To tang or not to tang?

[Lps_lover12]

My tank is 4ft by 2ft wide and 16 inches tall, 73 gallon total system volume is 100 gallons. Currently in there I have:
Pair of clowns
Royal gramma
Pin tail fairy wrasse
Mccoskers flasher wrasse
Pair of flame hawks
One spot foxface
Red lined wrasse

in qt I have:
Exquisite fairy wrasse
Radiant wrasse

so I will have 11 fish in total and want to add a tang, would it be ok in there? I was looking at the white tail bristletooth and read mixed reviews on them if their peaceful or agressive. I could sell the exquisite wrasse but I don’t think that would make much of a difference. Anyone think this would be ok or should I not get the tang? Currently there’s no aggression going on, except for my royal gramma bugging my clowns at night time. I’ve never had a tang before so not sure how they act

 

[blaxsun]

A small one (1) would be ok. I love mine - he gets along great and is fairly oblivious to everything (other than occasionally toppling over my favorite coral).

 

[Lps_lover12]

A small one (1) would be ok. I love mine - he gets along great and is fairly oblivious to everything (other than occasionally toppling over my favorite coral).

Do you mean as in I’d have to rehome once it grows up? Or just get a baby one and let it grow

 

[divewsharks]

Mine, which has been in the tank about 5/6 years. Has only had temporary issues when i added a new tang to the mix. But was temporary.

 

[blaxsun]

Do you mean as in I’d have to rehome once it grows up? Or just get a baby one and let it grow

Nope, as the only tang it should be fine. The bristletooth are on the smaller size when full grown.

 

[Lps_lover12]

Nope, as the only tang it should be fine. The bristletooth are on the smaller size when full grown.

Awesome thank you

 

[Lps_lover12]

Bump

 

[OrionN]

Your tank has the footprint of a standard 120, which is a great size tank.
I think one of the smaller species tang should be OK in there. Fox face may get a little too large for your tank. I would not worry about aggressiveness of the tang, if he and the fox-face are the only tang like fish. (Exceptions are Clown, Sohal or Achilles Tang, they get too big for your tank anyway)

 

[Lps_lover12]

Your tank has the footprint of a standard 120, which is a great size tank.
I think one of the smaller species tang should be OK in there. Fox face may get a little too large for your tank. I would not worry about aggressiveness of the tang, if he and the fox-face are the only tang like fish. (Exceptions are Clown, Sohal or Achilles Tang, they get too big for your tank anyway)

Well I had the tang for 9 days and it was eating super good and actively out swimming. I woke up this morning to find it dead, any idea why? There were no signs of disease or anything im just not sure if this sometimes happens with tangs or if there was a underlying cause I didn’t see

 

[OrionN]

Well I had the tang for 9 days and it was eating super good and actively out swimming. I woke up this morning to find it dead, any idea why? There were no signs of disease or anything im just not sure if this sometimes happens with tangs or if there was a underlying cause I didn’t see

What species? How big? Where did you get it? What about the rest of the fishes and corals?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Well I had the tang for 9 days and it was eating super good and actively out swimming. I woke up this morning to find it dead, any idea why? There were no signs of disease or anything im just not sure if this sometimes happens with tangs or if there was a underlying cause I didn’t see

Sorry to hear.
How was fish acclimated and for how long?
Any noticeable aggression from any other tankmates?
When found - any damage such as shredded tail , mouth open ?

As asked- what type of tang and any signs of heavy breathing, loss of appetite?

 

[Lps_lover12]

What species? How big? Where did you get it? What about the rest of the fishes and corals?

It was a white tail bristletooth, 4.5-5.5 inches, I got it from candy corals who I’ve never had any issues with and it was all alone in a qt tank

 

[Lps_lover12]

Sorry to hear.
How was fish acclimated and for how long?
Any noticeable aggression from any other tankmates?
When found - any damage such as shredded tail , mouth open ?

As asked- what type of tang and any signs of heavy breathing, loss of appetite?

I floated the bag for 30 mins, checked salinity matched and put it in, it was shipped to me overnight so I wanted to get it in quick. It was all alone in a qt tank and I did notice some of its fins did look a little chopped up and it has some stringy stuff coming off of it. It was a white tail bristletooth, no signs of heavy breathing and was eating like a pig yesterday

 

[AKL1950]

How long was QT set up and running. Possible ammonia or nitrite issues.

 

[OrionN]

It is really hard to say. I would test everything you can and see if there is anything out of range. If all negative, then we can’t really determine much.
Other than that, I guess we must chart it up as stress due to capture and transport. It is a mature fish so capture and transport is harder on it than young fish
Normally Cyanide poisoned fish just wastes away even if they eat well. You don’t see them fat healthy and died
If your fish is thin and emaciated then it is due to starvation and organ failure. They just run out of reserve. If you fish is not emaciated then it must be latent or internal infection that is not obvious.
Better luck next time.

 

[AydenLincoln]

So sorry to hear! Bristletooth tangs are amazing!

 

[Lps_lover12]

How long was QT set up and running. Possible ammonia or nitrite issues.

It was set up for about a year

 

[vetteguy53081]

I floated the bag for 30 mins, checked salinity matched and put it in, it was shipped to me overnight so I wanted to get it in quick. It was all alone in a qt tank and I did notice some of its fins did look a little chopped up and it has some stringy stuff coming off of it. It was a white tail bristletooth, no signs of heavy breathing and was eating like a pig yesterday

The problem with dshipped fish is you want a turnover of at least twice the water volume to equalize salinity and PH and fish in shipped bags produce carbon dioxide and ammonia. The carbon dioxide lowers the pH of the water in the bag, That in turn makes the ammonia non-toxic to the fish. When you acclimate them, if not done just right, you drive off the carbon dioxide faster than you are diluting the ammonia. That raises the pH of the water in the bag, and that in turn, makes the residual ammonia toxic to the fish.

 

[OrionN]

After 9 days I don’t think it is ammonia poisoning, especially if the fish is not in distress for the last 9 days.

The difficulty to determine here is the OP said the fish was fine and eating like a pig right before he died.

Description of the fish and his behavior before his death is really important here

 

[Lps_lover12]

It is really hard to say. I would test everything you can and see if there is anything out of range. If all negative, then we can’t really determine much.
Other than that, I guess we must chart it up as stress due to capture and transport. It is a mature fish so capture and transport is harder on it than young fish
Normally Cyanide poisoned fish just wastes away even if they eat well. You don’t see them fat healthy and died
If your fish is thin and emaciated then it is due to starvation and organ failure. They just run out of reserve. If you fish is not emaciated then it must be latent or internal infection that is not obvious.
Better luck next time.

The only thing out of wack is my nitrates, they are up over 50ppm. Would this cause the fish to die? It’s my fault for that but I don’t know if that can kill a fish