Least Aggressive Tangs

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Here is a list by @4FordFamily from most aggressive to least. .......

1) Powder Blue
2) Powder Brown
3) Sohal (increasingly nasty with size)
4) Clown (increasingly nasty with size)
5) Achilles (some are docile but the nasty are up there with PBT)
6) Purple
7) Yellow
8) Goldrim/ White Cheek
9) Scopas
10) Gem
11) Kole (increasingly nasty with size)
12) Sailfin
13) Atlantic blue
14) Desjardini Sailfin
15) Hippo & YB Hippo
16) Tomini Tang
17) Chevron
18) Orange Shoulder
19) Convict Tang
20) Blonde Naso
21) Naso
Here is my take on the above list by @4FordFamily

Eliminated from the list due to size for most tanks except the largest of private tanks (500+ gallons

Sohal
Clown
Sailfin
Desjardini Sailfin
Naso
Blonde Naso

The rest are difficult to arrange as number list becasue there are so many variables. I would group them as: Most aggressive, Aggressive, Moderate, Mild and Snowflakes.
Tanks size, How many tangs, size, order or arrival, How long in tank, Size when first introduced, and how similar are the tangs all have A LOT of impact on their interactions.
In other words, it is a crab-shoot with some educate guess and a lot of luck.
I forgot to mention that how much food and how they are fed is of extreme important

Most aggressive:
Sohal and Clown would go here if your tank is 500+ gal
Powder Blue
Achilles

Aggressive:
Powder Brown
Purple
Yellow
The two Sailfin if I decided to keep them would be here

Moderate:
Goldrim
Atlantic Blue (large)
Chevron (large)

Mild:
Scopas
Kole
Hipo
Tomini

Snowflakes:
Convict

No experiences:
Gem
Black
Orange shoulder
 
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Yeah I agree. But the way I look at it is a small shoal of hard to acclimate and feed fish haha.

BTW off topic but would you have picked a Purple Tang over a Yellow, 17 years ago if it was available to you?
I have keep both Purple and Yellow in every tanks I have that is larger then 120 gal. Both are extremely beautiful fish. I dont consider price very much until it get above about 250 or so. For long live, beautiful fishes like these, and consider how it get to out tank, I dont consider 300 or so very expensive. I never consider a Black tang (too ugly) and Gem (not beautiful enough for me to spend 500.00 on)
 
I have one yellow tang she was the last addition to my tank. she got harrassed by my 4 stripe damsel for a couple hours und then fought back. Only one time that I have seen but I've not seen him bother her again. she keeps my tank pretty clean. when id scrape my glass she follows my scraper and grabs the scrapings.
 
Any tips on getting them to co-exist?
You got to decide on:
Tank Size (firm estimate)
How many and what tangs
about how many and what other large fish
Once you have this many people with experience will chime in to let you know if your list is
1. snowflakes in hell
2.difficult but possible
3.possible.
4.reasonable or
5.no problem
We can also suggest what would be the best way, in our opinion, to achieve this it it is
 
I have four scopas tangs that bicker amongst themselves but leave all other fish alone except my flame angel but he is an annoying little turd! :)
 
For the most part... they’re all pretty nasty. My yellow tang used to stab new fish with its barb.. My girlfriend thought he was trying to “cuddle” my new copperband butterfly. My best advice: add all tangs you’re planning on getting at the same time, and then don’t add anything after them.
 
My White Tail Bristletooth Tang is a model citizen. Highly recommend.
 

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Here is a list by @4FordFamily from most aggressive to least. So you'll want to look at the tangs at the bottom of the list

1) Powder Blue
2) Powder Brown
3) Sohal (increasingly nasty with size)
4) Clown (increasingly nasty with size)
5) Achilles (some are docile but the nasty are up there with PBT)
6) Purple
7) Yellow
8) Goldrim/ White Cheek
9) Scopas
10) Gem
11) Kole (increasingly nasty with size)
12) Sailfin
13) Atlantic blue
14) Desjardini Sailfin
15) Hippo & YB Hippo
16) Tomini Tang
17) Chevron
18) Orange Shoulder
19) Convict Tang
20) Blonde Naso
21) Naso
Where would you @4FordFamily place a Dussumieri on this list? Yes, I know how big they get.
 
My convict is the opposite of a snowflake. It has killed a copperband butterfly and a double saddle butterfly. :mad:
 
I tried two different Koles (not together but different times) and both were nasty. Chasing other fish and the Koles were added after them. They went after wrasses or anything really. I sold the first one and tried another thinking I was unlucky but nope. I have the banished Kole to a frag tank where he still likes to chase a starkii damsel.

Oddly enough I have a yellow tang now instead and the yellow has been no problem. It gets picked on by my copperband a bit even though it is a decent sized yellow tang.

Sometimes I think it is almost a total crap shoot with most tangs.
 
I have a blue eyed kole tang that I've had for about a year now, and I introduced a biota yellow tang about 9 months ago.

120g tank

No issues - every once in a while the kole tang might half heartedly chase the yellow tang, but that has subsided quite a bit now that the yellow tang has caught up in size.

I have a Copperband in the tank as well who's been around since last June and everyone gets along fine

Of course that could always change
 
I tried two different Koles (not together but different times) and both were nasty. Chasing other fish and the Koles were added after them. They went after wrasses or anything really. I sold the first one and tried another thinking I was unlucky but nope. I have the banished Kole to a frag tank where he still likes to chase a starkii damsel.

Oddly enough I have a yellow tang now instead and the yellow has been no problem. It gets picked on by my copperband a bit even though it is a decent sized yellow tang.

Sometimes I think it is almost a total crap shoot with most tangs.
Keep them well fed and it decrease the aggression quite a bit.
 

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