Well i have a problem....im addicted to tangs. I want to keep a powder blue tang and a yellow tang together in the same tank. the tank is 90 gallons with 90 lbs of live rock. any and all opinions are more thank welcome! thanks
powder blues need huge amounts of swimming room from what ive read - more than the average tang, you could keep the yellow tang though depending on your skimmer and sump set up
Well i have a problem....im addicted to tangs. I want to keep a powder blue tang and a yellow tang together in the same tank. the tank is 90 gallons with 90 lbs of live rock. any and all opinions are more thank welcome! thanks
My opinoin is that it depends on what you have in the tank aswell as the size fo the tangs. Persnolly I would not keep any tang that is bigger than 4-5 inches in a tank that is 48" long. If the tangs are smaller than that they will be fine untill they reach that size. Also note that the tangs would have to be QT'd and put in the tank at the same time. This will help reduce any agression towards each other.
yea i have read many places that recommend a tank of a minimum of 100 gallons for the powder tang and 70 for the yellow tang. and yes my tank is 48' long. they would really be the show pieces of the tank though, with very few tank mates.
yea i have read many places that recommend a tank of a minimum of 100 gallons for the powder tang and 70 for the yellow tang. and yes my tank is 48' long. they would really be the show pieces of the tank though, with very few tank mates.
I had 4 tangs in one of my 55's, a purple, sailfin, mimic and powder brown. They were all fine, I did eventually took the mimic and the powder brown out.
Currently I have the purple and the sailfin along with a foxface and flagfin in that same 55. I will change them to bigger tanks once they outgrow the tank.
Just keep an eye on them so you can see how they behave. Thier behavior will tell you exactly what they need or when they have outgrown the tank.
ok... well if you can have 4 in a 55 then i should be good with 2 in almost a 100. I hope they stay happy, because by the time they would outgrow the tank, i will have already fell in love with them...and there is no way i can afford to get an even bigger tank. that will be a few years. cross your fingers
If you cannot afford to upgrade the tank and have no plans to do so, then it's a completely different situation than locoyo's. He has many tanks and was able to move the tangs around after they outgrew the tank.
ok... well if you can have 4 in a 55 then i should be good with 2 in almost a 100. I hope they stay happy, because by the time they would outgrow the tank, i will have already fell in love with them...and there is no way i can afford to get an even bigger tank. that will be a few years. cross your fingers
Yeah, the tangs are ok as long as you have plans to upgrade the tank to a bigger one or to move then to an already bigger tank. Also note that they are not meant to be there permanent, they will be moved as they get bigger and out grow the tank as they most certainly do. If you get them small like around 2" or so, than you might be able to have them for about 2 years ot or so. After that you are going to have to keep and eye on their behavior as it will start to change once they start to outgrow the tank. also that may take place once they start to reach 4-6" but it depends on the in dividual fish. They will NOT be happy there for their entire lifes, they will have to be moved to a bigger tank most definately.
Yellow tang, kole tang, or scopas tang could live in a 90 throughout their lifespan. It's just the powder blue and other large tangs that need more room IMO. I'm sure there are more that would work than what I mentioned, those are just off the top of my head.
What I have been noticing about tangs is that they are different. Their swimming patterns depends on what species they are. The Zebrasoma are the ones that require less space to swim around in. For exmaple the Yellow, Purple and Sailfin tangs. The Acanthurus, in my opinion, are the ones that required more space to swimm around in. For example the Powder Blue, Powder Brown, Mimic tangs. I would be incline to try a Yellow, Kole, Convict or Powder Brown. They tend to do better when they have limited space to swim in. Do note however that every fish is unique, just like people. If they do not take well to the size tank, and you are not willing to par with them, than any tang might be a bad Idea. If you want to give a shot and hope for the best, than any two of the four mentioned might be ok.
Yellow tang, kole tang, or scopas tang could live in a 90 throughout their lifespan. It's just the powder blue and other large tangs that need more room IMO. I'm sure there are more that would work than what I mentioned, those are just off the top of my head.
Hi there,
The Scopas along with the Sailfin are some of the larger Zebrasoma Tangs, not sure I would leave them in that size tank for their entire lifes. They do well because they are not really open swimmers but they do get failry large at or over 12".
The Powder Blue tang is not a large tang, they only get around 8"-9". They are open swimmers though, that's why they require larger tanks. Which I find weird, because the Powder Brown is not really an open swimmer, which is the same species as the Powder Blue. I think it has to do more so with thier behavior in the oceans.
Last edited by locoyo386; March 10th, 2010 at 01:19 PM.
i appreciate all the help. I'll just get a yellow tang. I really like them, and the one in my LFS seems quite pleased with his 100 gallon tank. i also like the convict tang...that may be an option down the road.
I've heard conflicting opinions on whether or not scopas get that large, thus the recommendation.
Yeah, I asked that question before. I got conflicting answers too. One thing that seemed to be somewhat constant was that if the salwaterfish does not grow to it's full size, than it is mostlikely in the wrong enviroment. Not sure, since all my tangs and fish for that matter, have been doing great.
i appreciate all the help. I'll just get a yellow tang. I really like them, and the one in my LFS seems quite pleased with his 100 gallon tank. i also like the convict tang...that may be an option down the road.
Once last hint of advice, if you do go with the Yellow tang and you think that there is a strong chance that you will get a Convict, than I would suggest you do it backwards. Get the Convict first than later get the Yellow. Reason being that Yellow tangs and Purple tangs get very territorial and are really mean to new coming tangs. I made that mistake, I got the Purple before I got the Convict, and the Convict got killed by the Purple before I was able to get it out. The Convict is a really peacefull tang, thus should be in the tank before the Yellow. Also note that Convicts are one of the tangs that can be placed in groups. Just a consideration if you like. I will be doing that soon, I will be putting a few Convicts in a 135 gallon, and see how they do.
Nate what up!!!! first of all powder can and will dominate tank and for sure will strike yellow down don't know if you know but tangs have on the sides of them is a scissor on both sides of tail they use this in defense it cuts like a razor if the are tempted it is adviced that you only have one tang per tank sometimes you can have two or three but need alot of room the yellow tang as the least aggresive but will let you know when water quality is not to par they are the best for letting you know FYI and secondly I would not do a scopa for sure due to they are the aggresive type also tangs are more vorenable to diesase than most fish so go a different route unless you plan on only having one tang!
ok i'll def give that some thought, its a good idea.
Sounds cool, hope to see pictures or video of that Tangs if you decide to get them. Here is a link to my tank before I rearranged things. This was recorded the same day I added the Powder Bron.
heyy stang!! thanks for the advice!! i've decided just to hold off for a few weeks, until im sure my tank is all nice and ready. and locoyo386 your fish are beautiful!! how big is your tank? i noticed that you had a HOB filter. how is that working for you?? i have a eheim pro wet/dry canister (the biggest one they make) and....it does nothing for mechanical filtration, it just has those little balls as the media. do you think i should add something? the manual says you cant use any other media but whats in it. So i dont know what to do. i attached a floss sleeve around the intake of the filter to see if it would help, and it has been collecting a lot of brownish dirt. but i cant leave the sleeve on there forever, as it looks really bad.
Hey Nate!! What upppp!!! Okay your wet and dry filter can be mechanical as well bio balls are for nitrafying bacteria that grow in them to rid waste from fish such as ammonia and nitrites so in a filter such as yours on return sump you can put carbon or what ever phosphate remover. Just bre sure not to obstruct return pump use egg crate it's used for interior lighting you can buy it at HOME DEPOT to place in front of pump if you need too. You can do alot with a wet and dry!
locoyo386 your fish are beautiful!! how big is your tank?
Thanks, this is one of my 55's.
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i noticed that you had a HOB filter. how is that working for you??
Yeah, I have two of them on each 55. They are working great so far. I like the HOB a lot since they are really easy to maintain. In fact all my tanks are still running with HOB. I am starting to look into setting up a sump I just finished building. I will be running in it in one of my 55's to see how well that works out.
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i have a eheim pro wet/dry canister (the biggest one they make) and....it does nothing for mechanical filtration, it just has those little balls as the media. do you think i should add something?
I have no experience with canister filters, but if you can add some type of poly-fiber media to it, it should be fine for mechanical filtration.
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