I know a trillion people are going to hate me for saying this, but I gotta reply on this one: The main reason why I am posting is because I have the exact tank and I would like to tell you what has happened to me. The tank was up and running for 11 years prior to me having it so I inherited live rock that was pretty established and I feel that has helped. Some people will say that live rock after so long may stop helping with natural filtration, but I am not a marine biologist, I am once again just telling you my little story. I sold some rock, acquired new tonga pieces and went on my way. Even before I even had the tank I would be online reading and reading about tangs mostly and tried to figure out what I can get away with, because at some point we all do it. And not to mention that planning out your reef fish selection for a new tank is always extremely fun to do. Every tang I read about had pros and cons, and I was getting a bit frustrated. I always wanted a blue morph (hippo) tang, but from what I read they were easily stressed and got marine ich very easily. I could not imagine having a fish that beautiful and large dying on me, I would probably hold a full funeral arrangement, the flowers, the whole nine yards. As expensive as these fish may be it really hurts me when a fish dies or is lost. Now I am not perfect, but knock wood, I have never lost a tang. I acquired a beatiful blue morph in a raffle in which I spent $10.00 in tickets. I felt I was on the better end of that deal. i have had him for a little over a year and he is gotten much larger and is a happy hippo. I have had many people in the hobby he is the best looking specimen they have seen because of his perfect shape, color, and presentation. I would have to concur. I am going to have to get him a longer tank or trade him soon. i think it will be better for him now that he is pretty big. Months later a friend of mine informed me a saltwater tank at his office was going to be taken down and the fish were up for grabs. I helped transfer the tank to another location and in return I received a yellow tang, scopas tang, and neon dottyback. The yellow tang and scopas' top fins were completely chewed down and had open wounds. To make that story short I nursed them back to health and all my tangs got along fine. They VERY OFTEN swam together, and looked very cool when they were next to each other. I love keeping alot of fish in my tank and I really don't care what some say, if they are not fighting, eating, growing, and very active I say o.k. In an attempt to scale down on some fish I ended up selling four fish out of my tank, only to end up getting a few more. I then picked up an amazing powder brown and I have had him about two months with the blue morph, a dragon goby, lawnmower blenny, neon dottyback, clown fish, foxface lo, neon goby, and a purple firefish. I recommend is if you acquire a tang please have the most amount of established live rock as possible. I also truly beleive in heavy feeding, a subject most of my friends think I am crazy. Any legit marine fish book will tell you tangs need to be fed about three times a day. They graze all day long in the wild, don't be afraid to feed them. Remember they are herbivores and to feed them alot of greens. Nori and spectrum is really all they need. Many frozen foods have dirty water in them that pollute our tanks. I wish you the best with your tank, and just read as much as you can before you buy.
