Whats this obsession with Tangs

[mort]

I think the problem with this thread is the word obsession as it's the word everyone is focusing on. If we said why are tangs a must have fish then I don't think it would be such vehemently opposed.
For me I just don't find them the must have fish. I can understand why people like them but there are other fish I'd rather have in their place. The problem is that so many people love them that they want to collect and defend them. Again I understand this as if it was a thread about damsels or dottybacks I'd be sticking up for them.

 

[Paul B]

What a weird thread. To big, ich magnets, aggressive, It annoys me and I don't have time for it so I am just going to feed my whale shark now.
He doesn't get ich and is not aggressive. He probably would be but he can only fit his head in the tank and his tail is resting on my TV.

I like this thread better. No arguing.

 

[MamaGreenFish]

I

 

[Greybeard]

Lots of us have seen something like this in nature... Makes tangs seem a pretty important part of the reef

 

[Paul B]

It also makes us know that they are by far the most common fish on the reef.

 

[1stNoel]

It also makes us know that they are by far the most common fish on the reef.

Blondes, brunettes, and redheads are pretty common. I still like them all.

 

[thatguyZach]

In all honesty it's just preference. Like many others have mentioned here and what I like them for personally is their ability as a work horse for eating algae, and their multitude of potential colors and movement and different personalities. I have a regal, purple, and yellow eye kole in my 120 and they get along great and play with any other fish i have introduced and eat anything I put in the tank. Even new fish they get along with. I'm not a qt kind of guy (dont scold me now) but I have not had any issues with any of my fish once they get past the initial infection of ich. I cant imagine a reef tank without one unless it's a small reef, because let's be honest here, the first thing most the population thinks of when they see a reef on TV or in person are tangs!

 

[hart24601]

You're not the only one that doesn't get the appeal. I mean they are nice enough, and I can see having one for utility algae eater but really most seem to be not well suited for aquarium life with the amount they travel but folks go nuts for them. Guess I'm lucky to not get the tang bug.

 

[Tjm23slo]

I’m not sure why Damsels get such a bad name. There colorful, small, hardy, active and at any moment you could have a full on Jerry Springer episode. Above all they keep my clowns in check.

 

[sarcophytonIndy]

I like tangs, but I like other fish too. Below is my mixed 125 with a variety of fish, and only five tangs

 

[D E N I N O]

They have colour, they eat algae, diverse in shape/colour but also extremely common in fish stores. Bang for buck, they are a decent choice for most aquarists.

 

[Diznaster]

I wouldn't consider myself obsessed, and I'm feeling quite lucky now that I realize my Kole hasn't caught the inevitable case of ich yet. I thought it looked cool, it wasn't expensive and my system can support it. My general assessment of this fish are:

It is very active and constantly swimming everywhere.

It does a good job cleaning off rocks, but I don't have enough nuisance algae to feed it so I need clip sheets often. Maybe my rocks would be clean without the tang, but feeding sheets isn't hard.

It does take some huge poops, my system is designed to remove detritus and that isn't a problem for me but could be a problem for others.

It often tries to eat other fish's poop, but then spits it out. That is a little gross but also kind of funny (to me at least).

It follows around my Ruby Head Wrasse like a lost puppy, which obviously annoys the Wrasse. But the Wrasse is a bit of a jerk so that mostly makes me laugh, and it probably stops the Wrasse from picking on the others because he is busy trying to get away from his annoying sibling.

It is aggressive towards my 3 foot long glass cleaner/scraper. I have no idea why, it the only thing it is aggressive towards. It makes cleaning the glass a little harder because I don't want to hurt it while scraping and it is attacking the scraper. It doesn't attack my hands or any other similar tank tools.

All things considered from my experience I would not advise against getting a Kole Tang (If the system could support it).

 

[1stNoel]

It often tries to eat other fish's poop, but then spits it out. That is a little gross but also kind of funny (to me at least).

My fish cropdust each other quite a bit. It is a little funny.

It is aggressive towards my 3 foot long glass cleaner/scraper. I have no idea why, it the only thing it is aggressive towards. It makes cleaning the glass a little harder because I don't want to hurt it while scraping and it is attacking the scraper. It doesn't attack my hands or any other similar tank tools.

You sure it's not the algae it's going after? My Naso follows me as I scrape the glass and nibbles up any algae that scrapes off.

 

[Diznaster]

You sure it's not the algae it's going after? My Naso follows me as I scrape the glass and nibbles up any algae that scrapes off.

Yeah it's not using it's mouth, it's hammering the scraper with the scalpel tail. I'm usually laughing at the absurdity.

 

[ReefOn55thDubai]

We all like big active colourful and useful fish.
Tangs are all of the above.

Another group that is really useful is Wrasses, but...
Although several wrasses can match or even beat tangs when it comes to coloration, they do have downsides too.
Some of the wrasses that grow nice and big, will also make sure that you cannot have any snails, shrimps and worms in the aquarium. Some also nipple on your clams.
If tang posts are number 1 on this page, I’m betting that horror stories about “psycho” wrasses are number 2 or 3.

Damsels (except Clowns) have little personality, and Anthias needs to be fed constantly, and neither of those 2 really add utility like Tangs and Wrasses.

I prefer my livestock to be beautiful and serve a purpose.

"Hey you forgot to mention Gobies!"
No I didn't. I love Gobies because they have personality in spades, can be rather colourful, even though territorial not as aggressive as Tangs and most of them also serve a purpose in your tank. They are however only active near the rockwork or the sandbed, and don't really add movement to the watercolumn

 

[1stNoel]

Yeah it's not using it's mouth, it's hammering the scraper with the scalpel tail. I'm usually laughing at the absurdity.

He's sharpening his death blade!

 

[SeaDweller]

Did I stumble onto a thread on RC or R2R?

Tangs are active and beautiful. Plus they’re utilitarian in reef tanks. They graze, seldom mess with corals, and poop a lot. In my 240 I have 9:
Achilles
Sohal
PBT
Purple
Yellow
Desjardini
Hippo
Tomini
Chevron

The largest one is the chevron at 6” and hasn’t grown any more for the past 6+ years. The smallest are the pbt and tomini at about 3” (had them for only a few months) and the rest average 4-5”, and haven’t grown either. I’ve had each one since they were about 2-3”. They’re fed 4-5 times a day, heavily. So they’re definitely not outgrowing my tank, they’re definitely not super aggressive or murderers as most people make them out to be. Yes they chase one another occasionally, yes they pick on new fish and that stops after a couple of days. Completely stops.

I feel there’s a lot of misinformation on tangs, and bad info on that other site. Exercise caution and remove one or some or re home them if need be, but one thing I do agree with strongly is a large tank, like 6+ ft cuz they can zip up and down my 8’ tank in a couple of seconds flat.

Oh and there are 20 bartletts anthias and two remaining bimacs in there too!

 

[vetteguy53081]

They are hardy and colorful. In many cases, schoolers that ate graceful in nature.
They are reef safe and not expensive opposed to angels and other larger fish.
While some can be jerks , many can be very peaceful

 

[Craigdoc]

Maybe it's because I'm English to but I was just thinking the same thing when I was on the UK forum, I think the problem is the word obsession has been used and like most thing when an argument kicks off people hold people to the exact words that are used without actually using a bit of common sense and think well he obviously didn't mean obsession, I don't think obsession is the right word I just think what is all the fuss about with them but it's each to there own, for me there like caged lions going backwards and forwards, but that's in there DNA as they cover vast areas, something they can't achieve in our systems so the only way they can do this is by constantly swimming back and forwards.

I 100% agree with what @BornHandy said about having to look for things in our systems, I love fish that hide and you might only see them once or twice a day, kinda makes it feel more natural to me, my system is a very natural one, a bit kinds dirty looking so natural is what I go for, big fish don't appeal to me but that's just my opinion.

Royal grammas are my favourite fish, there colourful and interact with the tank and rock work fantastically well, there cheap as chips and very common so in my opinion there very underrated for that reason.

Lots of people enter the hobby being told by books and the Internet that they must have a tang, these people want tangs before they've even looked at other options because seemingly that's the sign of an impressive tank with an impressive fish.

Just my views though, if you like tangs then you like them, if you don't then you don't, I don't dislike them I just miss what all the excitement is about them.

Peace out people

 

[Isabel’s Hobby]

I think that it is a good thing that we all don't like the same stuff. What one loves another of us don't. Isn’t that the same with everything....cars houses colors food etc ?
I Love my Tangs so you don’t that is totally fine....write about the Fish you love. I think we all can learn from the post’s here not only about Tangs but other fish and corals as well
For me I agree with prior posts .....colors and size and most definitely they’re Charakter ...my naso is my fave she is funny and eats out of my fingers