My Purple Tang, and my thoughts on care and tank size...

[Pallobi]

Ok, I jus thought i would write up a little peice about my Purple Tang cuz he is so awesome lol... I got him about 1 month ago, very skinny, malnourished and not taken care of really at all other than some kind of algae flake every so often... He was kept in a 30g display tank for nearly a year from what I undertand the LFS owner told me. He said he looked fine for a bit but the price I know was a bit high as he had him listed at $180 to sell him for... as he sat, the worse he got from lack of nutrition... he was very skinny, had head rot, and one heck of a case of lateral line disease... I convinced the owner to let me take him at an incredible discount w/ my store credit and let me have him to keep so he wouldnt jus end up dying and I get him back in shape...

For 10 days he was held in my 20g high QT tank, isolated and treated with cupramine, as well as given fresh water dips daily for a few mins at a time... I also had the salinity lowered to 1.009 over the first couple days, and raised to 1.023 over the final 48 hours... I did not keep him my usual minimum of 14 days as I felt he was doing incredible... I fed him (1) 3" x 3" vitamen enriched Nori sheets, enriched mysis, omega one protein flakes, and spectrum small pellets... even after 10 days in my QT with minimal flow and such small quarters, he look about 100 times better, and I m gonna say if 100% is full health, he went from 20% or less, to 70% or so in jus those 10 days... his color, and his girth (which was still thin), had improved greatly... also, his head rot and lateral line had clear up particulary well and the color had come back even in the afflicted areas quite well...

I moved him into my 75g after his quarantine period... he is now at about 95% now and i only say that becuz you can still see some marks that are filling in and healing still due to the lateral line and head rot... Also he has really fattened up alot, and is doing extra well with the flow and oxygen levels in my tank... He is extremely active, aware, and he eats an incredible amount of food... I believe in smaller feedings, many times a day as a rule of thumb. With him, he gets fed at least 5 times a day, everyday... and is now given a 4" x 4" peice of Nori almost everyday, not quite everyday... and the rest of his diet consists of the same he got in QT, jus more cuz my system can handle it, as my QT definitely could not...

This brings me to a couple things I would like to talk about in particular about my fish... Now, I am NOT the tang police, but I want to say a few things in regards to MY tang, and how I, MYSELF feel about in MY standard 75g... and how I feel about the amount of food my tang, and all tangs should be fed in general...

First the feeding... I read alot about how people only feed their fish (and I only mean those who keep tangs) once or twice a day, and a limited amount, and even those who feed once every other day as many actually do... I am not sure these folks truely understand the value of nutrition in their tang's health... these fish have VERY high metablism, and burn energy at a very high rate given they are housed properly with the flow and oxygen as lack of either will affect the fish's overall health greatly, and especially slowly over tiime... I have personally swam with groups of wild yellow hawaiian tangs for upwards of 2 to 3 hours at a time, jus hanging out snorkling all morning through the reefs... These fish, do not stop picking at algae and seaweed and whatnot ever... it is a continous thing that happens every few moments, non stop, all day... and our captive held tang's of all species are exactly the same... if your tang is not completely rounded off, and fat, then they are being under nourished, and it will only affect them in the long run... Luckily, I feel like i have the system to support this amount of feeding easily, and is one of the reasons i only keep a few fish... His health is very important to me and I am not willing to compromise his nutritional needs jus cuz some people may not do the same... which is a shame really... the key is more so not to give him anything that he wont eat down all at once and within a minute or two... well, the 4" square of nori usually last about 30 mins, but he eats it all and none of it goes to waste... Again, a tang's nutritional intake is very crucial for their health, even if one may think he looks jus fine otherwise... Don't be afraid to feed your tang, it will appreciate it greatly...

Ok, now I want to get into MY tang's house size... I have a standard 75g, 4 foot in length tank... you would read a thousand sites out there saying this size is fine, and a million posters out there who keep tangs in the equivalent, meaning a standard 90g in volume or less, or any tank for hat matter that is 4' long with a 18" depth... height means nothing to tangs... they would prefer and infinite amount of space jus deep enough for them to have a couple inches on the top and bottom, than a tank without this and all the depth in the world... again, i am not the tang police, or am i telling anyone what to do... but i am telling you right now, my 75g, which is the same size i have seen people stuff 4 or 5 tangs in is not nearly enough room for this guy (remember, a 90 is the same thing basically minus a couple inches in height)... these fish are part of the the zebrasoma genus along with yellow tangs, scopas tangs, and black tangs, and are some of the overall smallest tangs there are and still will reach 7" or more in captivity... and they need alot of room... I am not happy with his housing situation at the moment, but i have done good by him and he is much better off than he was. However this does not mean I can settle on this being permanent for him, and will do everything I can to make sure I supply him with something more practical for him...

These are my thoughts on properly caring for my Purple Tang, not necessarily telling anyone else how to care for theirs, though i feel it could definitely be some food for thought...

if anyone would like to learn more about my system setup, thoughts, and methods... you can find it here...

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2005317

[skidoll]

I like your writeup about your purple tang! It's interesting, I am in the same situation with my new purple tang. She lived in a display in the LFS for over a year, with severe HLLE. Like scars, so severe! I was able to get her for 50% off, because of the bad HLLE. One month of being in my tank and on a diet practically identical to yours, she's fattened up, voracious appetite, and is my little piggy. Im proud to say her face is getting darker in purple color. Before, it was so white and indented. Do you think they'll ever fully recover, or is the scarring permanent?

Im glad you made it your mission to help this fish! I totally understand. There's nothing better than knowing you're easing the discomfort (well, a 30g display would be considered discomfort, in my opinion!) lol

Good job!

[Mental1]

I adopted a 10 year old purple tang from a friend who decided to get out of the hobby. I also adopted his pair of clowns who are also 10 years old and their RBTAs. I have a pretty big system but my 180 is full, the clowns could not go in there nor could the tang. Both of my display tanks drop into a 55g in the basement which was full of macroalgae. Well, I decided to move the macroalgae to a 75g tank from which water is pumped back upstairs. I put the clowns and the purple tang in the 55g -- I call it the geriatric tank. The tang is fine. I watched him for a while in my friend's tank and realized he was healthy but not crazy busy -- I assume a function of his age. My friend was only feeding a couple of times a week. The fish looked healthy but the gut was kind of dimply and he looked thin -- I like my tangs fat and round. I feed all tanks once a day -- sometimes the 180g gets a second feeding. I let the glass build up algae because a lot of the fish like to eat that stuff -- it gets a thorough clean about once a month.

There are many different ways to keep animals alive and thriving. You just need to figure out how you do that. I only keep the smaller tangs. I had a lieutenant for a little while in my 180g. I did not feel the 180g was a big enough tank for that fish. I will never have any of the bigger tangs unless I get a bigger tank. But that's my opinion. Bottom line -- I have fat round healthy tangs but I only feed once a day.

[Pallobi]

Originally Posted by skidoll

Do you think they'll ever fully recover, or is the scarring permanent?

Good job!

I think they will, it jus might take some time and some patience...

and thank you! for the kind words...

[dibeezy]

I have a standard 150 ( 5x2x2 ). I have a blue tang and a sailfin tang that are both babies. Lots of swimming space and caves large enough for even a full grown yellow tang I suppose. I'm with you! Keep Tangs out of tanks under a hundred gallons IMHO. I bought my tank with Tangs in mind as well as a clown pair w rbta. I also have a school of chromis, bout 9 to be exact and I want a few more Tangs and anthias in there. Is that too much you think?

[Pallobi]

I do not want to offer my opinion on that or any "tank sizes for tangs"... the purpose of my post was to strictly talk about my own tang, a zebrasoma genus, and how i felt about my own housing conditions... I have no opinion on any others care... jus wanted to share my own opinion, on my own tang, in my own system... if I start commenting on others and yours, its gonna send this thread in a direction it was not intended to go...

I'm sorry if this isnt the response you wanted, but we all know how these things can get outta hand on here... again, i jus wanted to share my opinion on my own... feel free to PM me for any other sort of opinions and i would love to share them with you

with all due respect... Neal

[jcw]

you went from 1.009 to 1.023 in 48 hours?

so much for what i know about hyposalinity.

[Pallobi]

well, im not sure I know enough about it either, but thats what i did, and it worked fine lol...

[syrinx]

I don`t worry too much about taking a week to raise salinity. Fresh water dips afford no acclimation, and fish often have to go from a pet shops 17 or 18 to the aquarists 24 in a hour. There is no harm in doing things as carefully as possible though.

[dibeezy]

Originally Posted by Pallobi

I do not want to offer my opinion on that or any "tank sizes for tangs"... the purpose of my post was to strictly talk about my own tang, a zebrasoma genus, and how i felt about my own housing conditions... I have no opinion on any others care... jus wanted to share my own opinion, on my own tang, in my own system... if I start commenting on others and yours, its gonna send this thread in a direction it was not intended to go...

I'm sorry if this isnt the response you wanted, but we all know how these things can get outta hand on here... again, i jus wanted to share my opinion on my own... feel free to PM me for any other sort of opinions and i would love to share them with you

with all due respect... Neal

Wasn't trying to clog your thread. But your right about thread direction going crazy. Good write up tho. You did a nice fish justice IMO. Bravo

[Pallobi]

Dibeezy, plz dont take what i said the wrong way, you werent clogging my thread at all, and i appreciate the time you took to post and read my posts.. very much actually... i jus know what happens when we go "there" lol...

again, no clogging assumed

[jcw]

Originally Posted by Pallobi

well, im not sure I know enough about it either, but thats what i did, and it worked fine lol...

If it worked with a sensitive tang, that's got to count for something.



How did you get him to eat, or was he already eating at the LFS, just underfed?

[Pallobi]

Originally Posted by jcw

If it worked with a sensitive tang, that's got to count for something.


How did you get him to eat, or was he already eating at the LFS, just underfed?

true that

and he was eating like a pig from the get go...

[Pallobi]

and yes, underfed very much... as well as oxygen deprived and absolutely no flow (basically)...

[aandfsoccr04]

Why did you choose to go with a 8 bulb light instead of a 6 bulb?

[Pallobi]

the added light and ability to add more spectrum and intensity... and the coverage... i keep the light about 4 to 5" off the waters surface and I have alot of sps only a few inches off the bottom or even half that, and there is no defficiency in light as they all do very well and are very well colored (well except the ones that came in under colored that are now coloring up)... the coverage is excellent... very happy i got the 8 bulb...

[Korrine]

How fast do purple tangs grow? Any other experience or reading on that?

[sanchoy]

Originally Posted by Korrine

How fast do purple tangs grow? Any other experience or reading on that?

Mine grew very very slow. Had it for 5 years probably grew 1 inch max.

[Korrine]

wow!

[gweston]

Thanks for posting your experience! Awesome to see that people care so much about their fish like this.

When my favorite Midas Blenny got sick, I did -everything- I possibly could to baby that fish back to health. And I succeeded. The poor thing lost most of his sight, and I manually hand-fed that sucker in the quarantine tank for a few months straight. He went from being nearly blind and completely unable to swim, to his normal active friendly self. His vision returned as well! I'm glad I hung in there. I considered the clove oil/euthanasia route, but refused to give up on him. A key factor of his survival is that he is a heck of a PIG. Even at his worst state, he still ate well.

Keep up the great work. I also like your perspective on tang feeding. I feed multiple times a day myself. Though I don't have tangs right now, I tend to direct feed each fish, to make sure they get a good filling. It certainly is a lot of extra work and takes time. But. The fish are fat and happy. The tank doesn't get quite as much of a nutrient load as I am not broadcast feeding the tank.

[skidoll]

I was just thinking how small my purple tang is compared to my kole tang. My kole is bigger than my purple, and I'm fairly sure the purp is much older (since she lived in the fish store so long) maybe that's just the way purple tangs are?

[sandworm]

my purple tang eats everthing i put in the tank, including a yellow watchman goby.

[Pallobi]

Originally Posted by Korrine

How fast do purple tangs grow? Any other experience or reading on that?

this is my first purple... but i have kept blue tangs, yellows, scopas, chocoalate or mimic tangs, vlamingii, and convicts... if fed well and kept right as far as flow and oxygen, they all seem to grow pretty fast cept the zebrasomas as in yellow, purple and scopas, as i never thought they grew quick... but again, dont let this be misleading, they need room and LOTS of food imo...

[Pallobi]

Originally Posted by sandworm

my purple tang eats everthing i put in the tank, including a yellow watchman goby.

odelay! lol... well its not funny... i had a 4" harlequin tusk the first couple weeks i had my purple in the display, and within a week, he was bullying the tusk, and those fish are no push overs... purple are very very very aggresive... no doubt about it... they get comfy very fast, and will not tolerate ANY newcomers after that... jus imo, but well known as a "fact"...

[Pallobi]

Originally Posted by skidoll

I was just thinking how small my purple tang is compared to my kole tang. My kole is bigger than my purple, and I'm fairly sure the purp is much older (since she lived in the fish store so long) maybe that's just the way purple tangs are?

again, i think the zebrasoma genus genuinly grow slower... but require jus as much food and space...