the same genus but the bottom line is they are still surgeonfish and closely related.

Prozium · Aug 1, 2014

I have 5 Zebrasoma tangs in my 6' 150g tank.

Purple Tang
Scopas Tang
Sailfin Tang
2x Yellow Tang
(there's also a copperband butterfly and an adult male melanurus wrasse)

...the 4 year mark is about 1 month away

Salinas Hawk · Aug 1, 2014

Prozium said:
I have 5 Zebrasoma tangs in my 6' 150g tank.

Purple Tang
Scopas Tang
Sailfin Tang
2x Yellow Tang
(there's also a copperband butterfly and an adult male melanurus wrasse)

...the 4 year mark is about 1 month away