tang selection and 300 gallon reef

Hey i'm in the process of setting up a 325 gallon reef and i have a few questions. First of all the amount of fish seem like alot. Also i'm having trouble finding a good number of tangs that won't fight. Will the purple and the yellow be a problem in a large tank like this and is the clown tang going to be a problem. Also has anyone here kept two dwarf angels with success. Are copperbanded butterfly a good choice for a reef or are they just trouble. Thanks for any input.


1. Yellow Tang
2. Hippo Tang
3. Purple tang
4. Clown tang
5. Copper banded butterfly
6. Flame Angel
7. Coral Beauty
8. Green Mandarin
9. Royal gramma
10. Firefish goby
11. Flame Hawkfish
12. 2 clowns
13. 6-line wrasse
14. Watchman goby
15. 6-8 blue green Chromis or Anthias

[Birdlady]

Hi Adam!

Welcome! I have gotten lots of help here! It' s a great place to call home!

First, let me say, I am jealous that you have room for such a great size tank!!!! I am stuck with space only for a 60 gallon . Best of Luck! And people here will give you the best Advice!!

Second, everything I have read or heard, indicates that a copperband's natural food is Coral polyps. Anyone else on that one wanna put their 2 cents in???

Lastly, read, read, read, and come here with questions!

[reefman_MC]

Here's my thoughts on your list. First of all the mandarine shouldn't be put in until the tank has been running for at least a year.

Try not to put any angels in until you have some experience under your belt, but if you really want one just go with the coral beauty.

The butterflyfish is a bad idea. As birdlady said they will eat your coral polyps.

Yellow tangs can be rather mean. Most people I know who have kept them end up getting rid of them. If you decide to go with the yellow anyway, don't mix it with the purple. They will fight to the death. Clown tangs get more and more aggressive as they grow, but in a tank that large you could pull it off if you add him last. I love hippo tangs.

Other than that your list looks great to me.

[amcarrig]

Your question is a bit broad but I'll do my best to try to help. Tangs tend to not like other tangs that share the same body shape (conspecific). For example, the purple and yellow tang of the "Zebrasoma" family have similar body shapes so they would probably fight with each other more than with any other fish in the tank. It would be wise to add these two fish at the same time and be sure that one is significantly smaller than the other. Same goes for the hippo and clown tang.

As for your other fish, I wouldn't add a mandarin until the tank has been set up for at least 9 months.

Angels are nice but can nip corals. Coral beautys are somewhat safe but there are no guaranties when it comes to fish behavior.

A hawk fish will eat any and all shrimp that you may decide to add to your system. You might want to rethink that fish or look into a longnose hawkfish which has a better reputation.

Anthias are difficult fish to keep as they need to be in both a non-aggressive and non-competitive environment due to their feeding requirements. They need to be fed very often and won't accept flakes.

[Funkify360]

I have a 55gal reef with a Sailfin Tang, Atlantic Blue Tang and a yellow Tang. The sailfin had the tank to himself for a couple of months untill i bought a Atlantic Blue and a Yellow tang. The Atlantic Blue is about twice the sailfins size because of how mean the sailfin is. The yellow thang is small, but they get along great now It took a couple of days though. I suggest an Atlantic Blue there awesome!

[RAVEN]

I have a Copperband and its doing well. They are definitely iffy in a reef tank. Mine was a return to the store from a guy that had it in his reef tank for a year until it developed a taste for corals and really did some damage to his tank.

As far as tangs go, your asking for trouble with clown tangs, yellow tangs and purple tangs in the same tank. Each of these are very aggressive and territorial. They may do ok when small but when they get big all bets are off.
Stay away from conspecifics as stated above. I have a large purple tang and an equally large hippo in my 120 and they spar every now and then. The purple tang tends to be a bully as well. I'm sorry I ever bought him!
Good luck and I'm already envious of your tank.

[Blade_Runner]

I have a mix of 3 Yellows, 1 Hepa and 1 Blond Naso in my 300. No problems and plenty of color and movement.

[Blade_Runner]

Not another old thread topped up...

[Bruce]

Originally Posted by Funkify360

I have a 55gal reef with a Sailfin Tang, Atlantic Blue Tang and a yellow Tang. The sailfin had the tank to himself for a couple of months untill i bought a Atlantic Blue and a Yellow tang. The Atlantic Blue is about twice the sailfins size because of how mean the sailfin is. The yellow thang is small, but they get along great now It took a couple of days though. I suggest an Atlantic Blue there awesome!

Wow...thats a very small tank for those fish. The sailfin tang it self prolly does best in a 100+ tank...and thats even a bit small...i might think about upgrading ur tank before the fish get 2 crowded

[RAVEN]

Lol!