tangs mate?

[saltwaterlover]

my tangs have been chasing after each other for hours now and they are not bothering no one else. they do this funny chasing thing like smell my butt and swim sideways,but still chase after each other.they been in my tank for almost two months and i still don't know if i have a female tang one is lager than the other someone answer this one for me because im puzzled? <img src="graemlins//confused2.gif" border="0" alt="[confused2]" />

 

[richard rendos]

first of all tangs are very territorial. so a small tank like a 55 is probably why they are posing to each other. as for male/female, i don't know if there is a way to tell the difference.

 

[frankl15207]

If there is a significant size difference, it is most likely territorial submission by the smaller one. You don't indicate what type of tangs they are.
It would be a first for my 30+ years of saltwater fish keeping, but maybe you're lucky. I've yet to see two tangs of the same body shape not end up in a death match in the same tank.

 

[jim672]

saltwaterlover,
How big is your tank? If it's a 55 as Richard mentioned, your problem is tank size, not male/female. As you're now finding out, tangs are very active swimmers and you really need a 75 gallon tank for one tang....for two tangs to be comfortable you'd want 125+. Your tangs may have been okay in your tank up until now if they were small when you purchased them. I'll assume in the past two months they have grown and they may, now, be experiencing overcrowding.
Be very careful here. Tangs that are stressed by overcrowding are likely to begin showing signs of an ick infection. Before this happens and you have a full-blown ick epidemic, take one or both of the tangs back to your lfs.
Jim

 

[mini-reefer]

As far as mating I have never heard of it being possible in captivity.
As far as keeping two tangs together, I've heard thats not possible either. Just dont tell my yellow tang and purple tang that. They have been best buddies for more than a year and a half now in three different tanks. I just recently got my 72 cycled with live rock and put the two in on monday. They love it! They are in and out of every crevice and hole they can find. So as far as the two tang rule, I dont buy it, but maybe I'm lucky.
Mini-Reefer