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
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
