so my daughter thought she was being nice and she bought me a powder brown tang 3". I already have a yellow tang, a blue tang{paracanthurus}, a desjardinii, a striated bristletooth, and a foxface in there. {265 gal-7 ft long by 2 ft by 30 in. deep} lots of rock. the powder brown is in qt. i am hoping i can fit him in there. any opinions, ideas or comments
how many tangs
- Thread starter monique
- Start date
kbuser92
Breeder
Actually, it should be okay. The general rule I've always heard is one from each genus. You have a Paracanthurus, Acanthurus (powder brown), Ctenochaetus (bristletooth) and 2 Zebrasoma, which tend to be less agressive in my experience. The only thing I would be worried about is your bioload, but you should be okay assuming your tank is established and you don't have much else in there.
oh i have more fish. 5 pj cardinals{ 2 spawn regularly }, coral beauty, eibl's angel,flame angel 2 dragonettes, 2 blennies, goby with his shrimp, 9 zebra dart fish,3 yellow tail damsel{ don't bother anything}, pair clarki's and anemone{spawn reg}, solar wrasse, orange back wrasse, coral, clam,shrimps, crabs,etc. I have had all my tangs for at least 2 yrs. Largest is the bristletooth at about 6" tip to tip. All the others are 5" or less. Actually all my fish exept for the flame has been in there for at least a yr. The problem is- my daughter lives 800 miles away and brought the fish with her. If i cant fit this tang into my system, he's going to stay in a 20 gal qt for 5 or 6 months until I can get him to a pet store that handles salt. Closest one to me is 6 hr drive. My daughter thought she was getting me a great gift. Wasn't aware of the dynamics of a reef tank.
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kbuser92
Breeder
I think you might already be overstocked. That's a lot of fish that need a territory, even in a large tank. Have you been checking parametres regularly?
kbuser92
Breeder
That's 35 fish with your new addition. That's definitely at or above your limit.
i don't think you wil like the way i keep my tank. i have a aquamedic ocean runner OR 2500 on the tank, aquaclear 110 and 4 sicce steam pump # 7 on the tank. I change 20 to 30 gal every wk., and clean my skimmer every 4 days. i feed 3 or 4 times a day. 2 days on 2 days off because of the nature of my work. 2 days home 2 days gone. i clean my filter every 2 or 3 wks and i keep charcoal and phosphate remover in there. i also have a bubble stone on the tank, and a 24" hang on refugium full of cheto. Lights are teszla leds. my corals are growing and my fish are spawning, little or no agression. Mostly just just my bristletooth. He likes to chase the sandsifter once in a while. i do need a substantially larger skimmer though.I dont test my water very often mostly just ph and alk. i don"t have to ajust very often. the tank just seems to stay very stable. drives my son nuts. he lives down south, has a tank and he is constantly adjusting his water. He dosn't get why my tank just chuggs along
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emmett0122
Reef enthusiast
well imo if its no broke dont fix it and it sounds like your tank is doing fine as far as your sons tank how big of a tank does he have
thats my way of thinking. i do the kiss way. my son is into the technical way. his tank is a 125 gal reef and he just went through a total wipeout with velvet. 4 yrs of collecting. GONE So now he's starting over with a regal tang of all things, but he has got him eating so i am crossing my fingers.
emmett0122
Reef enthusiast
wow that sucks to have a total tank lose how all goes well for him one thing i have my self is the less you mess with it the better the tank does. there are so many ways to run a saltwater tank. and as long as everything is healthy and happy then you are doing it right
MitchReef
reef noobie, since 1986
I am impressed. I put a Powder brown into my tank with virtually no other fish at all. Now he is nasty to every fish and I don't even want to consider trying another tang....mine's a 4' 120G
Well this is my absolute last fish. I have some corals I have to permanently plant so when I do that I am going to restructure the tank to get more hight for some of the corals. Thats when the brown is going in. Keep my fingers x'ed . All the other tangs get along well. Swim and feed as a school. He's slightly smaller then the smallest {yellow tang}. I feed lots of algae in sheets and i started using the New Era marine grazer pucks. My fish love those. Took a couple of times but they all go to town now. My clowns even steal them when they can and stash them in their anemone. The pucks don't last as long as the manufacturer said they would but i like them anyways.My fish really like New Spectrum micro pellets too. I feed my dendro with the pellets as well. So I think the agro level shouldn't be to bad as they won't have to fight for food. My fish are all fat. I had fresh water tanks for yrs. Had discus, african cichlids, mixed tropical, and right now I have sevrums in my 100 gal freshwater. They are about 4 yrs old and all i ever do i change 20 gal about once a month and clean the filter at the same time. When i start playing around and make it complicated my stuff starts dieing so I stick with the Keep It Simple Stupid rule.
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Big K
Reefing newb
Damn, your tank sounds badass, Monique!
I have a 350 ga. in my garage that I hope to start setting up next Spring. I hope it does as well.
I have a 350 ga. in my garage that I hope to start setting up next Spring. I hope it does as well.
wow, how could you have tank that big and not have fish in it. Either salt or fresh. When i bought the tank i have now the deciding factor was floor weight capacity. As it was my husband tunneled under the house to shore up the floor joices so i could get this one. DREAM TANK- 10 ft by 30" by 27" deep. But the one I have now is pretty fine. I am finding that you have to be careful in this hobby. You want to get bigger and bigger but it gets too costly. the tank is the cheapest part of the project. $15000. later you still have to pay the hydro bill every month.
Big K
Reefing newb
Yeah... I think you answered your own question! Lol
We are using it as incentive to finish our kitchen and living room re-models. After that I'm shoring up in the basement and building a heavy duty stand for it. We're still deciding what to have in it. The wife really likes Feather Stars so leaning that way.
We are using it as incentive to finish our kitchen and living room re-models. After that I'm shoring up in the basement and building a heavy duty stand for it. We're still deciding what to have in it. The wife really likes Feather Stars so leaning that way.
mariobrothersleeve
squirrel
That's a 4ft tank with a tang? Ho no....... hahahahahahaha
MitchReef
reef noobie, since 1986
I am generally very bothered by the idea of putting fish in a tank too small, even if planning to "trade in" when it gets too big. But at $29 in a 120 with only 2 clowns, he is serving his purpose. As long as he stays chill he stays there.
sorry bout the hijack.
sorry bout the hijack.
I know where you are coming from. $70,000 reno on my house. 17 payments left and i own it free and clear. 3 yrs to retirement and we are thinking about moving and starting all over.
Big K
Reefing newb
Well, I'm doing all the work on it so it's only materials. And time...... LOTs of time.
Thats with doing as much of the work myself that iI could. M husband says I'm scary. My husband is a grease monkey and if he doesn't have a wrench in his hand he is not fixing it. I can read and I am not afraid to try to do stuff myself. Did all my own wiring in the house, tilework and demo. Even did the reframing and installed the bathrooms. Built my own aquarium stand for my tank an let me tell you that sucker is not going to collapse under the weight. I even jacked up and redid the cribbing under my camp that year. I am not afraid to try and if I think I can do it I usually acomplish the project. So if you have a brain that you aren't afraid to use and you are handy you'l get her done. good luck.
