Peterpiper

My wife never really liked the seahorses as much as me, and we have been talking about giving them to a friend and getting some more LR then some of the more colourfull and more active fish.
Well it looks like she really wanted some colour, and didn't think of calling me and checking if the fish were ok to get. On her way home yesterday she did a little shopping. 1 Powder Blue Tang, 1 Copper Band Butterfly and 1 Threadfin Butterfly, I nearly died when I saw them, Our friends, who she phoned on the way home, came round to get the seahorses, and had their 6 year old Joy with them. Now Joy has allways loved watching the seahorses, and I know if I said no to them taking them it would have upset her. My seahorses left with them, I know they have a nice cycled tank for them, but I will miss them..
Our friend left, and we started , the fish were in their bags floating in the tank, I was checking the PH,SG etc and after 1hr they were in the tank.
Started to do some reseach OMG.. Powder Blue Tang needs a 90g and we have a 60g. We had seahorses which were doing great. "We" now have fish I know little about. The tang is 4" long, copper band 3" and the threadfin is 2 1/2", the tang and the copper look a little thin, the treadfin looks nice.
We could not Q the fish as our Q tank is small ( for seahorses ) and I know now that marine ich is a problem with the tang and copperband.
Went looking for cured LR this morning, no luck yet. but found a skunk cleaner shrimp ( very hard to get over here, and not cheap A$170. ).
All the fish ate this morning, so thats a good sign.
I know the tang police will come out with all guns blazing, but I am stuck as this LFS has a no return policy ( its not one that I go to ).
Bio load is ok as we had ceramic's in a tub in the shed cycling with ammonia, they were added to the ones in the filter.
We have been planning a 6' x 2' x 2' tank, but it is still 3-4 months away and then it needs 6 months to age....
I could realy do with any advice that people have.. will the tang be ok in the 60g for 9-12 months?

Martinismommy

Congrats on the powder blue......I'll look forward to hearing from the pros on this one because that is a fish I have always wanted!

diver28

I have a powder blue tang and he is maybe 5 inches +. My signature below will also show what else I have and how big my tank is.

The tang really needs swimming space so if you have some room in the 60g it may be ok. Also, if your lucky... and I forget which one gets bigger but either the male or female will stay smaller and thus be ok in a smaller tank. I've had to fight Ich twice already with my current powder blue so you need to keep water quality high and very stable during this transition. I used GVH soak for his seaweed to stimulate his immune system which seems to work. I would give him some seaweed everyday using a clip. I also use Marine Max products to help prevent disease breakout. Cleaner shrimp is a nice addition to the tank.

Peterpiper

Not the best pic's, but here's the new additions

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Peterpiper

We lost the Copperband today, he looked bad from the start. The rest are eating and doing well, all feeding on mysis, dried seaweed and enriched bs. No scratching yet. Fingers crossed

Shawnie

aww peter sorry for the loss of the copperhead..and your seahorses!!! such beautiful fish ...I hope things work well for you!!!

Martinismommy

Bummer! I'm glad to hear the others are doing well though...Is the tang a good eater?

Peterpiper

The Tang has settled in well and eating a good mix of foods. His colours are bright and he is active. No rubbing so fingers crossed.

agsansoo

Your tang will be fine for a year. They grow very slowly. It really sucks about the seahorses. As for the Copperband ... They usually are very picky eaters and have a high mortality rate.