another opinion besides LFS

F

FF Rainwater

New member
i have been working with teh same guy and his shop since day 1 of my first saltwater setup...he seems to be very knowledgable and have been extremely helpful...the tank has been running for a couple of months and looks great...its a 150g tank that will be a reef tank...after a couple weeks i added a couple clownfish which have done great...a few weeks later added a sand sifting goby and an algae blenny...now here in teh last week he told me i was good to go adn could add some tangs but needed to add them all at the same time so i picked out the ones i wanted a yellow, sailfin, blue hippo, and yellow eye kole tang...i dont watn to be adding too much too fast but he said that its good to go....just have to wait another month or so before adding any corals...all fish are doing great in teh tank with no fighting or anythign as of yet
 
Hold on bud, its about to get ugly

tangpoliceGIF.gif
 
Well I agree on adding the Tangs together I would suggest dropping one of those Tangs, as the sail fin and blue tang get rather large and I believe that may be too many for a 150. Also I am not sure about adding more than two at time because of immature filtration, I could be wrong about that though. I have a 210 and wish I added my yellow last or at least with another tang because I have not been able to add any more do to territorial agression.
 
Well, whats done is done. The good new is that you have now found this site and will be able to research a little more in the future. A good option would be to return one or two of the tangs. If you choose not to do that, I think it goes without saying that you are officially maxed out for fish. Make sure you feed lots of dried seaweed on a clip probably every other day or so. Also make sure that your filtration setup is top notch. What are your maintainance plans for the tank?
 
I'd get rid of the hippo the others will be fine but what kind of 150 are we talking about here 4x2x30in? If so Definatly would lose one of the bigger tangs and get some small to medium size fish. If not I would have to agree with the above poster you will be at your limits on fish.
 
well glad i brought it up!! the tank is 72x18x28...i have about 135lbs of liverock in it so far...so if i get rid of the hippo and maybe one of the others i should be ok? he had me under the impression that i would be fine with up to four tangs in a tank that size..and as far as maintance what do you mean exactly? i mean i'm doing weekly water tests and small water changes weekly...im just starting to add all the chemicals he said to use to get it ready for corals in another month or so
 
By maintainence, I pretty much mean water changes. You have a good skimmer and good flow and are monitoring pH, alkalinity and calcium right?

Dennis
 
rad1687 said:
Hold on bud, its about to get ugly
Click to expand...

Dude, you made my day with that! That's hilarious!

Anyway, I always thought you couldn't add too many fish at one time due to bacteria limitations. Once your tank cycles you only have enough bacteria for a small fish or two. As you slowly add more fish, your bacteria levels slowly rise in kind. If you add too many fish at once you won't have enough bacteria to handle all that bio-load.

Can someone tell me, is this way of thinking faulty?
 
yea dennis i'm doing all of the following...he gave me a couple bottles of some sort of bacteria to add to the tank after it ran for a couple days and he said it was good to go to add the first couple of fish...he said after 72 hours of putting that stuff in i could add the first fish...he does all the tanks for the big restaurants and stuff around here so i figured he knew what he was talking about..only thing im not exactly sure about is the actual amount of water movement..the setup was used and the pump i have in the sump is just a submersible utilty pump...doesnt have anything on it stating the gph but it was installed and built by the other big saltwater aquarium guru here in baton rouge so i figured it was good to go...yall please excuse the ignorace here! im trying lolol
 
If you will get the yellow kole and sailfin you might be best to add the kole first. After that add the yellow and sailfin at the same time since they are both Zebrasoma. Adding them at different times could be nasty. Even putting them at the same time you should expect some fighting while they establish which one of them will hang out in the prime spots. I have never had a kole but have heard they are more shy, adding it after the other two might be trouble as it won't be as agressive to claim some territory....leading to beatdowns from the sailfin and yellow.

Most people on here would say don't even have the sailfin in less than a 180, but I think you would be alright with the three tangs mentioned above.

I should note when I made my first purchase my LFS sold me a sailfin and 2 yellows. He proceeded to say no problem to add a Naso in a couple months. I have a 110. LFS is there to make money. People on here are not.
 
Man, it must be nice to have every Tang you want available at the same time. I generally have to watch a few shops for weeks or months to find one I want that's healthy. I suppose that if the Tangs are small, adding four to a 150 at the same time is not unthinkable. However, if the Tangs have any size, I would start to question whether the LFS has your best interest in mind.

I agree that your tank is maxed out on fish if you consider the future size of the Tangs. However, that's a while down the road. Your filtration and husbandry practices will greatly impact the carrying capacity and health of your tank.

Remember, an LFS's job is to sell things. The most profitable stuff in the store is the little bottles of chemicals that claim to do one thing or another. IMO, most, if not all, are not needed. Spend your money on books not bottles and your tank will be better for it.
 
The blue and sailfin will get pretty large. I would cut back to 3 and add as follows:

Kole + Blue, then Sailfin or Yellow
Kole, then Sailfin and Yellow
Blue, then Sailfin and Yellow.

Key is that the Yellow and/or Sailfin are added last and/or at the same time.
 
Okay just so I can clear a few things up for some others in the thread that seem to be confused.

1. You already added all the tangs ?
2. your tank has only been set up for less then a month ?? From what I am reading your tank was set up for just a few days when you added all the tangs ??
 
ok sorry for the confusion...the tank ran for a couple of weeks with nothing, then added two clownfish...few weeks later added an algeae blenny and a sand sifting goby...few weeks later added the tangs so the tank has been running for close to two months before i added the tangs. i didnt think it was wise to add all of the tangs at once but going by the advice of my lfs owner he said if i wanted to do a few tangs to pick out the ones i wanted, he helped me select which ones are hardy and will get along with each other and introduce them all at once in the tank
 
FF Rainwater said:
ok sorry for the confusion...the tank ran for a couple of weeks with nothing, then added two clownfish...few weeks later added an algeae blenny and a sand sifting goby...few weeks later added the tangs so the tank has been running for close to two months before i added the tangs. i didnt think it was wise to add all of the tangs at once but going by the advice of my lfs owner he said if i wanted to do a few tangs to pick out the ones i wanted, he helped me select which ones are hardy and will get along with each other and introduce them all at once in the tank
Click to expand...
he only had you add them all at once to maximize the chances of them tolerating each other . you can always stick it out until they get a bit bigger and then sell / trade the trouble makers !
 
If the tangs are already in there then what is your question? You still have not said WHEN you actually added the tangs. Was it yesterday, a week ago, a month ago?

I would keep a close watch on water parameters. Tangs are grazers and eat often. Your tank probably isnt mature enough to sustain them throughout the day so you will need several small feedings daily until your tank matures. Unfortunately that often leads to poor water quality without regular maintenance. Alternatively I would hang Nori strips for them to graze on.
 
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