Tang deaths

drblank1 · #1 10/15/2004, 10:00 AM

I have a 125 gallon AGA tank. I did have a yellow, puple, powder blue and hippo tangs for the 6 months. All of a sudden, the purple, yellow, and then powder blue died (or was killed) over the matter of a two weeks. It has been a month now and the hippo is fine. I have lost no other fish, corals, or inverts.

Is a hippo this agressive with other tangs? Was a 125 too small for this many tangs and the hippo finally lost it and went postal? .

I have seen other tank with MANY

tangs in one tank and didn't seem to have problems. I must say that these tangs were added a different times. The hippo was the second to be added to the environment.

Any thought would be greatly appreciate

Denadai · #2 10/15/2004, 01:07 PM

Hi,

I think four tangÂ´s is too much for your tank, because they get big and agressive

But I donÂ´t believe hippo tang killed the others tangÂ´s......hippo is not a agressive tang

I think you had bad luck with them

Roberto

punkroknrol · #3 10/15/2004, 03:18 PM

That's far too many. Let's see, I assume the powder blue and blue beat on eachother. As did the purple and the yellow. The thing is in smaller tangs you have to add either one tang, or one tang from different families. Two Zebramosa's and two surgeonfish will cause problems. Similar sized and shaped tangs are in competition with eacother. Powder blues, purple's and yellow's are all very aggressive, territorial and large tangs.

Terence Trent · #4 10/15/2004, 11:21 PM

In my experience, you probably had too many tangs. About 2 of the smaller species is all I would put in a 125. Sounds like you had a outbreak of some diease. Did you notice anything unusal about their appearance or behavior?

punkroknrol-How is the blue throat faring in your reef?

punkroknrol · #5 10/15/2004, 11:40 PM

Terence,
He's doing great! He is the sweetest most mild mannered doll! He has great personality and is actually very shy. He did eat the cleaner shrimps (I'm assuming, never caught him in the act tho) but has never harrassed, bothered or even looked at another invert or fish in the tank. I adore him!

drblank1-
did these tangs have any sort of markings? white spots? torn fins? lesions? A description of the bodies would help identify the cause of death.

JENnKerry · #6 10/16/2004, 08:07 AM

I agree. Too many tangs for a 125. How did they act towards each other? I know yellows can be pretty mean, and purples and powder blues are two of the meanest tangs.

drblank1 · #7 10/17/2004, 08:44 PM

Terence Trent,

I did not see any disease and did not see any aggressive behavior. When only the hippo and powder were left, I camped out day and night but did not see any problems.

What really makes me take pause is these tangs coexisted for 1/2 a year before any problems occurred.

tahoe98 · #8 10/18/2004, 09:42 AM

I can pretty much guarantee that the blue hippo didn't go postal and kill the others because I have had a good bit of experience with them and they are always shy and non-aggressive. You should have been able to tell if the dead ones were killed or just died. A tang that has been killed by another tang is usually pretty torn up from getting spurred over and over. If they didn't look damaged then it may have been some diesease but with the combination you had in there they probably killed eachother. The yellow and purple should never be combined unless in a large system as they are from the the species and have almost the exact same bodyshape. The powder blue is once of the most aggressive tangs there is so he wouldn't have backed down from fighting either of the others. Let the blue hippo get comfortable for a while then you can add maybe one more. I also have a 125 and plan on putting in a sailfin and a blue hippo.

drblank1 · #9 10/18/2004, 03:17 PM

Is there a general rule to go by on how many tangs you can put in a particular sized system? I am upgrading to a 180 or 220.

paulfromero · #10 10/18/2004, 03:23 PM

Is a hippo this agressive with other tangs? Was a 125 too small for this many tangs and the hippo finally lost it and went postal? .

Hi,

"Postal" is such a backward saying . This is the 21st century! When you think USPS think Lance hehe. Anyways, did you see any symptoms before the deaths? I had incidents of low oxygen level due to an added chemical, and my purples died. The second time, I witnessed heavy respiration, and I was able to save my Yellows with an airstone. The product added was chemi-clean, btw....works, but use with caution.

Paul

tahoe98 · #11 10/18/2004, 03:41 PM

Well you're gonna hear differing opinions about this. Some will say no more than 1 in a 180g depending on the specific tang, others like the LFS I mentioned earlier are keeping 4 in a 180 with little or no problem. One main thing is to stay away from tangs that have similar bodyshapes. Examples are sailfin, purple, and yellow. All have almost the same bodyshape so it isn't a good idea to keep them together. Size can matter also. Nasos, Vlamingi, and Sohals can all get very big even in captivity. For this reason most people will say a minimum tank size of 180 gallons for these fish. Generally nasos and blue hippos are pretty nice to any other tangs. If you want one of these then add them first. Purple, yellow, and atlantic blue, etc. are moderately aggressive. Powder blues and sohals are pretty bodacious so if you want one then you need to add them as the last fish. Of course there are a lot of tangs I am not mentioning but these are some of the most popular. I would say 3 for a 180 and 4 for a 220 would be reasonable numbers.

GreatBarrierReef04 · #12 10/18/2004, 03:52 PM

The Hippo tangs are MILD MANNERED.........Now for the Red Sea Purple...... Mine chases a Annularis Angel that is twice its size and wins the battle every time....... As for a 125 I have to agree with the other guys here that it is way to many..... 1 or 2 at best....
As far as them dying all of a sudden..... What kind of diet are you feeding them....... Tangs require a varied diet to keep them healthy and colorful....... I have a Powder Blue and a Red Sea Purple.... Feeding is as follows...... Twice a day.......

M: Formula2 T: Blood Worms W: Formula2 TH: Formula1 F: Live Brine Shrimp/Formula2 S: Angel Formula SN: Live Brine Shrimp/Formula2

I have had mine for several years.......

Good Luck...
GBR

drblank1 · #13 10/20/2004, 08:59 PM

Paul, I did not notice any stress and my water params are always good (including oxygen). I do not use any chemicals in my system. Only carbon to polish the water.

tahoe98, thanks.

GreatBarrierReef04, I feed a varying diet of Formula 1, Formula 2, blood worms, nori, and Aquadine flake mix soaked in Zoe. They always gobbled-up whatever I put in the tank. I always thought the hippo was very mild-manner. But I'm surprised one of the others did not survive too.

Thanks to everyone for your help. I will limit the number of tangs in the future. I'll probably stay with the hippo and maybe a yellow in the new system. BTW, I ordered a custom 230 to arrive in 3 weeks.

Thanks again.

proenca · #14 10/21/2004, 06:29 AM

i dont get it how so many people can NOT give fresh ( or dried ) algae to tangs. Tangs are full time herbivores and SOMETIMES they eat other foods. But their staple food is algae. If you feed some flakes and pelets that contain a bit of algae, your are puting your tangs in deficientary nutrition, which is not good. specially if your water goes from polution recomended levels to not so up to the par and tangs( and other fishes ) will suffer.

give them a leaf of nori everyday and use the rest as compliment , but use the nori as staple food, not as part of a "rotational" diet.

keept and keeping tangs for ages like this, all fat and healthy

GreatBarrierReef04 · #15 10/21/2004, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by proenca
i dont get it how so many people can NOT give fresh ( or dried ) algae to tangs.

THATS WHAT FORMULA2 IS, OCEAN NUTRITION...........
A balanced frozen food made for algae eating marine fish.......

GBR

proenca · #16 10/21/2004, 03:32 PM

Sorry GBR, I dont trust pellet / flake food. I'm vegetarian, dont like canned food so I dont submit my pets to that too ;-) fresh things tastes better, and I think my wet friends over there agree with me ;-)

GreatBarrierReef04 · #17 10/21/2004, 03:50 PM

No reason to be sorry....... proenca....... I would not feed flake/pellet either.......(Personal opinion: flakes and pellets are not found in the Sea.) Although Formula 2 is the closest thing to fresh without having to grow it yourself........ Nori is good but in my case my Pomicanithus dont eat it just tear it up into pieces so it pollutes the tank because it gets caught in the rock work and I cant get it out.

Best Wishes,
GBR

proenca · #18 10/21/2004, 03:58 PM

Oh... all my angels ate nori. I forced them too ;-) My asfur loves nori, my narvachus was crazy by it ;-) just use the basket method and let them with nori for a few days. hunger is the best training method ;-)

GreatBarrierReef04 · #19 10/21/2004, 04:06 PM

I gave the hunger road a try..... But I have a big heart and love my fish as if they were my children. So I just give in.... I am SUCKER.......

Best Wishes,
GBR

Asfur is a wonderful fish.....Comes from the same region as my Annularis........I have the Red Sea thing theme going.....