tangs......

reefjr12

Member
I am setting up my 55 gallon softie tank and I would like to add a tang or two. NOW, before the tang police come after me, I will be upgrading to a 180-240 gallon tank by this summer june or august one of those months as I am in Costa Rica july. Will they be ok in the 55 untill then? The tang(s) I am looking at are.

1.) Blonde Naso
2.) Powder Blue
3.) Palette (blue tang)
4.) yellow
5.) clown
6.) Sohal (sp?)

comments and constucted critisizm welcome
 

1journeyman

Active Member
Tank size aside, Tangs need established tanks to graze in. You will be better off waiting to introduce one after you have larger tank running full speed.
 

jessica47421

Active Member
i have a 55 and i went ahead and tried a tang even though i was told i shouldnt
and it dont work, i would have saved money and a poor fish if i would have just listened.......
 

btb9000

Member
Are you thinking about any of them? Or ALL of them?
You shouldn't be putting all of those in the 180/240. You can get away with any of the first four in any combination of two/three. But the last two (Clown, Sohal), should really be alone.
JMO
 

petjunkie

Active Member
Just wait, everyone says they are going to upgrade and most of the time it never happens or gets pushed back because of cost. Plus you will have to add more rock and let it cure for you larger tank and tangs don't do well in newer tanks with unstable water conditions. Once you get the large tank set up add smaller hardy fish first, then tangs, this will help with aggression issues also.
 

reefboys

Member
As everyone else has said so far, the smart thing to do would be to wait until you've had the large tank established for a while. Then any combination of the first 4 tangs would work. I have kept a Sohal and a Clown in the past and I wouldn't suggest them to anyone who hasn't been in the hobby for a long time and really knows what they're doing. The Sohal is extremely hardy but is even more aggressive. Mine was an absolute devil fish so I'd suggest you stay away from them. Clowns are also pretty aggressive but not quite as much as the Sohal. The problem with Clown Tangs is rarely do they eat in captivity. I was fortunate to get one who took to Mysis Shrimp right out of the bag. So both the Sohal and Clown are kind of a specialty fish that you would have to build your tank around. Good luck!!!
 

j.p

Member
i have had my yellow and blue hippo tang in my tank for a while and they are doing fine and i am upgrading to a 150 soon
but my tangs are only 3"
 

donald

Member
Also add a cleaner shrimp. my cleaner shrimp cleans my tang all the time, it will help control ick and reduce stress of the fish. Also it looks cool.
 

itom37

Member
It's common for people to set up a tank, realize they want a bigger one, and upgrade within a short period of time. It seems odd to me that you plan to set up a 55 for a short period of time and plan to be upgrading. Why not just start with the larger tank?
 

tokey

Member
Please think about the fish 55 is way to small for any of them.
how would you like to live in a closet that's what you will be doing to them.
 
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