blue tang question

harrypotter41

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Dec 3, 2003
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Hi all again,
We're starting up a fish only 110 gallon. I'm "trying" (operative word trying) to do this tank for my wife pretty much. Soooo, she has to have a few of the fish from Finding Nemo. I know, I know, it's silly, but I told her I'd bounce it off you guys/gals. This resource here is invaluable. I'm looking at starting with a pair of percula clowns and 2-3 tiny or small blue tangs thereafter at some point. I've read contradicting statements about blue tangs being together. These will be the highlight of the tank, with everything else being a wrasse and goby here and there if even that. Keeping it simple. Any words of caution or optimism prior to this endeavor?

thanks as always,
casey
 
im not 100%sure, but i think most people would say no more than 2 tangs in a 110 gallon tank, some might say one but i think 2 would be ok IMO. i do kow that if you are going to get a blue tang, cleaner shrimp are a must. mine looked awful untill i got 2 skunk cleaners. the get ich very easy. mine didnt have any problems with the clown when i had it with them. i rarely got to see my blue tang, he was always hiding under rock, playing dead, and would only move about if there was no one in the room. then i got a yellow tang just a little smaller than the blue, from that point on they have roamed the tank as a pair. you have to have some sort of cover for the tangs to hide in also, without any cover they will be constantly stressed and nothing but a big ich magnet. i know live rock is exspensive, but i would invest in it. the more live rock i added to my tank the more my fish would swim freely. kinda like they knew that they could hide at any given secound instead of having to swim for a spot to hide. my blue tang has a habbit now of harrasing my hermit crabs. when hes out swimming he will find a hermit on the rocks and rubb aginst them untill they fall. its kinda weird to watch, at first i thought he was getting a case of marine velvet again. i think he just likes to cause a little ruckus in the crab world.
 
One tang.
Tangs are notorious for fighting when kept in even numbered groups- and you haven't room for three.

The 110 is a 48" tank, right?
So one adult blue tang would be pushing it. You know how large they get, right?
 
thanks guys, I guess I'll be getting 1. I just want the "tiny" size that's indicated from liveaquaria.com. The susceptibility to ich does worry me though. That may end up being a detourant I believe.
 
The problem, harrypotter41, is that the tiny fish most emphatically don't stay tiny. That just means that they are babies. ;) If you look at the maximum size listed on liveaquaria, that is the full grown size, give or take a bit.
 
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