If ammonia, nitrates, or nitrites start to wobble, their stress level WILL climb. They require a fully-cycled saltwater aquarium with peak water chemistry. Despite a hardy reputation, many tangs succumb to stress and disease in captivity. It’s something to strive for.īut the average? It’s more like a few years – when it’s not a few WEEKS. And if you maximize your quality of care, you may see your fish live up to 25 years. In their natural habitat, some species of tang live as long as 30 years. And since they’re not the healthiest fish in the ocean, playing it safe works best. What’s the best way to manage that bullying? Usually, limiting yourself to a single tang.Īquascaping a reef tank to divide up territories might work, but you’re taking a risk. And they DON’T have spines to provide defense! You risk starting a squabble when you pair a tang with angelfish or butterflyfish species. If they seem a fish that LOOKS similar, a challenge begins.
Often, the resulting stress (and an inability to seek out food) leads to an unfortunate death.Īnd tang aggression doesn’t stop within their family group. The losing fish is left to dash for the nearest hiding place. They engage in battles with their scalpels. Put those same fish in a marine tank, though, and carnage ensues. You’ll find entire groups within a few fin lengths of each other. In the wild, many tangs cruise the reef together without a problem. It seems strange, especially when any diver can produce pictures of tang shoals. And that goes double (triple?) for members of their own species. They simply don’t tolerate the presence of other tangs in their territory. While you’ll find some variation in personality and temperament, tangs have a reputation for bullying. Symbiotic Relationship: Cleaning Stations.No one said finding “Dory” would be easy. Some species make better choices for a marine aquarium than others.Īnd most of them require a fair amount of experience – if you want them to survive. These saltwater fish present plenty of challenges – and that scalpel’s the tip of the iceberg.īefore you rush to your local fish store to place a tang order, do your homework. However, they’re not the easiest group to add to a reef tank. It’s enough to make any aquarist’s head spin! You’ll find eighty color options in the tang group. The spines work for both defense and offense, making tangs pretty formidable fish. They’re set apart by the presence of “scalpels” on both sides of the tail base. This means the tangs, unicornfish, and doctorfish. The Acanthuridae family includes all of the surgeonfish. A shoal of “Dories” (royal blue tangs) cruising together in the sea
Most people credit the Finding Nemo and Finding Dory movies with inciting the aquarium craze for tangs.īut aquarists thronged over these colorful, disc-shaped fish well before those movies hit the silver screen.
0 kommentar(er)
