So anybody have long term success with Clown tangs?

[Dearth]

Ironically I was just talking with a friend of mine in the states who runs a few SW aquariums in his home and he has both the Sohal and Clown tang in separate tanks and says that he has lost quite a few Clowns to a disease called hole in the head disease thought he was joking at first but he told me that even with best of care these guys can develop the disease lovely fish to look at but difficult to raise.

His Sohal on the other hand easy to care for never no issues with disease but nastier than hell has killed several wrasse and severely injured his prized red tailed Trigger fish and even bit my friends hand hard enough to draw blood.

[DAVE]

I have kept one in my 225g for about 2 years now.

His main competition is a large black tang, but the clown just kind of does his own thing.

[naesco]

Trust me you do not want to get a clown tang. They like Sohols are brutal.

If you decide to get one it is not likely to survive long. For reasons unknown they do well for a while then die for no apparent reason. That has been my experience and also what I have read.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by naesco

For reasons unknown

[kien]

My experience with clown tangs is that they definitely are difficult to keep for two reasons. 1. Their survivability rate is low. 2. They get brutally aggressive as they mature. Certainly it's not impossible to keep them, but definitely more challenging than most other tangs. My last clown tang I had for two years before I had to surrender it to my LFS. It took out a parrot fish and a clown triggerfish and pretty much stressed out everyone else in my tank. I think he just snapped one day because he was perfectly fine (a "model citizen") for a while. Then he just decided out of the blue that he didn't like certain tank mates anymore.

[DAVE]

Originally Posted by kien

My experience with clown tangs is that they definitely are difficult to keep for two reasons. 1. Their survivability rate is low. 2. They get brutally aggressive as they mature. Certainly it's not impossible to keep them, but definitely more challenging than most other tangs. My last clown tang I had for two years before I had to surrender it to my LFS. It took out a parrot fish and a clown triggerfish and pretty much stressed out everyone else in my tank. I think he just snapped one day because he was perfectly fine (a "model citizen") for a while. Then he just decided out of the blue that he didn't like certain tank mates anymore.

One of my biggest fears with my clown tang, and your story is one I have heard a few times before.

[Aquattro]

Two of my favorites, Sohal and Clown, but I would never put either in my tank. Too many horror stories of them killing whole tanks in a day.