Tangs are great, very active and pretty, but if I were doing it over, I'd leave them out. I have a purple and a yellow, and for the amount of feeding, and waste, I think I'd skip them next time. It's not just the size of them, it's how much they eat and excrete. If I removed those 2, I could probably have 20 more small goby - blenny type fish.
Don't get me wrong they are beautiful, and wonderful to watch, but everything in our systems is a compromise.
I agree definitely high bio-load with these fish but herbivores in a reef is a must IME
I like the Pygmy Angels for algae grazing, they are my favorite. I have a Cherub and a Coral Beauty and they both eat algae and pods all day. The Cherub only gets a couple of inches.I agree with the small fish idea. But here's a question regarding Cheek's comment:
So besides blennies, are there any small(er) free-swimming herbivores that would be OK in a 65 gallon that are useful in the algae grazing department? (say max adult size =< 4 inches adult size)
I feed mine Gracilaria regularly and they love it, they don't touch the hair algae though. I don't have any other types in my tank except decorative types.Dwarf Angels graze on micro algae they don't touch macro algae at least none that I've kept over the years and I kept many.
I've had flame angels, bicolors, midnights, and currently a coral beauty. I have never had any problems with my previous angels, I have heard that they may occasionally nip, like my bicolor used to, but very rarely, I highly recommend getting a dwarf, but suggest only one per tank, because they wont get along. Make sure your tank is stable enough first because dwarf angels, especially flames, are known to be doing fine and eating, but then just drop dead, which has happened to a flame I purchased. But honestly man, I cant stress enough of how much I loved my kole tang, and they are usually pretty submissive, and im angry that its nearly impossible for me to get another without stressing out my powder brown.Thanks for the recomendations on the dwarf angels. They're certainly beautiful and I'm surely going to look into them. But I think I've read that they may bother corals? Have you found that to be true? Do they just "pick" occasionally or actually damage or even kill the corals? Thanks - PAT