Tang Aggression - Understanding and Combating

[srad750c]

The aggression in the case of purple tangs and most zebrasoma is limited to other tangs. So, if a purple tang was to be your only tang in this tank you should be fine. Some acanthurus tangs, particularly powder blue tangs, will often bully anything and everything. Although purple tangs can be nasty they also can do quite well with other tangs if added simultaneously. But once established and "tank boss", be weary! @Ryan15236

Yellow and purple tanks in my experience are aggressive to any tank mates that can’t hold their own. Both of mine have punished their weaker tank mates. They even fought each other until I had to remove one and take to a larger home.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Have one at 9". 360 g

 

[RtomKinMad]

We added 11 tangs all at the same time to our 300gal.
Naso, powder brown, scopa, purple, yellow, hippo, dejardini, Caribbean blue, chevron, blue eyed kole, and tomini. All tangs of the same species were about the same size. Except the hippo was the largest of all and still remains the queen of the tank.
Our naso died within a few weeks (unknown) reason no bullying. Our scopa never came out from a cave because when it did the others chased it back into the cave so We moved to our FO tank with a Sohal. We got lucky the Sohal didn’t even care at all about the scopa! Then we removed our powder brown due to bullying everyone. Then one day I found the blue eyed kole very badly beaten up, couldn’t find the tomini. Then the tomini came out of the rocks and was torn up so bad I thought it was nearly dead. I grabbed it with a net and put it into a bucket. My husband came home and hour later and moved it to a 5gal tank with airline and heater only. We treated with antibiotics and didn’t feed for three days. Then started feeding just nori. It survived and got his own 93gal with the powder brown! We also removed the purple because it was getting picked on all the time by Caribbean blue. The purple is in the 93gal. At least we had 2 other tanks and 3 available quarantine tanks to move to if needed. Now only 6 left together in the 300 and all is finally settled down and no more constant agression. We rearranged the rocks several times before moving some. We thought we had planned all the tangs right. 3 of each kind all about the same size some where together in our smaller tanks before the upgrade to 300, but the tangs had different plans! We sure have learned a lot. Every fish is different. Like you said earlier I don’t think my Sohal is very mean but definitely the boss of FO tank. My Caribbean blue is a pain! Thanks for the information.

 

[Balz3352]

Id love to add a yellow and an achilles but i already have 5 tangs who have been playing nice (except for the occasional tussle nothing major) dont wanna mess up a good thing.

Gonna have to wait for the dream tank in a more permanent house.


Currently have blonde naso, Desjardini, purple, pbt, and hippo all added at the same time. Been in there for almost 2 years now. Try to keep them fat and happy

 

[vetteguy53081]

Id love to add a yellow and an achilles but i already have 5 tangs who have been playing nice (except for the occasional tussle nothing major) dont wanna mess up a good thing.

Gonna have to wait for the dream tank in a more permanent house.


Currently have blonde naso, Desjardini, purple, pbt, and hippo all added at the same time. Been in there for almost 2 years now. Try to keep them fat and happy

You May place in your tank.... But just make them the last one. Achilles are known for ick I as a caution

 

[shred5]

My son really wants a naso. i understand they get big. Really haven't decided on the other. i like the purple but they are aggressive. If it was just me a couple of the really small ones. But I'm just the co manager.

Naso would be to big. They get a foot and a half long.

 

[4FordFamily]

Naso would be to big. They get a foot and a half long.

Agree they’re not well suited for a tank fewer than 8 feet wide.

 

[CherBear811]

Great write up! And I agree with everything. I would add that I have found current to be a key factor to keeping tangs happy and reducing crankiness. I hypothesized years ago - about 15 years ago - that since tangs are such wide open swimmers in nature, that perhaps adding a strong current across the front (where corals wont get blasted and they can swim aggressively without rock work in the way) that it might better match their exercise requirements, and with no pent up energy, be less likely to be aggressive. I was also a heavy feeder, not because I recognized a particular need in tangs, I just figured most fish pick throughout the day and should have offerings to replicate that.

So I added a catalina pump (think huge maxi jet style) to my left tank wall, about 2/3 of the way up from the bottom. I put it on a timer to run with the lights and kick off otherwise. The tank had a lot of nature-in-mind flow... pumps set to replicate tides, SCWD replicating waves rolling in etc....

My tangs in that tank LOVED it. My hippo I'd had since it was tiny size, the chocolate was 3-4" when I got him and grew to about 5" and I had a blue eye kole in there as well. They all loved it. The hippo would swim in that current all day long, he'd do somersaults and let the current push him back a ways then swim hard to get to his favorite spot. The others used it too, though less aggressively.

I had the hippo first and added the others at completely different times. I always fed heavily before and right after adding, then lights out. Food again at lights on, which is when the current pump came on, and no problems....

We spend so much time focusing on current for the coral, I think a lot of times we over look that many of these fish will thrive better if given a fish-dedicated front current, something strong that they can get in and swim hard in if they want to. I turned it off for a few minutes at feeding time. My hippo would thump the glass a few times if I forgot to turn it back on. Hahaha.... loved that fish. Btw, none died, I broke the tank down due to a need to move.

I do the same thing today. I have a chocolate, lavender, gold rim and bariene in one tank and a small hippo I bought as tiny growing up in another. Both tanks have tang currents and they all swim in it more often than not. Just like before, my small hippo spends all day in his current.

I plan on switching to icecaps, which I will mount vertically and see if they like it.

 

[shred5]

Tang aggression is not just Tang on Tang. Reading just the first page Tangs killed a blenny, copperband butterfly and a wrasses.
I had a Kole go after my clarkii clownfish, the tang always had spots from getting stung from the anemone. He would of killed them if he could.
He tried to kill my banggai and would if I didn't rescue him. They do not like new additions either.

The smaller the tank the more aggressive they can be.

 

[Art2249]

Agree they’re not well suited for a tank fewer than 8 feet wide.

Will start working on convincing my son about the naso. I will "plant a seed". Don't you think this tang looks cool etc.
Plant a seed and it will grow!

 

[4FordFamily]

Great write up! And I agree with everything. I would add that I have found current to be a key factor to keeping tangs happy and reducing crankiness. I hypothesized years ago - about 15 years ago - that since tangs are such wide open swimmers in nature, that perhaps adding a strong current across the front (where corals wont get blasted and they can swim aggressively without rock work in the way) that it might better match their exercise requirements, and with no pent up energy, be less likely to be aggressive. I was also a heavy feeder, not because I recognized a particular need in tangs, I just figured most fish pick throughout the day and should have offerings to replicate that.

So I added a catalina pump (think huge maxi jet style) to my left tank wall, about 2/3 of the way up from the bottom. I put it on a timer to run with the lights and kick off otherwise. The tank had a lot of nature-in-mind flow... pumps set to replicate tides, SCWD replicating waves rolling in etc....

My tangs in that tank LOVED it. My hippo I'd had since it was tiny size, the chocolate was 3-4" when I got him and grew to about 5" and I had a blue eye kole in there as well. They all loved it. The hippo would swim in that current all day long, he'd do somersaults and let the current push him back a ways then swim hard to get to his favorite spot. The others used it too, though less aggressively.

I had the hippo first and added the others at completely different times. I always fed heavily before and right after adding, then lights out. Food again at lights on, which is when the current pump came on, and no problems....

We spend so much time focusing on current for the coral, I think a lot of times we over look that many of these fish will thrive better if given a fish-dedicated front current, something strong that they can get in and swim hard in if they want to. I turned it off for a few minutes at feeding time. My hippo would thump the glass a few times if I forgot to turn it back on. Hahaha.... loved that fish. Btw, none died, I broke the tank down due to a need to move.

I do the same thing today. I have a chocolate, lavender, gold rim and bariene in one tank and a small hippo I bought as tiny growing up in another. Both tanks have tang currents and they all swim in it more often than not. Just like before, my small hippo spends all day in his current.

I plan on switching to icecaps, which I will mount vertically and see if they like it.

Very true, tangs really do appreciate and need a lot of flow!

 

[CherBear811]

I really want a clown, but the stories of its aggression are legendary. I do employ a lot of ancedotally proven techniques to reduce aggression, mainly heavy feeding, including multiple seaweed locations throughout the daylight cycle to graze on, and heavy flow swimming channels in the front where the tangs swim and exercise most of the say.

But, all of my tangs fall in the mid to lower half of the aggression list offered here, which I think is pretty fair. Wondering what you all think about adding a significantly smaller clown tang, in hopes of keeping it in check from the beginning (I would add with at least one other tang that is still on my add list as well). Anyone used this approach with trying to add a clown?

 

[shred5]

I really want a clown, but the stories of its aggression are legendary. I do employ a lot of ancedotally proven techniques to reduce aggression, mainly heavy feeding, including multiple seaweed locations throughout the daylight cycle to graze on, and heavy flow swimming channels in the front where the tangs swim and exercise most of the say.

But, all of my tangs fall in the mid to lower half of the aggression list offered here, which I think is pretty fair. Wondering what you all think about adding a significantly smaller clown tang, in hopes of keeping it in check from the beginning (I would add with at least one other tang that is still on my add list as well). Anyone used this approach with trying to add a clown?

I not sure how much size make much difference with in reason anyway.
This was a while back.
I once add two tangs at once to a tank and one was one of them is considered one of more aggressive tangs but he was much smaller. I added at the same time another tang which is aggressive but not as much and it was a bigger fish.
I also had a full grown Kole that I had had for many years. Within days the smaller more aggressive had killed the other new addition and then was after my kole till I removed him.

Size didnt make much of a difference for me at least. I think once they are a adult it is that way and not only that they grow.

I have had tangs together that were fine though and on out grew the others or reached a different size and the tide changed. A non aggressive tang became aggressive. Just because tangs get along one day does not mean they will stay that way.

 

[ca1ore]

Finally got around to reading the article ..... is a good summary. The wildcard of course is that fish are also individuals and that can affect disposition. I'm one who has a Sohal horror story. Kept one back in the 1990's and once it grew beyond about 8-9 inches it just went insane. Never again. Since I QT all fish, especially tangs, I've ended up introducing them mostly individually. Fish are very well fed and I use both an acclimation box and an 'idiot' mirror. Even so, every now and then one decides its mission is to kill the newcomer. This happened recently. I was attempting to add a Gem, and the resident purple objected ... strenuously! I bisected the tank with a wall of eggcrate, but ultimately I had to trap and remove the purple. I will attempt a reintroduction in a month or two.

Currently have 11 across my system. Yellow, gem, zebra, Desjardini, Brevirostris (a Naso), regal, and chevron in the main 450; long nose black, rescue liturgis and a small scopas in the 120 refugium; and then the purple temporarily in the frag tank.

 

[OrionN]

We added 11 tangs all at the same time to our 300gal.
Naso, powder brown, scopa, purple, yellow, hippo, dejardini, Caribbean blue, chevron, blue eyed kole, and tomini. All tangs of the same species were about the same size. Except the hippo was the largest of all and still remains the queen of the tank.
Our naso died within a few weeks (unknown) reason no bullying. Our scopa never came out from a cave because when it did the others chased it back into the cave so We moved to our FO tank with a Sohal. We got lucky the Sohal didn’t even care at all about the scopa! Then we removed our powder brown due to bullying everyone. Then one day I found the blue eyed kole very badly beaten up, couldn’t find the tomini. Then the tomini came out of the rocks and was torn up so bad I thought it was nearly dead. I grabbed it with a net and put it into a bucket. My husband came home and hour later and moved it to a 5gal tank with airline and heater only. We treated with antibiotics and didn’t feed for three days. Then started feeding just nori. It survived and got his own 93gal with the powder brown! We also removed the purple because it was getting picked on all the time by Caribbean blue. The purple is in the 93gal. At least we had 2 other tanks and 3 available quarantine tanks to move to if needed. Now only 6 left together in the 300 and all is finally settled down and no more constant agression. We rearranged the rocks several times before moving some. We thought we had planned all the tangs right. 3 of each kind all about the same size some where together in our smaller tanks before the upgrade to 300, but the tangs had different plans! We sure have learned a lot. Every fish is different. Like you said earlier I don’t think my Sohal is very mean but definitely the boss of FO tank. My Caribbean blue is a pain! Thanks for the information.

I thought I overloaded my tank but not anywhere close to what you added to your's

 

[4FordFamily]

I really want a clown, but the stories of its aggression are legendary. I do employ a lot of ancedotally proven techniques to reduce aggression, mainly heavy feeding, including multiple seaweed locations throughout the daylight cycle to graze on, and heavy flow swimming channels in the front where the tangs swim and exercise most of the say.

But, all of my tangs fall in the mid to lower half of the aggression list offered here, which I think is pretty fair. Wondering what you all think about adding a significantly smaller clown tang, in hopes of keeping it in check from the beginning (I would add with at least one other tang that is still on my add list as well). Anyone used this approach with trying to add a clown?

What size tank? What are the current tankmates?

I worry that the incumbent tangs won’t tolerate a smaller, easily to kill tang addiction.

 

[mdrobc13]

I really want a clown, but the stories of its aggression are legendary. I do employ a lot of ancedotally proven techniques to reduce aggression, mainly heavy feeding, including multiple seaweed locations throughout the daylight cycle to graze on, and heavy flow swimming channels in the front where the tangs swim and exercise most of the say.

But, all of my tangs fall in the mid to lower half of the aggression list offered here, which I think is pretty fair. Wondering what you all think about adding a significantly smaller clown tang, in hopes of keeping it in check from the beginning (I would add with at least one other tang that is still on my add list as well). Anyone used this approach with trying to add a clown?

I had one and he did fine until I added a larger PBT who eventually killed him. He was my smallest and added him with my former PBT both at the same time to my 210g and those two got along fine. Then my PBT died suddenly and I got another one and the clown tried to pick on him when 1st introduced. That went on for two days and then stopped and PBT continued to basically ignore him from what I could see. Then following week found my clown tang dead. Figured it was the PBT who had enough of him. But would do another one. Key is QT and getting them to eat first and well then adding to the tank at the right order...it can be done!

 

[citymouse]

Thank you for this info! I was about to finally get a Kole and a yellow tang, to be added together, they are similar in size, give or take and inch, they are "med" and "small/med" according to Live Aquaria. I'm having second thoughts now! I have a 215g tank, currently there are only 2 clowns that I've had four about 8 years, I upgraded from a 75g last year.

I want these 2 tangs, I had read they tend to get along when added together?
I would also like to add a diamond back goby or similar.
I would like a starfish, something easy to care for though. Are Tangs good or bad for these?
What other fish would be a addition? Will the Tangs limit what I can add later?

I also have an old snail and about 10 hermit crabs, 2 big ones and the rest are small. Are these an issue with Tangs?

 

[4FordFamily]

Thank you for this info! I was about to finally get a Kole and a yellow tang, to be added together, they are similar in size, give or take and inch, they are "med" and "small/med" according to Live Aquaria. I'm having second thoughts now! I have a 215g tank, currently there are only 2 clowns that I've had four about 8 years, I upgraded from a 75g last year.

I want these 2 tangs, I had read they tend to get along when added together?
I would also like to add a diamond back goby or similar.
I would like a starfish, something easy to care for though. Are Tangs good or bad for these?
What other fish would be a addition? Will the Tangs limit what I can add later?

I also have an old snail and about 10 hermit crabs, 2 big ones and the rest are small. Are these an issue with Tangs?

Kole and yellow should generally get along if added together.

Starfish and tangs don’t quarrel you should be good there and with CUC as well

 

[Elgringodiablo]

How are black tangs generally? I am likely removing my 5” desjardini due to aggression issues and plan to add a 2-3” black tang and 5-6” bandit angel at the same time.