Large Tangs and Angels?

[Evan West]

Hello all, this is a long way off for me and I need to graduate and pay off debt first but this is just research. So in my ideal world I want to keep a Blond Naso Tang, a Clown Tang, and a Sail fin tang along with a large butterfly in a mixed reef tank. However......upon research im finding that large angles seem to not be a smart choice for the reef. Basically just wanted to open a discussion on how to keep several large tangs and (maybe...?) a large angel in a reef tank.

 

[Xclusive Reef]

Simple you need a big tank like 300+

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Tangs for the most part can be considered reef compatible but there are some bad apples out here that have been reported to nip at corals. As long as you first meet the tank size requirements for the tangs you want, you should be fine in that aspect.

Large angels on the other hand will nip at a wide variety of corals. There might be a few options however, corals such as gsp, blue star polyps, and xenia may be able to out-grow any damage the angel may cause, but that's not a guarantee. I've seen a Queen Angelfish firsthand eat zoas, mushrooms, LPS, and SPS corals as if they were placed in the tank for it to eat.

Angels of the genus Genicanthus may be a better option than the typical "large angelfish" species we normally think of for a reef tank. With them you're looking at fish like the Bellus Angelfish, Lamarck's Angelfish, and Spotbreast Angelfish. Most are considered somewhat "reef safe" but I generally try to avoid that term. Some of those fish are pretty seasonal and hard to find sometimes though.

If you really want a large angel, FOWLR would be the most financially sound decision IMO, you could have one of those and a reef tank on the opposite wall in the same room otherwise you may face a lot of heartache seeing a beautiful fish steadily eat a lot of beautiful corals.

Good luck with the planning process! I'm currently doing the same for my future big reef tank!

 

[S-t-r-e-t-c-h]

Just a warning; clown tangs can be a nightmare. They're usually pretty sensitive to start off and once they get settled, they can be extremely aggressive. Like, sohal tang aggressive. If you are committed to having one in the tank, make sure it's the very last fish you add. Personally, I'd only consider having one in a tank with big aggressive tankmates and definitely not with other tangs...

Angels are highly individual in what they will eat and what they leave alone. Some have success with xxx species, while someone else will add the same species to their tank and it will demolish everything. Things like SPS and leather corals are typically the least appetizing to angels, but it's really dependent on the individual fish. Genicanthus are the best for reef tanks though, since they are not benthic feeders and instead mostly eat plankton out of the water column.

If you are committed to an angelfish, it's largely a "cross your fingers" affair, but you can have better success by adding juvenile angels and letting them grow up in the tank. If they're well fed from a small size, they may never realize that your coral are tasty. That's far from universally successful though.

 

[Evan West]

Thanks for the info! When the time comes for this tank to be set up I'll also have a fish room to accompany it so what I might do is have a fish only tank plumed into the whole system to keep some of these bigger more aggressive fish.