blue tang question

[harrypotter41]

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

 

[jessie]

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.

 

[Cearbhaill]

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?

 

[harrypotter41]

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.

 

[benjen]

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.