School of Blue Tangs?

[exiled_infidel]

Hi

Was just wondering, since ive seen large aggregations of blue tangs Paracanthurus hepatus) among other tang species in the wild shoaling together over lagoon patch reefs, has anyone tried to keep a shoal of blue tangs in, say, a 6' tank?

Blue tangs in singapore seem pretty cheap and it would be awesome to have a relatively empty 6' tank and buy about 10 tiny/small blues and put them in to mature.

Just a thought.

[Achilles Tang]

It's nice to do so... they do shoal well together, especially when they are small and find protection in a school.

Do note that if they feed well and grow larger, a 6ft tank with 10 blue tangs (even if they are the only inhabitants) will change their behaviour due to limited space eg. aggressive fighting from lack of swimming & hiding space etc.

[exiled_infidel]

Hi

10 was just a hypothetical number. But im sure 6-8 would do alright for quite a while. Possibly the whole crowding thing to reduce aggression?

Plus lotsa SPS for the babies to hide in when theyre young. Sure to be a pretty sweet tank!

[Achilles Tang]

Oh.. just to let you know.. the mortality rate for baby blue tangs are quite high. They are fragile... something about their intestinal tracts being too short to process filamentous algae.... i suggest you chop up nori to tiny bits to feed them if you're really going to have a small school.

[acidjazz]

I used to keep a school of 9 blue tangs and 9 yellow tangs in a 6 footer tank.

Even when the blue tangs are all 3 inches - 4 inches it, its still hard to spot them as the tank is simply too huge. For a six footer, you prob need 25 pieces of blue tangs b4 u can see them scooling. If that's what u want, get a super skimmer, preferably beckett or needlewheel (high end ones).