Are tangs worth it?

[ashtonnnnn]

Hey Everyone, I'm planning on starting up a new reef tank sometime this year. I've had two nano tanks over the past decade and have always envied larger tanks for the variety of marine life they could sustain. I'm trying to figure out what size tank will be right for me.

Tangs have always been interesting to watch in the LFS tanks. I love their swimming habits and body form. Their help with algae control would be great, though disease can be a concern.

Having never owned a tang, what might I be overlooking in 'cons' to building a habitat to accommodate at least one? What surprises might I have going from a 10 gallon nano to something 100 gallons plus?

Tang Gang

 

[i cant think]

Lol my fox wont clean my rocks, he only will eat the heck out of the nori. Spoiled boy lol. My tangs pick more at the rocks but also love the nori. My foxface is a big baby, he is the biggest fish in the tank but is a big coward!

Dang, mine love pecking the rocks.

 

[muggle0981]

My tangs are blue yellow belly regal, scopas and orange shoulder tang

Love my blue tang-went from 120g to my 180g avout 3 yr ago

Have had my blue tang for a out 13 years.-probabky 6”-7” long

Is my favorite- but always watching out for signs of stress-being a bully-but fortunately all tangs have been great

Scopas probably 5 yr old and orange shoulder about 6 months

I am paranoid about over stocking a d consider myself maxed out with 11 fish

 

[thomas_neil]

@vetteguy53081 has lots of tangs, he is also a very good source when asking about specific kinds and has wayyy more experience with them than me. Learn a lot from him!

He helped me put together my stocking list for tangs! Very knowledgeable.

 

[OrionN]

While I am not the vetteguy, @vetteguy53081, and disagree with a lot of the things he wrote on tangs, I love my tangs. For a 100-120, I would keep two or three smaller size tang. Yellow or Purple, Tomini or Kole, and Convict would be the ones I would keep in mid size tank like that. Convict can be difficult to get and keep alive initially. Once acclimated Convict are great. Purple and Yellow can be on the expensive side these days.
Best of luck with your tank

 

[Ernie Mccracken]

Tangs (particularly yellow tangs) have always been the quintessential reef fish for me, but I no longer want to keep them in standard hobbyist size aquariums.

IMO, you need a huge tank to make the sense of scale work and give the illusion of a wild reef, not a bear pacing back and forth at the zoo.

 

[Widdlyscudds]

My tomini tang is my favorite fish, he has a ton of personality very reminiscent of large central or south american cichlids and is super fun to interact with. when all my other fish are ignoring me he's watching me intently. I love him so much I'd tear down my entire setup and buy a new system just for that one fish. 10/10 best fish tangs are awesome. side note he's the only tang I've ever owned so I'm far from the most knowledgeable on the subject.

 

[laverda]

I love tangs. Some like the sailfin need an 8' tank minimum, if you are going to keep it long term. I had mine for 26 years. It started out the size of a quarter in a 29 hallon tank. It grew to 14" and would blast from one end of my 300 gallon with a fick of its tail. It also enjoyed swiming in front of my big Tunze pump. It did so effortlessly. Mine was a gentle gaint in my tank.

 

[peterhos]

Hey Everyone, I'm planning on starting up a new reef tank sometime this year. I've had two nano tanks over the past decade and have always envied larger tanks for the variety of marine life they could sustain. I'm trying to figure out what size tank will be right for me.

Tangs have always been interesting to watch in the LFS tanks. I love their swimming habits and body form. Their help with algae control would be great, though disease can be a concern.

Having never owned a tang, what might I be overlooking in 'cons' to building a habitat to accommodate at least one? What surprises might I have going from a 10 gallon nano to something 100 gallons plus?

Hi No bad surprises at all. A great fish that helps with the algae too. Colourful and lively.

 

[OrionN]

I love tangs. Some like the sailfin need an 8' tank minimum, if you are going to keep it long term. I had mine for 26 years. It started out the size of a quarter in a 29 hallon tank. It grew to 14" and would blast from one end of my 300 gallon with a fick of its tail. It also enjoyed swiming in front of my big Tunze pump. It did so effortlessly. Mine was a gentle gaint in my tank.

I would love to see. Picture of him.

 

[i cant think]

Hey Everyone, I'm planning on starting up a new reef tank sometime this year. I've had two nano tanks over the past decade and have always envied larger tanks for the variety of marine life they could sustain. I'm trying to figure out what size tank will be right for me.

Tangs have always been interesting to watch in the LFS tanks. I love their swimming habits and body form. Their help with algae control would be great, though disease can be a concern.

Having never owned a tang, what might I be overlooking in 'cons' to building a habitat to accommodate at least one? What surprises might I have going from a 10 gallon nano to something 100 gallons plus?

Ive also never owned a tang and not had some form of aggression eventually spike up. The only thing making me question ever owning an Achilles is the aggression.
Also the fact that in an LFS you don’t get bored of them easily as you don’t see them every day yet with smaller species it’s easy to get bored when you see them every day, they just fade into the tank.

 

[Chuck_e]

I love my tang gang. Just have to pick the right ones and ones that can go together if you want more than one. Usually recommended to have at least a 6 foot tank to give them room to cruise! Cons would be you cant just feed pellets, they need good quality foods, a supply of nori is always helpful and look at aggression levels. Made that mistake with a powder blue, read all about it and was like nah it will be fine. Was 100% not fine, she killed one fish and almost a second before re homing her. What tangs and set up were you looking into??

Is the Powder Blue the same as the Regal?

 

[littlefoxx]

Is the Powder Blue the same as the Regal?

No, regal is a dory fish

 

[diana2433]

I keep 5 tangs in my 6' 125g tank. My list includes a yellow, tomini, scopas, naso, and a pb. The pb was really aggressive when I first got it but has calmed down substantially since. Fortunately, it really only went at my naso. Which is MUCH larger so the pb didn't do any damage.

Tangs in general are probably my favorite fish. I highly recommend a few if you're up to providing a good home for them.

Where are you all getting yellow tangs? Haven’t they been fished out to the point they are not available?

 

[Rallic]

Hey Everyone, I'm planning on starting up a new reef tank sometime this year. I've had two nano tanks over the past decade and have always envied larger tanks for the variety of marine life they could sustain. I'm trying to figure out what size tank will be right for me.

Tangs have always been interesting to watch in the LFS tanks. I love their swimming habits and body form. Their help with algae control would be great, though disease can be a concern.

Having never owned a tang, what might I be overlooking in 'cons' to building a habitat to accommodate at least one? What surprises might I have going from a 10 gallon nano to something 100 gallons plus?

Lol hmmm I know this purple a$$hole tang is not. The sob beats the fk out of my foxface , clowns, bicolor blem, flame hawk, springer, and fire fish.... killed one of my fires. And he is the new fish ..... purple tangs are flat out the most aggressive fish iv had. My Niger triger I had to move to another tank so it didn't die.

My sales pitch for him will be ..

Sweetie pie purple tang for sale. Loves to hug everything to much is his only downside..... like mice and men he just wants to hold them and hug them and squeeze them until the sleep........forever

 

[littlefoxx]

Where are you all getting yellow tangs? Haven’t they been fished out to the point they are not available?

Biota!

 

[littlefoxx]

Ive also never owned a tang and not had some form of aggression eventually spike up. The only thing making me question ever owning an Achilles is the aggression.
Also the fact that in an LFS you don’t get bored of them easily as you don’t see them every day yet with smaller species it’s easy to get bored when you see them every day, they just fade into the tank.

You sir have not found the correct tang! Lol just kidding thats how I feel about chromis

 

[exnisstech]

I stopped trying powder blues and browns. I can't keep them alive. I keep a yellow and two spot bristle tooth in one tank that has only been up a year. In my oldest tank I keep naso, purple, yellow, convict and hippo. Oldest purple and naso around 7 years or so. All but yellows were grown from small size. The hippo was smaller than his yellow tail damsel tank mate when I add him. I'm setting up a new larger tank now so they'll have a bit more swim room then the 180 they are in now. I have no aggression from any except the silly convict trying to tail smack with no scalpal.
I like fish that interact with me and tangs so that. Many others do as well. I love triggers but I also like inverts.

 

[DIYreefer]

Where are you all getting yellow tangs? Haven’t they been fished out to the point they are not available?

To my knowledge they were never over-fished and the ban was put in place as a preventative to ensure that they wouldn't be. I could be wrong about that, but that seems to be what I recall reading about the ban. Honestly, I never really paid much attention to all of that because I already had my YT. He/she has been with me for many years. I don't recall exactly how many, but I would guess closer to 15 than 10. I have a clownfish that I got before my oldest daughter was born, she's now 17.

 

[ajax969]

LIke most have said, tangs are kind of a staple in the hobby. With my 75 gallon I am pretty limited on options. I think to have multiple tangs and really give them room to thrive you need a 150-180 gallon minimum. Sailfins are my favorite but I don't have the budget or space for a tank big enough to comfortably give them a place to grow.