Tang Battle!!

[iwantone]

Why risk a fight when there are so many fish to choose from other than tangs??

[Jessy]

Good thread as I hope to have a powder blue tang with a yellow tang in my 90. Looks like the best bet is to toss them in at the same time.

[Diver Dan]

Cuz tangs are like the rulers of the reef! They are swimmers fighters and even makeup the majority of the reefs prisons!

Punchline Hint:
Convict tangs!
Ba Dump Cha!
I crack myself up!

[jacksandgo]

There are fish other than TANGS???? j/k

Why risk a fight when there are so many fish to choose from other than tangs??

[DaveMorris]

I have a scopas and a yellow. As soon as I can find one that looks healthy and is the right size, I will be adding a Naso to the mix. My yellow was first and when I added the scopas tang they fought for about three days. No visible damage, just harasssment going both directions. Now they get along fine. I have a 135 so they have a little more room, but sometimes it just takes a little time. My cats did the same thing.

[jacksandgo]

Scopas tangs are nice, Dave. The Naso should get along fine with the others, but will be outgrowing that tank in no time once you add it. You're going bigger, right?

A blond Naso tang would sure hit the spot for me, but alas, I need to wait till the next tank upgrade in a year or so. Six tangs is enough for now in the 360, and it'll take a bit of skill and lots of luck to keep them civil till they're moved into bigger quarters.

My tang list, in order of attitude:
Sohal
Powder Blue
Purple
Yellow
Sailfin
Blue (Regal)

[iwantone]

I hope to have a powder blue tang with a yellow tang in my 90. Looks like the best bet is to toss them in at the same time.

Dear Jessy! You'll start crying the second your tangs get scuffed. Powder blue's are pretty hard to keep. I just got a purple tang from tricity for 65 bucks and am rescueing it from lateral line. There was another 3 incher there as well that needs to be saved.

[Mustangdan23]

good luck on the toss in, I never even thought they would have probs, well bad idea, well diver dan got the PBT so no more fighting, think I will get a butterfly of some sort.

[DaveMorris]

"Powder blue's are pretty hard to keep."

I disagree. I have had several at different times and never had any difficulties at all.

[jacksandgo]

Alrighty, let's talk Powder Blue Tangs. C'mon guys and gals, share your tang experiences here.

I think most would agree the key to PBTs is getting a healthy one that's eating nori and prepared foods. After that, they're pretty easy to keep if you've got the setup for them. Yeah, they're prone to ich, but not any more than a blue tang. Since something like 90% of PBTs are dead within the first month, it's obvious most never survive due to the stress of capture, shipping and being unable to adapt to eating once in the tanks. Yeah, they starve to death. The ich issue that most attribute to their death, well, that's sort of secondary because they're weakened. Throw them in copper/cupramine and wave goodbye to your fish at that point, too. It's a no-win situation.

Maybe just as important to their health is they need lots of swimming room, and keeping them in anything less than a 6ft tank is not going to work very well in the long run. The bigger the tank, the better.

On a personal experience note, my PBT, like most, swims constantly around the entire tank and loves it. It's not stressed at all, it just enjoys racing around the tank. If there's enough light to see, it's swimming full tank, circular laps! The only time it stops is to grab a few bites of nori. It's one fat fish, too, which is pretty funny. All my tangs are fat little piggies.

"Powder blue's are pretty hard to keep."

I disagree. I have had several at different times and never had any difficulties at all.

[Jessy]

Good advice. I was planning on making sure that the tang ate at the store before I bought it. Then QTing it, and feeding it the ich fighting cocktail before it even started. The only thing is, I only have the 24 gal AP for my QT. I feel bad keeping it in there...but I think QT in a 24GAL AP is better than no QT at all right? and I do have only 4ft of tank in my 90, but I am hoping the fact that the rock isn't touching any of the walls, it will allow the fish to swim in a racetrack all around the tank, offering 12ft of swim space. Am I wrong? Plus my rocks have at least 3 big pass throughs in them... He can go figure 8 three times before he makes it to the end .

Alrighty, let's talk Powder Blue Tangs. C'mon guys and gals, share your tang experiences here.

I think most would agree the key to PBTs is getting a healthy one that's eating nori and prepared foods. After that, they're pretty easy to keep if you've got the setup for them. Yeah, they're prone to ich, but not any more than a blue tang. Since something like 90% of PBTs are dead within the first month, it's obvious most never survive due to the stress of capture, shipping and being unable to adapt to eating once in the tanks. Yeah, they starve to death. The ich issue that most attribute to their death, well, that's sort of secondary because they're weakened. Throw them in copper/cupramine and wave goodbye to your fish at that point, too. It's a no-win situation.

Maybe just as important to their health is they need lots of swimming room, and keeping them in anything less than a 6ft tank is not going to work very well in the long run. The bigger the tank, the better.

On a personal experience note, my PBT, like most, swims constantly around the entire tank and loves it. It's not stressed at all, it just enjoys racing around the tank. If there's enough light to see, it's swimming full tank, circular laps! The only time it stops is to grab a few bites of nori. It's one fat fish, too, which is pretty funny. All my tangs are fat little piggies.

[jacksandgo]

A PBT is probably gonna feel cramped in the 90g. I'm sorry to say that, because I know you want one pretty bad. If you got a fairly small one, you could put 'em in there for a few months then upgrade down the road.

The PBT I have came from a 125g tank, but it was a tall one and only 5' in length. The owner said he felt bad for it because it seemed the tank was too small as much as it loved to swim. I think that's pretty common.

Your rock work will be a good thing. They'd love the figure 8 swimming pattern.

You can probably get away with it for a few months, as I said. Might think twice about a second tang though, in that size tank. Wait till you upgrade again, and then get another tang so you can add them together.

Quarantine is a good thing. It'd be ok in the 24g for awhile. Give it a chance to rest up. Just feed it really well and get it all fat and it'll be fine.

[Jessy]

Sounds like a plan. I am looking for the smallest one I can get and gonna stuff that baby like a thanksgiving turkey. ... I might just take your advice about no more tangs in the 90 if I get a PBT. Other than fighting issues, would there be swim room issues as well?? I want a PBT so bad, I might just give up every other fish to have it....ok maybe not that bad, but I'd definately be willing to hold off on another tang if that is the general advice.

A PBT is probably gonna feel cramped in the 90g. I'm sorry to say that, because I know you want one pretty bad. If you got a fairly small one, you could put 'em in there for a few months then upgrade down the road.

The PBT I have came from a 125g tank, but it was a tall one and only 5' in length. The owner said he felt bad for it because it seemed the tank was too small as much as it loved to swim. I think that's pretty common.

Your rock work will be a good thing. They'd love the figure 8 swimming pattern.

You can probably get away with it for a few months, as I said. Might think twice about a second tang though, in that size tank. Wait till you upgrade again, and then get another tang so you can add them together.

Quarantine is a good thing. It'd be ok in the 24g for awhile. Give it a chance to rest up. Just feed it really well and get it all fat and it'll be fine.

[jacksandgo]

Yeah, I'd hold off on another tang at the very least. If you can find a PBT at the pet store that's been in cupramine for a couple weeks and is eating, you'll be miles ahead, with a shorter quarantine period and probably a healthier fish. But honestly, the best ones to buy are from locals who are selling their livestock or just that fish. They do come up occasionally, and they're worth the wait because they're already accustomed to tank life.

I keep nori in my tank, rubberbanded to a piece of live rock, all day and evening until the lights go out. Snails eat any excess left overnight. If the nori's eaten during the day, I replace it with another piece or two to get them through the evening when the lights are still on. Tangs like to graze all day. That's their character. My rule is if the tank is lit, they've got nori available to graze. And they still eat algae off the rocks.

Regarding the fish stores, just make sure they SHOW you the PBT eating! I was told in the past by a LFS, that I trusted, that a PBT they had was eating. I bought it, and it wasn't eating at all. Every food I tried was ignored. Food would just drift by it in the tank and it was clueless. It's not pleasant seeing your fish not eat, then finally getting it to eat, but it's too far gone and starves to death.

[Jessy]

PK has two instock. One that he said isn't doing too good, and another one 4" that is doing good, eating...but then I told him I have a 90 and he was like....no PBT for a 90... ...plus it was $60-$70.. That's kinda expensive.

Yeah, I'd hold off on another tang at the very least. If you can find a PBT at the pet store that's been in cupramine for a couple weeks and is eating, you'll be miles ahead, with a shorter quarantine period and probably a healthier fish. But honestly, the best ones to buy are from locals who are selling their livestock or just that fish. They do come up occasionally, and they're worth the wait because they're already accustomed to tank life.

I keep nori in my tank, rubberbanded to a piece of live rock, all day and evening until the lights go out. Snails eat any excess left overnight. If the nori's eaten during the day, I replace it with another piece or two to get them through the evening when the lights are still on. Tangs like to graze all day. That's their character. My rule is if the tank is lit, they've got nori available to graze. And they still eat algae off the rocks.

Regarding the fish stores, just make sure they SHOW you the PBT eating! I was told in the past by a LFS, that I trusted, that a PBT they had was eating. I bought it, and it wasn't eating at all. Every food I tried was ignored. Food would just drift by it in the tank and it was clueless. It's not pleasant seeing your fish not eat, then finally getting it to eat, but it's too far gone and starves to death.