Difficult and Special Care Species List

[Peter Eichler]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10515141#post10515141 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hahnmeister
He he ...lol... true percs... wow. I know maroon, tomato, clarkii, etc... but not the beloved perculas!!! Wow... them too, huh? Yeah, clownfish are the only fish beyond triggers that will go after my fingers when I put them in the tank. They are gutsy.

Hey, Id like to ask you guys a question on the RS purple tangs (Ill call them RSPTs from here on to make it easier). My experience with them is that they have always been total bastards, but prugs here has a tank with an achillies, a chevron, a sailfin, a Siganus doliatus, and then the RSPT... and its pretty decent size too. Anyways, they get along just fine it seems.

So Im stocking my 125g, and I have a striated tang (relative of the kole), a pac blue, and a yellow. Now, my top choices would be...
1. Achillies: they are my favorite, but very risky. I might get one someday, but it may be too cramped in the 125 now for it (even though my 125g has 10 square feet). Or rather, the recent availability has jacked up the price so much its not worth it IMO.

2. desjardini: if I was to get the safe bet, I would go this route. They are sooo pretty, and pretty nice as far as tangs go. The problem is that they also get LARRRGEEE! I think it might be too much for a 125g, even though there are alot of places that say they are fine for a 55/75g... I dont know...

3. RSPT: This is looking like the top contender right now, but I have concerns. It would be a good match size-wise, but am I pushing it with the yellow tang in there? Should I add another yellow tang first to make sure the other one doesnt get singled out? Ill use the 'mirror' method if I have to (stick a mirror on one side of the tank so the tangs dont know who to go after), for an extended period if need be. But what do you guys think? I dont want to get rid of 'lumpy' my fat & fast growing YT. Is there a way to do this? I can get one for $80.

4. Maybe... I dont know much about them, and have never seen one in person, but how does the chocolate yellow mimic tang look when its older? This might be an easier 'alternate' to one of the above. Acanthurus pyroferus... anyone seen an adult or had one?

1.) I love those fish but I think they're more headache than they're worth. I've seen the most beautiful specimens completely go downhill in a week for no apparent reason. They're another one of those fish that you can do everything right and they just don't make it. The only way I'd do one is if you know it's been in captivity for at least a few weeks and still looks incredibly healthy.

2.) Yes, they get very large but are also quite hardy and don't stress as much as other tangs would in more confined spaces. While their ultimate size in the wild is huge I had one in captivity for 7+ years in my 125 reef and it grew steadily but was still under 8" when that tank crashed. Perhaps it was stunted, but if it was it wasn't the type of stunted that is claimed to kill fish. I have one that I saved from Petco and if I don't upgrade in the next year he will be sold very cheaply to a local, so you may want to hold out

3.) I've kept other Zebrasomas with Puples several times in my tanks and customer tanks when I was in the biz. It was usually fine but there is a certain amount of luck involved.

4.) They get kind of an olive & golden yellow color, subtly beautiful but not nearly as attractive as many other tangs.

 

[SLODEN53]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10294681#post10294681 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by HBtank
I have had mine for over a year. I love it, great fish and doing great.

I do not believe it does well it in groups.

I may have a hyper aggressive individual, but it chased all others to their death. In fact, in all my SW and FW experience, it was the most aggressive attack I have ever seen.

It is also one of the more dominant fish in my tank, far from "peaceful" in my book.

It eats anything I feed and is a very interesting fish. It has some behavoirs that are really cool.

At one time I had 3 of these blue chromis and they were very pretty, yet I had the same experience as you did. One of them was highly aggresive to the other two and when I removed it, one of the other two became the aggresor. I no longer have either one of them as for some unknown reason (chasing/aggression?) one AM I found them both on the floor as they had jumped the tank. The water parameters were good and all the other fish were OK.

 

[gary faulkner]

Troy McClure


[welcome]

 

[hahnmeister]

Thanks for the info Peter Eichler, its better than anything you find in a book, thats for sure. So your sailfin is an actual desjardini? Hmm... maybe I will wait... Then again, I can get RSPTs for just under $80, so well see...

Okay, so the Achillies or #1 is out, and so is #4. The Mimic looked cool in a few photos, but now that I see more... I dont think so.

So its between #2 and #3... RSPT or desjardini. Hmmm.... should I got with the one that seems like the 'sure shot' (desjardini), or risk it with the RSPT guys? Pete, your info does answer one of my biggest questions though... can a YT and RSPT get along in the same tank (in my case, a 125g reef).

Anyone else have any suggestions or experiences on this one? Should I add another YT (or two?) to 'even the odds' so the RSPT doesnt just whipe the YT out? Or will the 'mirror on the side of the tank' trick be enough?

 

[SDguy]

I haven't experienced PT being and more or less aggressive than yellows. I'd get it before the desjardini simply due to the size difference. BTW, why not just use PT instead of RSPT?

 

[hahnmeister]

nah, the desjardini can go in whenever if I got one. They arent mean at all it seems.

As far as yellows go, I thought introducing the pac blue and striated would be a problem, so I introduced them together and did the 'mirror trick' I learned from prugs (actually, I used to do it with african cichlids as well). I also added the watanabe at the same time. As it turned out, the tang's didnt even bother each other. All the YT cared about was if it could eat their poop (the tangs are too nervous to poop now because the YT always attacks the stuff when its still 'dangling', so that must be why they are getting sooo fat...lol). Seriously, in the QT reef, the pac blue was getting harassed by the striated, so I moved up their intro to the 125g... and it was no concern at all in the end. OTOH, the Lamarck's went nuts on the watanabe... which I find odd since the watanabe is a female, and so is the Lamarck's as far as I can tell (or a juvi). Otherwise, my main concern resulted in nothing... the yellow tang took notice, but didnt care one bit about the new guys (except for their poop, that must have been part of the 'deal').

The fairy wrasse lit up like a firecracker when it saw itself in the mirror though... WOW. I took pics... never seen it that lit up.

 

[jjjimmy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10518662#post10518662 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hahnmeister
Thanks for the info Peter Eichler, its better than anything you find in a book, thats for sure. So your sailfin is an actual desjardini? Hmm... maybe I will wait... Then again, I can get RSPTs for just under $80, so well see...

Okay, so the Achillies or #1 is out, and so is #4. The Mimic looked cool in a few photos, but now that I see more... I dont think so.

So its between #2 and #3... RSPT or desjardini. Hmmm.... should I got with the one that seems like the 'sure shot' (desjardini), or risk it with the RSPT guys? Pete, your info does answer one of my biggest questions though... can a YT and RSPT get along in the same tank (in my case, a 125g reef).

Anyone else have any suggestions or experiences on this one? Should I add another YT (or two?) to 'even the odds' so the RSPT doesnt just whipe the YT out? Or will the 'mirror on the side of the tank' trick be enough?

IME Zebrasoma tangs can be kept together. Two things that will help to assist this are a large tank and keeping them in odd numbers. The mirror trick works as well. If you have enough tank space I would add both the RSPT and the desjardini at the same time so the yellow doesn't know which to be at war with.

 

[hahnmeister]

Well, I have a RSPT in the 40B QT tank right now... tomorrow I will see how they get along.

It looks like my striated tang may get too large and nasty for the others though at some point. Right now its a little bugger, but I have heard they get mean when they are older... if this is the case, I may consider getting another yellow or a tomini right away to go in with the RSPT, with the striated being removed eventually... have to make a trap for it though.

So well see how things go tomorrow though adding the RSPT to a tank with a slightly larger yellow tang, a 2" striated tang, and a 2" pacific blue tang.

 

[SDguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10555958#post10555958 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hahnmeister
It looks like my striated tang may get too large and nasty for the others though at some point. Right now its a little bugger, but I have heard they get mean when they are older... if this is the case, I may consider getting another yellow or a tomini right away to go in with the RSPT, with the striated being removed eventually... have to make a trap for it though.

I'm not too surprised. My tomini tang is much more aggressive to new fish than my PBT, who doesn't even give them a second glance. If a new fish tries to sit anywhere near the bottom of the tank, the tomini will actually bite/chew on it :eek1:

 

[brian430]

great info thanks guys

 

[prugs]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10515141#post10515141 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hahnmeister
My experience with them is that they have always been total bastards, but prugs here has a tank with an achillies, a chevron, a sailfin, a Siganus doliatus, and then the RSPT... and its pretty decent size too. Anyways, they get along just fine it seems.

Just a minor correction here. I have an achillies, a chevron, a tenneti, a Siganus virgatus, and a RSPT. The Siganus virgatus will be leaving in the near future, getting big to fast.

 

[hahnmeister]

Oops!

 

[Bill Zacharda]

I would add to the list the Centropyge aurantia (Golden Angelfish). They are so cryptic that they are impossible to feed. A refugium would be more appropriate. Our LFS has had 2 of them recently, both purchased and both starved.

 

[hahnmeister]

Well, update on the RSPT... its in the 125g (48x30x21"h) and its doing great! At first I was worried, since this is the first addition of any fish that has ever alarmed the YT. It was running around like mad... making its swoops in on the RSPT over and over again. The start didnt look good. The striated tang even took issue with the RSPT... getting right up on it and making it look like it was going to really harm it. The only tang that didnt care, because it never does, was the pacific blue.

So I added food, which was only a temporary distraction at best, and then the mirror on the side of the tank. After an hour, the striated tang stopped, but the yellow tang was still very intense... chasing the RSPT all over the place... behind rocks, etc. No actual harm was being done (other than the stress to the RSPT), so I left it in. After 2 hours of hide & go seek, I decided enough was enough though.... so I put the net in the tank. The yellow tang is scared more than any other fish I have seen of the net. I left the net in for the rest of the night... the entire time the YT wouldnt come out, but everything else was fine with the net. So the RSPT got some good acclimation time in w/o the YT attacking it. I turned off the lights, and hoped everything would work out.

Well, the next day, I removed the net, and the YT came back out. Later that day, the YT had a couple splits in the fins, and the RSPT had a nice one as well... but they left each other alone finally. The RSPT was an outcast though... all the other fish in the tank seem to school together... the Lamarck's Angel, Pyjama Cardinal, Gamma (not as much, but it still stays around the rest), the fairy wrasses, and the other tangs have a 'pack' they tend to stay in... and the RSPT wasnt part of this.

A week later, the RSPT is part of the pack, and everything is like there was never a problem in the first place. The split fins are all healed, the attitudes are gone, and everything is eating like a pig.

On a side note, I have never met a tang that actually ate cheato... but this RSPT is getting fat eating the stuff. It grabs a strand and just sucks it down like a pasta noodle.

FWIW, the YT was waaaay more intense than the RSPT was. Im beginning to think the reputation for being one of the nastiest tangs isnt well founded. Perhaps its more something to do with when it does attack, it has perhaps the largest 'knives' I have seen on a tang in relation to body size. If the yellow tang has a pearing knife, the RSPT has a 10" chef knife in comparison... just long and mean looking. Then again, I added the RSPT last, so Im sure that helped.

 

[RichConley]

Told you hahn.

Theyre cupcakes.

 

[Peter Eichler]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10646015#post10646015 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RichConley
Told you hahn.

Theyre cupcakes.

Don't know if I'd go that far...

 

[RichConley]

Peter, hes the least aggressive of all the tangs I've owned. Honestly, my 4" Potters beats the crap out of my purple on a regular basis.The H. Melanurus chases him around. My Falco hawk beats him up for god sakes.


I think the Purple Tangs are aggressive belongs in the misconceptions thread. Right next to BTAs are hard to keep.

 

[Peter Eichler]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10646070#post10646070 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RichConley
Peter, hes the least aggressive of all the tangs I've owned. Honestly, my 4" Potters beats the crap out of my purple on a regular basis.The H. Melanurus chases him around. My Falco hawk beats him up for god sakes.


I think the Purple Tangs are aggressive belongs in the misconceptions thread. Right next to BTAs are hard to keep.

I've said all along that I don't think they're as mean as many people make them out to be. However, I've seen some cause some real problems. On a whole Zebrasomas are pretty similar in temprament to one another and they're often alphas but don't normally try to actively cause harm to fish unless they're a new addition.

 

[hahnmeister]

Hey... Im sure it varies fish to fish more. One thing that is huge though is that for most of the zebrasoma, we cant sex them. The varied results could simply be that I ended up with a couple females, or a male and female, so the results werent as bad as someone who may have tried and had two males. And we have no idea even what percentage of males and females are seen in the trade... for all we know, 75% could be males, or 85% females, or 25% YTs are females and 90% RSPTs are males... who knows.

 

[owenb01]

I didn't feel like reading every page of this thread, but here's what I got.

I agree (from experience) with your opinions on:

Centropyge Nox-pretty, but no fun at all. They hide all the time and then die under a huge pile of rock so you'll never find them as they foul your tank.

Moorish Idol-best left at sea. Mine ate everything in sight from day one (unusual, I know), vitamin enriched, multiple times a day. Thriving, thriving, thriving..........then dead for no reaason.

Lawnmower blennies-long-term definitely need large tank or specific feedings, mine is getting huge.

Regal Angel-difficult but very feasible, as you said, outlook is getting better recently

Mandarins-need a big tank or tons of pods, better with both

Large angels need large tanks

All I have to add is:

I've had good experiences with fremblii and semilarvatus butterflies

Some sharks from the heterodontidae and hemoscyllidae families are well suited for large aquariums (200-300+g) with sandy substrate and no rockwork. Some of these species will even breed in a home aquarium. I should add that the heterodontid sharks like cooler water than most of us keep.

Sea snakes are awesome, where can I get one?

Nice thread,

Ben