purchasing a kole tang

[Mappelbaum37]

I am removing my flame hawk from my 75 gal. tank bec. I want to start adding shrimp and other inverts. He hasn't been fully convicted of the crime of killing a cleaner shrimp, but he was found with an antenna in his mouth, so the evidence is strong.

Anyways, long story short (too late) since he will be taken out I want to replace him with a fish that will naturally help the tank. I've been having brown hair algae problems for quite some time now, and I was just at my friends house and his kole tang picks at those rocks more then I've ever seen a fish graze before. Its a very ferocious grazer!

So then it hit me, maybe the kole my friend has will do just as good a job on my green (more brown if anything) hair algae... Does anyone have an answer as to whether or not a kole will help with hair algae?

Thank you

[plyr58]

I don't know about hair algae, but I know they supposedly eat cyano with no side effects. I can tell you that between my kole tang and my fiji foxface I have absolutely 0 algae in my tank of any kind (other than in the overflow where they cannot get to.) Theya re incredibly entertaining to watch swim, but I think they eat algae smaller than HA, as in mine leaves mouth prints on the glass when it gets a little algae on it.

[Mappelbaum37]

Sounds cool. I was a little concerned about my friend's kole tangs behavior. It looked like it chased his coral beauty around a little and would sometimes look like him and the desjardini tang were going to fight. I'm sure since the kole tang would be one of the last fish added he wouldn't fight with the coral beauty of yellow tang I have. But other then the territorial aggression thing it looks REALLY active. At the store it's in a little box in the tank so its got no where to swim so it doesn't look active, but I'm sure it really is.

thanks

[herostar]

I've been looking at a Kole tang for my tank as well... Anybody have any other experiences with them? Are there any differences between the one's with stripes v. spots? yellow-eyed?

Thanks!

[Mappelbaum37]

I read that the kole (yellow eyed) tang is aggressive toward other tangs. Will he have problems with my yellow tang? I dont think my yellow tang would fight with the kole tang, but would the kole end up being aggressive toward the yellow tang? Even though the kole would be one of the last fish added.

[kudora]

i have a yellow eyed kole and i have been very happy with my choice. he gets along with every fish i have(i dont have another tang) but chases the algae blenny sometimes when i put the nori on the clip.

[GoldStripe]

I've had my Kole for about 8 months and am surprised at his agression. Not sure if it's just territorial or what but he would go after my starry blenny constantly. Eventually the blenny starved to death because the Kole wouldn't let him eat. As soon as he came out from his hiding spot the Kole would be after him bad! I have a Hippo tang who is just slightly larger whom he doesn't mess with at all. Since the Kole I've added a bicolor pseudochromis and he hasn't messed with him at all. This past weekend I added a copper banded butterfly who he was quick to go after at the start but not so much now. They still have the occasional skirmish but the Kole is not out to get the butterfly I don't think, definitely not like he was with the blenny. I'm sure every fish will be slightly different. Heck I've got a old large goldstripe maroon clown who's a sissy IMO

[Ed Reef]

My Yellow-eye Kole gets along with both my yellow tang, Powder blue but hates my Purple tang for some reason?? Also never notice him eating HA

[Costazul]

My Kole is peaceful includes other tangs but for any reason they don't like bennies. Yes it will eat the HA all day long on rocks, sand and glass...

[asm481]

Had a Kole Tang. He starved a Lawnmower Blenny, harrassed a scooter mercilessly, chased my Neon gobies constantly. All this and it was friends with my fire fish. Seemed anything that lived on the rock was his enemy. Traded it back to LFS for a Tenneti Tang.

[tbar]

Sounds like they don't like Blennies for sure. My algae on the back glass was gone about two days after getting my Kole. I would think that a Yellow might be aggressive towards a new Kole in a 75. I'm planning on getting a Flame Angel soon and hope the Kole will be okay with that. Some day I probably willl get a Hippo but don't think that should be a problem.

[qfrisco]

My Kole Tang is definitely one of my favorites - very cool looking fish. It gets along very well with our Lawnmower Blenny, but the Kole was added after the Blenny.

Just the other day, the Lawnmower was on the sand bed looking out the front of the tank, like he loves to do, and the Kole comes over and takes a couple bites out of his side - just like he does when taking bites of algae from the rocks. I about had a heart attack thinking the Kole was attacking the Blenny, but the Blenny didn't swim away and rather just stayed there not concerned about anything, until the Kole was done! :-)

[goldmaniac]

your yellow will fight with the Kole
Kole tangs are one of the least aggressive tangs, but wil still fight. I removed mine and tossed him into the refugium when I added a Convict Tang 2 weeks ago because I was sure the Kole would have harassed him constantly.

I'm hearing more and more accounts of Yellow Tangs being aggressive, too. In my experience, the Yellow I had fought constantly with my Purple Tang, and then would hide if I got within 6 feet of the tank. Not the best traits.

I think you need to expect some fighting between any two tangs in a 75b gallon. That said, I bet things would calm down eventually. If any new tangs are slightly bigger than the current tangs, I've found that's the best way to level the playing field between/among them.

[Mappelbaum37]

I have no problem with getting a hippo tang later on to balance things out goldmaniac!

I have been planning on getting the hippo tang, but I knew since I dont have a quarintine tank, it's almost an absolute ich situation that I don't feel like tampering with.

I have a feeling the kole is a little more hardy then the hippo for some reason.

I also feel that since my yellow isn't really aggressive to new additions there would be no problems. Every case I've heard is of the kole tang being the bully. But the coral beauty and yellow tang (only one's who would starta a fight) are already established. I find it rare that a new fish would bully fish that have been in the tank for a while now.

[goldmaniac]

it all depends on their sizes. good luck, sounds like you know what you are going to do.

[Mappelbaum37]

Thanks goldmaniac. I'm going to TRY and catch the flame hawk today. He's a quick one though. Ill post an update at the end of the day.

Thank you

[MikeL152123]

I had a small Kole tank in my 55 before i tore it down and it was awsome. Very active swimmer and grazer. Beautiful fish to look at too and fun to watch.

[kudora]

Originally posted by asm481
Had a Kole Tang. He starved a Lawnmower Blenny, harrassed a scooter mercilessly, chased my Neon gobies constantly. All this and it was friends with my fire fish. Seemed anything that lived on the rock was his enemy. Traded it back to LFS for a Tenneti Tang.

lol my tang leaves my firefish alone also just doesnt care for my blenny. dont think the blenny will starve tho since he eats flake plus he goes for the nori when the tang is on the other side of the tank.

[macronut]

I removed my Kole as he harrassed my orange back fairy wrasse. Strange as they were in the same tank when purchased and were cruising along together quite peacefully then, after several months in the tank the Kole just harrassed the wrasse. He did a pretty good job of eating various algae in the tank, but I think if you want good herbivore a foxface is a good addition. I've not had one in my tank, but heard they will consume most algae and leave your tank clean. However, just like the Kole each fish has a different personality.

[tpb31]

I love my Kole and I haven't had any problems with him harassing any of my fish, even my other tangs.

[Mappelbaum37]

Well I went to the LFS today and saw a BEAUTIFUL powder brown tang. The kole was lookin awesome as well. 2 questions though

1) the powder brown tang wouldn't do as good a job on algae as the kole tang would, right?
2) the kole tang's color was less brown on his tail and face, but darker brown on his body. This doesn't mean anything, right? He was swimming and grazing in the tank, nice and chubby as well. But when he grazed on the sand, I couldn't tell if he was rubbing himself or picking at the sand. From what I saw he didn't have ich. Probably nothing.

Last off topic question... I have 216 watts of lighting. It's a T-5 nova extreme lighting fixture. There was this amazing clam that I wish I had a picture of that was medium size and was $90. It was labeled DAROSA CLAM. the guy there said it's a risk but it can slip by in my tank if I put it higher in the tank, not in the sand bed. Is this a false statement. I was SO close to getting the clam. I have a $20 credit there that I either want to put on these pink polyps they had, the clam, the powder brown or the kole. I know in the end though I'm gonna end up with the kole.

Sorry for being off topic.

Thank you though

[OceanSpray]

Your already in love with the Kole...just haven't admitted it to yourself yet. My Kole has been in my tank with a yellow for close to 3 years now with no problems. MY kole is hands down my favorite fish. He never hides, and is always grazing on the rocks. For the most part he has never bothered anything. He did chase a flame hawk around the tank for a week or so, but finally accepted him as well, and then left him alone. Best of luck with your choice!

[xJake]

The kole tang in the tank I care for is a big softy. He hides until I put food in the tank and then is out and about all day picking leftover bits off the rocks and grazing on any nuisance algae that may have developed. He's never bothered anything else in the tank although most of the other fish are scared of him (except for the CBB). If the kole tang comes by they all go zooming to their hiding spot until he passes. He eats pretty much anything I offer and is out and about most of the day. I have almost no nuisance algae so I guess he probably helps with that as well.

[Mappelbaum37]

I hate making decisions like these. I will prob. end up with the kole just like oceanspray said. (this guy knows me better then myself! ) I hate being this type of guy, but I dont want 2 brown looking fish. Maybe sometime in the future I'll get a powder brown, but I think this time it will be the kole. It wont be for a little bit though, but I will put a deposit on the kole just to be safe. I am getting a new protein skimmer and apparently I'm in for a micro bubble issue, so I dont want to stress the kole out anymore then he has to be. Once the micro bubble issue with the new skimmer is resolved, I'll add him into the tank.

Thanks for the replies everyone. More experience/advice/stories are free to join in.

[onad75]

I just added a yellow eyed kole tang to my tank last weekend and IME this tang is the best algae eater compare to the other tang I've had (chevron,purple). Right now I have Atlantic blue, powder blue and i dont see any problem with them so far.